The Communist Party USA is the sort of fringe third party that rarely gets any attention in the national spotlight, but a recent speech by a party leader asserting that the group seeks to “reclaim” the Fourth of July as their holiday landed them squarely in Glenn Beck‘s crosshairs. On his radio program today, Beck played a clip of the speech and warned that, just as the Communists were trying “reclaim” Independence Day,” they were after American history.

In 2006, legal commentator Jeffrey Rosen wrote that the Roberts court was among the most united and civil in history. In this month’s New Republic, however, Rosen revisits the Court to find it factionalizing in surprising ways, threatening the existence of any single definition of legal conservatism. While Rosen puts the blame on no one, one new phenomenon of the past five years seems directly related to this rift: the Tea Party, for which Rosen argues Justice Clarence Thomas has emerged as its “legal arm.”

In December 2008, cable news’ premier debate couple, Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes, split up, one to host his own program and the other to contribute to the debates of many on Fox News. At the time, it was unclear to what extent Colmes would remain with Fox News or what a program without Colmes to balance out Hannity’s conservatism would look like. When discussing the run of Hannity & Colmes, many tend to look back at the heartfelt goodbyes (featuring a fairly nationally unknown Tim Pawlenty!) Colmes’ fans gave him, but seem to overlook the fun Colmes had with the departure in the immediate aftermath.

The media treatment of Rep. Michele Bachmann‘s several gaffes this week have raised eyebrows on the right from those that have followed President Barack Obama‘s supposed gaffes. Among them in particular is Sean Hannity, who put together a montage of Obama gaffes in preparation for his guest, Ann Coulter, tonight. Coulter argued there was a double standard for conservatives, and blamed “sexism” on the left for rumors that Rep. Bachmann and Sarah Palin are feuding.

After last Friday’s historic gay marriage vote, one of the most forceful media narratives was the contrast between the leadership styles of Andrew Cuomo and Barack Obama. So it was only a matter of time before people started speculating on Cuomo’s national aspirations.

Herman Cain seems to have no interested in ending his newly-minted feud with Jon Stewart. On The O’Reilly Factor tonight, Cain came out swinging against Stewart again– who initially courted Cain’s wrath by making fun of his claim that bill longer than 3 pages would be vetoed automatically– explicitly stating that, although Stewart’s “Amos and Andy” voice was offensive to him, he wasn’t playing the race card. But Stewart had a problem, he asserted, with him being a “black conservative.”

The Daily Caller has emerged as a bona fide member of the internet right, in part by drawing refreshing distinction from a crowded landscape through its willingness to critique those whose ideas its right of center writers may share. The latest damning exposé revealing a member of Palin’s staff attacking fellow conservatives is merely one example that has sparked infighting among conservative bloggers, fueling a surprising zeal to slam its publisher, Tucker Carlson.

Rep. Ron Paul has some big news to break tomorrow, but he broke it to Sean Hannity today, anyway: he is launching an exploratory committee for the 2012 presidency tomorrow which, “if I don’t get booed too much,” may lead to a presidential bid. As this was the first time the two met, Hannity pressed Rep. Paul on his conservative bona fides and found himself on a side of the argument he rarely sees: his concern with Muslims, Rep. Paul argued, challenges the principles that make America great.

Andrew Breitbart isn’t angry; he’s just enlightened. That’s the message of his contentiously-titled new book, Righteous Indignation, a work that may look and sound like the fruit of rage, but at its core, is an exposition of the power structure Breitbart sees himself fighting against. It’s a recruiting tool to build his army in the war against what he calls “Democratic media complex” that leaves no stone unturned on the left. In turn, Breitbart leaves many questions on how to police the right unanswered. I sat down with Breitbart on Monday to get a deeper look into who he’s fighting, why he’s fighting them, and just how much bad behavior he is willing to overlook from conservatives in order to take liberals down.

Americans are an enterprising people, one that have managed to find fashion inspiration in the most peculiar of places. On Rush Limbaugh‘s radio show this week, one such American called in to ask Limbaugh what to do about the fact that her skin tone didn’t take very well to the color orange, and to offer some free advice to First Lady Michelle Obama: yellow makes her look “like a tub of mustard.”

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough took a little time to comment on Glenn Beck‘s recent comments (and blackboard diagrams) connecting union protests in the U.S. to the myriad revolutions and demonstrations popping up in the Middle East. “I’ve been telling conservatives for about two years,” said Scarborough, in between bites of breakfast, “this guy is bad for the movement.”

