There are actually a couple of odd things about the Mitt Romney gaffe that recently surfaced on the newly-Ben Smith-run Buzzfeed. In the brief clip, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney claims that “we (Americans) are the only people on Earth that put our hand over our heart during the playing of the National Anthem.”

The claim itself is weird (and false) on its face, but what’s equally weird is that he’s been making it for months.

Several months ago, Politico reporter Ben Smith lamented that his blog at the site was being trumped by his Twitter feed. Where once people would refresh his blog for updates, now they could simply follow him on Twitter and know what he was going to post before he posted it. The blog became secondary, slower – a formalized storehouse for organized pieces of information.

Reality TV star Jim Bob Duggar, from TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting, endorsed Rick Santorum today at a rally in Polk City, Iowa. “All the people in America that have conservative family values have to get behind Rick Santorum for President,” Duggar said.

On the heels of the Wall Street Journal uncovering a newsletter sent out by a Newt Gingrich consulting firm championing Mitt Romney‘s health care plan, archival video whiz Andrew Kaczynski has unearthed a video from 2008 of the former Speaker of the House saying “I think you gotta require that everybody have insurance or post a bond.”

Politico‘s Ben Smith left many media heads askew in confusion when he announced that he was leaving the major political publication for Buzzfeed, previously most popularly known for its vast library of adorable animal videos. Howard Kurtz was certainly among those that didn’t see anything about this media move coming, and naturally had a few questions for the new editor in chief on his program yesterday.

In another archival video from 1995, dug up by 22-year-old St. John’s University student Andrew Kaczynski Ron Paul discusses his controversial newsletters to a MBA student at the University of New Mexico. “I also do an investment letter — it’s called the ‘Ron Paul Survival Report’ — which is a gold oriented newsletter. But it’s also expressing concern about surviving in this age of big government,” Paul explains.

Recent visitors to the front page of viral trend aggregator Buzzfeed, which recently added Politico’s Ben Smith to its staff, have been “treated” to a Silkwood shower-worthy YouTube video of a super-creepy guy videotaping a pair of sunbathers, one of whom the site alleges (but can’t confirm) is MSNBC star Rachel Maddow. The woman in the short video does bear a striking visual and aural resemblance to the Forward-Leaning liberal icon, but Mediaite has confirmed that the reluctant star of the video is not Rachel Maddow.

According to trend aggregator BuzzFeed editor Matt Stopera, allegedly President Barack Obama sent a letter of congratulations to a gay couple, wishing them “the very best” as they embarked on their “journey together” and hoping their “bond (grew) stronger with each passing year.” The couple, who were married over the summer, were surprised by their letter of support.

Innnneresting news: Politico’s Ben Smith is leaving the site within the next few weeks to take on a new position at… BuzzFeed.

Every once in a while, BuzzFeed — aggregator of all that is fun, weird and puppy-related on the web — will offer its readers a peek into the offices of various media outlets. This time around, they’re showing off various pieces of art work from the likes of Playboy, Red Eye, Nickelodeon… and Mediaite!

There’s been a growing argument that — hippies and agitators aside — the bulk of the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party protesters comprise a very similar group: angry at the government and large corporations for overtaxing and under-representing the everyday American. Today, Buzzfeed’s Matt Stopera presented an exercise in showing just how close the two groups are. Stopera posted 20 photos of protesters holding up signs and asked readers to guess if the photo was taken at a Tea Party or Occupy protest. Trained eyes may pick up some tell-tale elements in the background of pictures, but it’s still a fun, and somewhat surprising exercise, in discovering how similar the two movements actually are.

Wondering what’s in store for this week? We’ve got all the breaking viral videos, emerging trending topics, fresh memes, and viral predictions you need for June 6th, 2011.

Wondering what’s in store for this week? I’ve got all the breaking viral videos, emerging trending topics, fresh memes, and viral predictions you need for May 30th, 2011.

We have just a little over 24 hours left, if you believe Christian radio broadcaster Harold Camping, owner of Family Radio. Camping’s theory is based on his own rather unique take on Biblical calendar interpretation, and while we’re still scratching our heads on the rationale of his math, we’re inclined to agree that humanity is fairly well screwed.

You’re probably really tired of hearing the word “hipster” by now. Or you might not be. Hipster has become a catch-all insult used not to describe any specific niche of people, but wide ranges of young, active, thrifty city-dwellers. The term has been applied to the fashion-conscious and the fashion-impaired, the elitists and the poseurs.

Thanks to our friends at BuzzFeed, here’s a run down of all the funniest, weirdest, most disturbing, and all around best viral stories of the past week!

Think Progress blogger Igor Volsky uploaded a video taken at a Tea Party convention in New Hampshire, where event-goers were asked if and how their lives have changed since The Granite State legalized same-sex marriage in 2010. The reaction from those interviewed was basically akin to web commenters clamoring to type, “boring post, who the f**k cares?!” One man said, “No, not really. It hasn’t really affected me, and I don’t think that’s a priority right now for most people,” and another simply said that, “if you’re in love with somebody, then it’s all good.”

Thanks to our friends at BuzzFeed, here’s a run down of all the funniest, weirdest, most disturbing, and all around best viral stories of the past week!

Thanks to our friends at BuzzFeed, here’s a run down of all the funniest, weirdest, most disturbing, and all around best viral stories of the past week!

Local news crews spent last week descending upon an Indianapolis-area shopping mall, perhaps to buy some stocking stuffers. What they found instead, however, has sparked a controversy for in the region: a mom-and pop selling “racist soaps with inflammatory labels.”

BREAKING: a state trooper somewhere pulled a car over at a three-way intersection. No one knows why. Alas, there is not that much more to this story from Hudson, New York’s Register-Star. But do you want to know which intersection it was? Find out after the jump!

As online writing becomes increasingly a part of the mainstream dialogue in America, “blogger” is no longer a dirty word. Some of the best writers of our time operate exclusively on the internet, but some of the most talented still work under the radar. In this in-depth, magazine-length feature, Mediaite has assembled a list of 25 of the best underappreciated bloggers and explained why they matter.

As loyal Mediaite readers know, our own Steve Krakauer keeps tabs on some of the best, worst, and most puzzling cable news chyrons in his Chyron of the Day series.

Over at BuzzFeed, Matt Stopera has put together an excellent collection of news caption mistakes. Here are just a few:

Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for NBC Washington to let readers vote on how they feel about obituaries on their website. 75% are “laughing,” and 12% are “thrilled,” about Robert Novak’s death. By contrast, the death of 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt got a “100% sad” rating. Full screenshots after the jump:
Update: looks like NBC Washington was listening; they’ve taken down Novak’s obituary.