Conservatives in general, and Fox News in particular, have gone to town on Politico like a rumpspringa tour bus over their “Is Rick Perry Dumb?” headline from yesterday. However, after watching three separate Fox News segments on the article, featuring guests Tucker Carlson, Michelle Malkin, and Laura Ingraham, I’ve noticed that while Fox guests are certain Politico is biased, and/or really, really wish people would call President Obama dumb, too, none of them offers even a syllable in defense of Perry’s intellect.

Former Obama Spokesman Bill Burton is calling out GOP hopeful Mitt Romney over his response to a voter at a New Hampshire town hall meeting. Ask for his reaction to the tense exchange, Burton tells Mediaite that Romney got “testy” because he “has no core principles,” and points out the former governor’s hypocrisy in bragging about balancing the state’s budget, while opposing the revenue increases that allowed him to do it.

Former White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton appeared on Fox News Sunday this morning to debate Karl Rove on job creation, but Rove didn’t stop at attacking Burton and President Obama. The former Bush Chief of Staff also lashed out at host Bret Baier for exposing the rigidity of the GOP presidential field by asking them if they would walk away from a deal with $10 in spending cuts for every $1 of tax revenue, telling Baier, “With all due respect, that was a lousy question for a debate.”

It is on. A new online campaign ad attacking Mitt Romney has been released, funded by a recently group called Priorities USA Action. Who is that you ask? Well, its founders former Deputy Press Secretary for the White House Bill Burton, and Sean Sweeney, who is former senior adviser to former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel; and CNN contributor Paul Begala, who was a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton. So, safe to say its a a pro-Obama group.

On the heels of newly-minted White House Press Secretary Jay Carney‘s first daily briefing, Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton (a heavy favorite for the job that went to Carney) announced Wednesday that he is leaving the White House. Burton has been floated as a candidate to fill the House seat vacated by “Shirtless” Chris Lee (R-NY), but, in an email to Mediaite, Burton has ruled out such a run.

The announcement of Jay Carney as successor to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has ended weeks of speculation, but raises questions about how Carney will take to his new post, and it to him. In exclusive comments to Mediaite, members of the White House Press Corps expressed optimism about Carney’s tenure, and identified possible challenges for the new Press Secretary, including his own status as a former journalist, his relative distance from the Obama administration’s inner circle, and his boyish good looks.

After several weeks of speculation that began with current White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs’ announcement that he is leaving the White House in February, a successor to Gibbs has finally been named. According to several news sources, including ABC News’ Jake Tapper, White House sources confirm that the new Press Secretary will be Vice President [...]

Since White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced his imminent (early February) departure from the White House, speculation about his replacement has centered around Gibbs deputies Bill Burton and Josh Earnest, and Vice President Biden’s Press Secretary, Jay Carney. After today’s White House briefing, I tried to get a sense of where things stand by [...]

With the announcement Wednesday morning that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will soon be moving on to a role outside the White House, the next big question is: Who will succeed him? There have been a few names kicked around, but the smart money is on Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton, and with the [...]

On the heels of this morning’s announcement that he will be leaving the White House, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fielded many questions regarding his future, and his possible successor. Gibbs played it characteristically close to the vest, divulging very little in the way of new information, but he spoke about his plans, and at one point, seemed poised to get a little misty when talking about the relationships he has formed during his tenure.

After months of speculation that mainly centered around a move into a senior advisory position within the Obama administration, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed that he will be stepping down as press secretary in February. But instead of a senior administration post, Gibbs is leaving the White House altogether, a development that has only recently been rumored. No replacement for Gibbs has been named, but Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton is the heavy favorite.

The White House is now confirming reports that President Obama praised the Philadelphia Eagles for giving convicted dog-murderer Michael Vick a second chance, but that he also stressed condemnation of Vick’s crimes in a phone call to Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie.

The subject of the call was Lurie’s rollout of alternative energy at Lincoln Financial Field, but the President’s comments about Vick are what’s getting all the attention. While some will use the remarks to falsely paint the President as an apologist for dog murder, Obama’s support for redemptive hiring is a matter of record. If there’s a valid criticism to be made, it’s that he may have failed to note that Vick’s experience is far from typical.

Despite a rough year for the Obama administration, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has managed to keep it light in the daily White House briefings, according to Mediaite’s research. Sure, we’ve kidded Politico in the past for its laughter-measuring ways, but why should that stop us from doing the exact same thing? Now when someone says of Robert Gibbs, “That guy is a million laughs,” you can authoritatively respond, “Actually, he’s 987 laughs. This year.”

