The folks from Big Government scored a phone interview with Alexandra Pelosi, the documentarian daughter of Nancy Pelosi, and she told the site that her mother wanted to be done with her position as House Minority Leader. According to the younger Pelosi, at this point, the job is just an “obligation.”

ABC’s This Week began the first in a series of big debates that will continue throughout the next year. Today’s topic was whether government is too big or not, with two advocates on each side arguing for each position, and naturally the conversation made its way to drug legalization. In quite a surreal moment, Barney Frank asked George Will his position on marijuana and if it should be legalized.

In the span of four days, political media types have been tested twice by two very different incidents of female disrespect in the national political discourse. Much of the media, ideological and otherwise, were quick to note that a crowd of NASCAR fans booed First Lady Michelle Obama– some more sympathetic than others. The second test occurred last night as The Roots played the song “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” as Rep. Michele Bachmann walked onto the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The treatment of both leave one to the conclusion that defending women from classless attacks might simply not be good for the media business.

Today another unpredictable chapter was added to the expanding Weinergate story, as just a few hours ago conservative journalist Andrew Breitbart unveiled brand new, shirtless photos of Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner that were allegedly sent by Weiner to an unidentified female. Weiner wasted no time responding to these new photos by announcing a press conference, where he made several shocking admissions.

After seeming very reluctant to cover the strange story involving Twitter, a lewd picture and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) – heretofore known as “Weinergate” — the mainstream media now seems to be embracing the story with open arms, just five days since the story broke Friday night. For evidence of that idea I present the following clip from TODAY, in which Luke Russert introduces the story as producers show the actual picture that, to our knowledge, had thus far only been shown on late night programming like The Daily Show.

Most Americans who casually follow news may just be catching up on the summer’s first tragicomic mystery, the story of how a lewd photo ended up being sent to a 21-year-old college student from the Twitter account of Rep. Anthony Weiner. While concrete facts in this story are few and far between, and the Congressman certainly hasn’t been helping, those who first heard of the story on The Last Word tonight may have missed the little information there is out there, and in lieu got an update on Andrew Breitbart and Shirley Sherrod. Wait a minute, wasn’t that last summer?

The unfolding scandal involving what Rep. Anthony Weiner calls a hack of his social media accounts has proven to be a roiling petri dish of new media sickness, as the rush to judgment has overshadowed the fair presentation of the facts. The initial rush to convict Rep. Weiner of tweeting a naughty picture to a follower in Seattle has led to equally irresponsible suggestions that Andrew Breitbart and his staff engineered a “hoax,” and sloppy reporting of the facts, all around.

Some, notably a blogger at DailyKos, have suggested that the screen shot that Andrew Breitbart‘s Big Government ran when it broke the Anthony Weiner Twitter story is a forgery. Our resident expert, Philip Bump, reviewed their findings, and newly-released data about the original YFrog photo, and found evidence that strongly suggests Breitbart’s innocence, and supports Weiner’s contention that he was hacked. Here is Phil’s analysis of the DailyKos findings, and the newly-released cache information on the YFrog photo.

As details slowly unfold in the Memorial Day saga of Rep. Anthony Weiner‘s (D-NY) social media accounts, which he says were hacked to allow the distribution of a lewd photo via Twitter, the surplus of speculation has been exceeded only by a shortage of firsthand information. Rep. Weiner’s office has trickled out some information, but now, for the first time, the alleged intended recipient of the picture, Gennette Nicole Cordova, is speaking out exclusively, in a lengthy statement to The NY Daily News.

It may be too soon to say for sure, but this Memorial Day weekend may go down in the annals of Twitter history, as one of the strangest ones imaginable. Rep. Anthony Weiner claimed that his Twitter account had been hacked after an inappropriate photo surfaced that was alleged to have been sent to a college student via the social media platform. There are a slew of legitimate questions, however, that remain. Once answered, they could do irreparable damage to some high profile personalities, particularly if there is more to the story, as there most certainly is. (See update at end of post for Gennette Cordova’s public statement on the matter).

In what could develop into one of the most bizarre media stories in recent memory, Big Government is reporting that Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) attempted to send a close-up photo — that’s extreme in more ways than one — to a user via Twitter. But the method by which this story evolved, late at night with no official comment and few leads, creates a web of questions through which the career of any participant could fall. Update: Politico is reporting that Rep. Weiner claims that his Twitter account had been hacked.

Frustration among Democratic ranks on Capitol Hill with President Obama appears to have reached revolting proportions. The Hill is reporting that chants of “just say no” could be heard by reporters outside a room where Democratic lawmakers were reportedly caucusing. One identified lawmaker is also alleged to have muttered “f*ck the president.” Strange days indeed.

Last week, I posted a response to Andrew Breitbart’s claim that he had proven, with the help of the New York Times, that nothing “racially charged” happened on March 20, 2010, when several black members of Congress claimed that they heard racial epithets directed at them by a crowd of protesters. He challenged the MSM to “air the exculpatory evidence” that he had posted, which I did.