Rachel Maddow found herself arguing something she appeared to be surprised to find herself saying: George W. Bush, agreeing with Barack Obama, was correct– at least compared to Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity. Maddow argued that the American right, now that the Republicans were weak, was working on shifting the political spectrum right and have succeeded so efficiently that now the two presidents are essentially the same dot on the spectrum.

The American right may have won a significant victory in November, but it seems that at least once a year, during CPAC season, they suffer a tremendous public identity crisis, with civil libertarians going after the “family values” conservatives at a convention that often feels like more of a negotiation meeting than a union of like minds. To discuss these sentiments, Judge Andrew Napolitano has been debating members of all side of the right on priorities, and how important civil liberties are compared to the increasingly desperate national economic situation.

Donald Trump is making it to known to any audience that will listen that he is seriously considering running for President. Today at the CPAC convention he gave a crowd-pleasing speech and, given by the audience reaction, it seems like he very well could be an unanticipated force in the Republican primaries.

In a revelation that’s sure to make many liberals scratch their heads and say, “Wait, what? Conservatives have brains?”, a new study by Great Britain’s University College London has found that conservatives’ brains have larger fear centers, and smaller courage and optimism dealies. The study did not, however, address any correlation to cable news ratings.

Pat Robertson more commonly garners media attention for blaming various things he doesn’t like on things that have little or nothing to do with them (e.g. the Haitian earthquake on the nation’s supposed pact with Satan, or the September 11th attacks on the ACLU and “the gays”). Yet this week he’s making headlines for comments that sound a lot less Pat Robertson and a lot more Cheech and Chong. Apparently, Pat Robertson supports decriminalizing marijuana.

Tea Party Nation President Judson Phillips recently hosted a radio program where he declared that Americans who do not own property have less of a stake in the community and suggested, in the past, it made sense to deprive such citizens of the right to vote. The tone-deaf statement is not significant because it represents the view of the Tea Party at large (it doesn’t), but is important because it evidences a serious problem for the movement: without a formal hierarchy, various “leaders” associated with the Tea Party can quickly damage the larger brand with their absurd comments.

One of the things that keeps the political world interesting is that you never quite know who is going to drop by. Last Thursday, we got a cameo appearance by Wyclef Jean, now a bona fide Haitian presidential candidate. Yesterday, we got your grandma’s favorite game show host, Pat Sajak, analyzing race relations in America. He knows about these things, you see, because he deals with African American contestants on Wheel of Fortune all the time.

A slew of right-of-center websites are promoting a new video of leaked raw footage that alleges “proof” that CBS’ Evening News anchor Katie Couric was mocking then Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on the day she was announced as John McCain‘s running mate.

But what evidence is there that she was making fun of Palin? Not much actually.

Is this a sign that conservatives want to keep Sarah Palin as far away from the 2012 nomination as possible? At the National Review‘s “The Corner” blog, Kevin Williamson sees in the momentum against GOP Chair Michael Steele the possibility of making sure Palin doesn’t run for office again, suggesting that a job based on fundraising would be great for Palin because it would keep her away from policy, “which has not been her forte.”

Ann Coulter has been up to her old tricks for some time, drowning good points in Hitler references and calling people she disagrees with anything from to “drunks” to “horny hicks” to “children.” Apparently this isn’t enough for the Prospect‘s Paul Waldman, who is wondering where Ann Coulter has been since the rise of President Obama.

If you were one of those people that looked up at the Minnesota “Miss Me Yet?” billboard with a heart heavy with nostalgia, maybe it’s time to start checking Facebook more often– and not just for it’s premiere columnist Sarah Palin. Former President George W. Bush began what appears to be a series of Facebook “video addresses” yesterday, to keep his fans updated with the latest news on his life, including his book, his Haiti benefit project, and his love of Texas.

Pop quiz! What does John Stossel think of Rand Paul’s alleged (now debunked) opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act? Take three guesses. Stossel came out in completely predictable form today, asserting he was in “full agreement” with Paul’s belief that private businesses should be allowed to discriminate against anyone, including himself and America Live host Megyn Kelly.

Do you ever wonder why it’s always that one conservative aunt that forwards you those chain emails about Barack Obama‘s secret plot to turn America into a socialist utopia? Salon‘s perusal of internet rumors in the last decade shows that conservatives are both more likely to spread false rumors about liberals via fowarded emails that liberals are about their opponents.

It isn’t the first time Fox News is accused of conservative bias, but this may be one of the wackier theories on how they do it. Today on America Live, Megyn Kelly hosted a discussion on protests in the media and, rather than attack their TV personalities for positive Tea Party coverage, radio host Mark Levine argued that FNC’s cameramen engaged in partisan cinematography to make illegal immigration protesters appear violent.