Fox News contributor Karl Rove offered some clearly unsolicited advice to President Obama regarding who the President should hire to potentially replace Press Secretary Robert Gibbs. According to Rove, “Gibbs has signaled that he would like to replace David Axelrod [Obama's Senior Adviser]” and just in case Obama was listening, Rove publicly issued a letter of recommendation for a new candidate who would best serve the President: Jay Carney, Director of Communications to Vice President Joe Biden. Considering the source, that surely kills Carney’s chances at a promotion anytime soon.

On the heels of reports that the Democratic National Committee is eyeballing Robert Gibbs as the next DNC chairman, the White House Press Secretary fielded a volley of questions on the subject at today’s White House briefing. Accustomed to the wiggle room that Gibbs often builds in to his responses, reporters pressed Gibbs, amid laughter, to nail down his denial. He ably complied, responding that he has had no talks with anyone, anywhere, regarding the DNC chairmanship, and that he’s happy where he is.

On the heels of John King‘s MSNBC/FNC related segment last night, his colleague Rick Sanchez threw MSNBC on “The List U Don’t Want 2 Be On” today.

After reading Bill Burton‘s quote about MSNBC, Sanchez launched into his monologue about how he’s happy he’s not a White House friend or foe.

While President Obama‘s response to a Rolling Stone reporter’s question about Fox News is generating a lot of heat in this news cycle, an arguably more remarkable media angle has gone underreported. The President’s views on Fox are really nothing new, but the White House’s positive name-checking of liberal fire-breather Keith Olbermann represents a significant shift from just a few months ago, when Mediaite asked Robert Gibbs if the administration was worried about losing his support. The question here isn’t “Why the shift?” but rather, “What took so long?”

President Obama has been vacationing all week in Martha’s Vineyard and thus far there has been no major news event to to force him back into the public eye. Not that he has managed to get out of it for long. Yesterday reporters followed the President and Mrs. Obama to a local lunch stand, while the two were greeting happy onlookers a reporter attempted to ask Obama about Iraq he responded jovially and with a shrug: “We’re buying shrimp guys.”

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs took a shot at what he called the “professional left” in an interview published today with The Hill’s Sam Youngman causing a bit of dust-up within beltway media insiders. So it was great anticipation that the White House press corps looked towards today briefing to ask Gibbs what exactly he meant by those comments. Alas, Deputy Secretary Bill Burton was at the podium in lieu of an ailing Gibbs, but that didn’t keep reporters from asking questions.

During today’s White House press briefing, Huffington Posts’ Sam Stein asked Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton why the White House has been reluctant to offer an opinion on the Ground Zero mosque; an issue which Stein presented as “a consuming religious and cultural debate going on.” Burton said that the White House is not going to “readjudicate” a decision made by a “local government.” Cue outraged comparisons to the Arizona immigration law by right-of-center outlets in 3…2…1…

Over the weekend, Redstate broke the news that Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) had accused President Obama of using border security as leverage to pass comprehensive immigration reform. The White House denied the exchange, followed by a double-down by Kyl’s spokesman. At today’s briefing, Chip Reid and I asked Press Secretary Bill Burton about the conversation. While Burton wouldn’t specifically call Kyl a liar, his response, coupled with Kyl’s reaffirmation, doesn’t leave much wiggle room.

Bill Burton is pinch-hitting for Press Secretary Robert Gibbs today in the White House briefing, and he was asked about Pres. Barack Obama‘s golf game with VP Joe Biden over the weekend.

And without any further ado, here’s a lesson in making a fair point and then taking it too far.

I’m fairly certain that at some point this is going to end in tears. Regular watchers of the White House will likely already be aware that both deputy press secretary Bill Burton and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs are now on Twitter. So, what’s their plan?

The tight special election Senate race in Massachusetts between Martha Coakley and Scott Brown concludes tomorrow, and Pres. Obama’s trip to Boston to stump for Coakley drew major attention on the cable newsers yesterday.

But CNN Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry‘s reporting, that Pres Obama advisers believe Coakley will lose, caused the White House to push back in new, unique ways.

Hot on the heels of her controversial appearance on Fox & Friends, Firedoglake founder Jane Hamsher has joined forces with conservative activist Grover Norquist to demand the resignation of Rahm Emanuel.

The strange bedfellows, which the New York Times’ Caucus blog calls “one of the strangest odd-couplings since James Carville and Mary Matalin married,” sent a letter to Eric Holder yesterday, demanding Rahm’s immediate ouster. Today, Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton was asked about it aboard Air Force One.