Since then, some of the writers from Breitbart’s “Big” sites have responded to my response, and in doing so, have walked back on Breitbart’s original claim. They have demanded corrections to my piece. I am always happy to correct the record where necessary.

Remember when I said Media Matters’ case against Major Garrett‘s front row bid was thin compared to their usual work? This is what I was talking about. The liberal media watchdog launched a hilariously thorough barrage of research at Dr. Kevin Pezzi, who says he was sought out by Big Government founder Andrew Breitbart to write about Shirley Sherrod.

The attack seems to have worked, as Pezzi’s BigGov work has been scrubbed from the site, with only the google cache to remember him by.

Could our two-week-long national nightmare be nearing an end? In an interview with Newsweek today, Andrew Breitbart spoke to the magazine about the Shirley Sherrod speech scandal and expressed regret, acknowledged that it has “been difficult for me as well,” and claimed he would “be more than happy to meet with [Sherrod] in private” to settle the matter.

After a week of high-intensity media coverage, it’s difficult to find a new angle on the Shirley Sherrod scandal. Tonight, The Rachel Maddow Show directed the media where to look around the fallout, and, more importantly, where to stop searching. The Nation editor Chris Hayes, filling in for Rachel Maddow, refused to name the man who sparked the scandal– Andrew Breitbart– and called for him to be an “exile” in the political media world.

Did you know that the film that is potentially the magnum opus of the Tea Party movement is being split in three? And that, despite initial dire reports of economic woes and an inexperienced cast, production on the set of Atlas Shrugged is sailing smoothly? No, you don’t, because you were too busy staring at Andrew Breitbart’s Photoshop doodle of a literal “race card”— not that he didn’t also break that news.

Earlier today, our own Colby Hall wondered whether Bill O’Reilly would apologize for calling for former (possibly future?) USDA employee Shirley Sherrod’s resignation based on an excerpt of a speech posted on BigGovernment.com. Tonight, O’Reilly acknowledged that he spoke prematurely, but still attacked her for being a “long-time liberal activist” and using a divisive phrase like “one of their kind.”

As expected, the topic of the day at today’s White House briefing was Shirley Sherrod. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fielded many questions on her ouster, apologizing on behalf of the administration for what he rightly called an “injustice.” In a dramatic turn, Jake Tapper informed Gibbs that Sherrod was watching the briefing, and Gibbs directed his apology to her. Tapper also pointed out that he (among others) had performed due diligence before acting on the story (unlike Secretary Tom Vilsack). See the remarkable exchange below.

Judged purely by their back and forth on Twitter over the last six months, its safe to say that Andrew Breitbart and Eric Boehlert are not very fond of one another. In fact, it’s fair to say that they each hold the other in the lowest possible esteem. So it was with great anticipation that followers of both feisty Internet personalities tuned into Good Morning America this morning to see two debate the Shirley Sherrod controversy. Mediaite spoke to both gentlemen about the exchange.

Andrew Breitbart continued his media tour, explaining the Shirley Sherrod tape that he published earlier this week, with an appearance on the politically friendly Hannity. According to Breitbart, this controversy is “not about Shirley Sherrod.” Rather, the tape exists because the NAACP has alleged racism within the Tea Party movement, and in Breitbart’s words “for them to talk about racism they should not be throwing stones in glass houses.”

What a blazing fast 24 hours this has been in the Shirley Sherrod story. Essentially fired Monday night based on a 2-minute Youtube clip, the former USDA official took to print and television yesterday to give her side of the story. Even as new facts emerged that caused the NAACP to retract its denunciation of Sherrod, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, with the White House’s support, doubled down on her dismissal.

This Shirley Sherrod story has really brought out the aggressive side of CNN. Earlier in the day, John King went toe-to-toe with Andrew Breitbart over the video released on Big Government that cost him his job. Later, Campbell Brown took down the vice president of the NAACP on their president’s statement that they were “snookered,” telling the organization, “you’re the ones to blame here.”

While the White House denies any involvement in the forced resignation of USDA official Shirley Sherrod, CNN is now reporting that a White House source says that President Obama was briefed on the situation, and that he “fully supports the decision.” This is in stark contrast to the Barack Obama who showed such a deft grasp on race issues in America in his redemptive speech on race during the 2008 campaign. In fact, Sherrod’s full speech can’t help but remind me of that incredibly tough, courageous address.

Former USDA official Shirley Sherrod has been the story of the day, as the emerging context to the remarks that got her fired yesterday have turned her from racial villain to inspiration overnight. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack demanded her resignation because of a clip posted on the internet by Andrew Breitbart, despite her protestations that the full tape would exonerate her.

Now, the NAACP has released the full video of the speech. Watch it after the jump.