While the world was freaking out about the Jimmy Hoffa Voter Encouragement Crisis/Incendiary Rhetorapocalypse, Vice President Joe Biden was firing up a Labor Day crowd in Cincinnati with a reference to “Barbarians at the Gate.” Conservative websites like Newsbusters are pointing out that Biden’s remark received little coverage, and oddly, so is liberal website Crooks and Liars. In the spirit of bipartisanship, I’m going to agree that Biden’s remarks deserve more attention.

Amid the white hot coverage of MSNBC’s indefinite suspension of Countdown host Keith Olbermann, furious speculation has emerged. Is this Olbermann’s Waterloo? Does Keith still have the juice to weather the maelstrom? Does the whole thing scream “Comcastic?”

One wrinkle that hasn’t been explored: Could the whole thing be a publicity stunt? Was 11/5 an inside job?

There was a bit of an uproar recently when some left of center websites a suggested that CNN was “pimping” the Great American “Tea Party Express PR and Propaganda Tour.” Many thought CNN’s motivation was to promote the Tea Party tour, but rather, to be in the right place at the right time when something juicy happens. As it turns out, reporting by conservative Newsbusters seems to confirm elements of liberal Crooks and Liars‘ thesis, or at the very least, that CNN is trying to have it both ways.

When I saw this post at liberal blog Crooks and Liars alleging that CNN is “pimping” the “Great American Tea Party Express PR and Propaganda Tour,” I thought perhaps I had stumbled onto an explanation for all the Erick Erickson-related craziness this week. First, CNN hires the incendiary Redstate blogger, then they hit the road with the Tea Party Express? Is this a bid to peel off some Fox News viewers?

Mediaite called the showdown between Fox News and the Obama administration back in mid-August. Now that it’s officially here, heralded by an attack-dog performance by White House Communications Director Anita Dunn on Reliable Sources, what does it mean? And which side, if either, will ultimately come out on top? A roundup of pundit reactions from the blogosphere and beyond:

It’s 1993 again! Last night, Countdown fill-in host Lawrence O’Donnell ran a segment on the “vast right-wing conspiracy.” Riffing off of Bill Clinton’s Sunday Meet the Press appearance, in which the former president said that the conspiracy is “as virulent as it was” during his presidency, but not as big, O’Donnell went one further and said it was bigger and nastier. Does the claim hold up?