The New Year is here, and with it, the annual exercise in futility that is the New Year’s Resolution. As you stare into the abyss of another 365 days in which to improve yourself, it might help you to know that the figures who make Mediaite go ’round have some things to work on, too. Here’s what we think some of them are saying into the mirror this morning.

So, before you try to shake off that Cold Duck and Four Loko hangover and blearily search for a gym membership you can get out of when you get tired of it after 3 sessions, why not check out our list  of New Year’s Resolutions for Everyone Else?

It’s the most wonderful time of the year–a time for sledding, hot cocoa, and very little hot news tidbits. So when Hawaiian governor Neil Abercrombie rekindled the dying embers of the birther fire today, the media leapt up like starved piranhas to nip at the scrap. Would a final investigation bury the birther debate once and for all? Would it discover that the birth certificate that was never actually existed? And, just as importantly, what would Orly Taitz, D.D.S., Esq. have to say?

In a series of separate press releases and tweets by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, the White House seemed to be intent on naming every single supporter of the just-completed compromise on the Bush Tax Cuts, prompting Twitter wags such as Jake Tapper and Dave Weigel to throw out some choice wisecracks.

Gibbs took it in stride, even joking that a press release from fictional former President Josiah Bartlett (D-NBC’s The West Wing) was forthcoming.

Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) is currently the talk of Twitter after someone with access to his account tweeted (uncensored) “U love torturing me with this sh*t.” The tweet was quickly deleted, and an apology issued, but not before the enigmatic missive was widely re-tweeted.

While Dodd’s Twitter feed quickly announced “From Dodd Staff – Apologies to Dodd’s followers, last tweet was not from Chris Dodd,” the errant tweet is already fodder for Twitter jokesters like Slate’s Dave Weigel, who tweeted “Members of all parties can agree that no one should torture Chris Dodd with sh*t. #genevaconventions.”

The real question: where did the tweet come from? (h/t Michelle Malkin)

If you happen to follow a bunch of political and media types, you may have noticed that your Twitter just exploded. That’s because Keith Olbermann just happened to be suspended indefinitely. We’ve collected some of the best reactions from the Twittersphere here. We’ve also excluded all of the Tweets which just said some variation of “Wow.”

Covering the Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on Saturday was an exhausting, frustrating experience. The crowd size made navigation a real challenge, and the press accommodations didn’t really offer anything you couldn’t see on C-Span.

Even so, I managed to get some great pictures, and I ran into a few interesting characters, including Slate’s Dave Weigel. See his take on the rally, and a brief interview with Darth Vader, after the jump.

The strife between Republican establishment candidates and their Tea Party rivals continues as the Republican Congressional leadership warns that it may not support a complete government shutdown. To Keith Olbermann, it’s a sign that, even if they do win in November, the infighting will render the Republican Party unable to govern. To his guest, Slate blogger Dave Weigel, it’s more proof that “Tea Party candidates can do no wrong.”

Cindy Sheehan, who became a vocal and respected anti-war activist after her son was killed in the Iraq war, has declared “I’m a 9/11 Truther, I do think it was an inside job.” Oof. So much for credibility.

Keith Olbermann has found some strange rhetoric in the interior memos of the Joe Miller campaign (who defeated Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the Alaska Republican primary. “So far,” the note explained, “the Lord has always provided the money.” Except there is now evidence that Miller’s campaign has ties to K Street, and he’s not the first Tea Party-affiliated candidate to fall in the grasp of the larger GOP.

It was a more innocent time. Dave Weigel was still writing for The Washington Post, and BP was still just an awful name for a brand of honey. On April 19, 2010, CNN’s Ed Henry sat down for a (much lighter) follow-up to our Inside the White House Press Corps interview. After bravely tackling subjects like Star Wars, tattoos, porn star names, and the then-imminent Lost finale, Ed’s interview promptly vanished into thin air.

Luckily, the video has resurfaced, allowing a nostalgic look back at a bygone era.

Looks like the radioactive Civil Rights Act debate Republican Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul mysteriously generated a few months ago has a longer half-life than expected. In today’s Wall Street Journal, former GOP governor of New Mexico and potential 2012 presidential candidate Gary Johnson attempted to distance himself from Paul’s comments by rejecting the libertarian moniker. Which is funny, because Rand Paul just did the exact same thing.

Defying the advice that it’s better to look for a job while employed, David Weigel is adding Slate to his growing list of jobs after resigning from the Washington Post at the beginning of the Journolist scandal.

In addition to his already announced work for MSNBC, Weigel is now under a one-year contact with WaPo’s corporate sibling Slate to be a political reporter and start a new politics blog, The Upshot’s Michael Calderone is reporting and Weigel confirmed in a tweet.

Colorado Republican Senate candidate Ken Buck got into hot water today as audio was released of him calling Tea Party members and, specifically, birthers, “dumbasses.” For a candidate so popular among the Tea Party, many considered it a major gaffe. Vising Lawrence O’Donnell on Countdown tonight, MSNBC contributor Dave Weigel called his comments “savvy” and argued that “this is what smart Republicans should say.”

The Daily Caller has published the latest of its Daily Journolist Leaks, and this time, the supposed liberal cabal is eating one of their own. Countdown host Keith Olbermann is the subject of this installment, in which the J-listers trash him as “sexist” and “misogynist,” mainly over his treatment of Carrie Prejean and Hillary Clinton. While I disagree with the Daily Caller’s publication of the emails, and their petulant handling thereof, this round also illustrates what pisses me off about Journolist and Olbermann.

The liberal listserv in the news last month whose leaks forced a resignation from The Washington Post‘s Dave Weigel is back today.

Journolist emails about Rev. Jeremiah Wright from during the 2008 presidential election have been published by The Daily Caller. But do they reveal anything?

Dave Weigel has a particularly harsh take on Megyn Kelly‘s driven (some might argue obsessive) coverage of the Black Panthers story. Broadly speaking he thinks Kelly is covering the Panther story because makes for good television. But then he speculates that Kelly may have some darker motives — or at least is creating darker outcomes.

Dave Weigel is guest-blogging (from Alaska!) this week for Andrew Sullivan — an prime guest post if there is one. In one of his posts today he addresses an issue that has come to be synonymous with Sullivan: Trig Palin.

Let’s get one thing out of the way up front. No one doesn’t have an opinion on things they know something about. I may have no opinion on who the best NASCAR driver is (and I don’t) but that would certainly change if I started paying attention to the sport. Coming in to last month, [...]

Every now and again, events transpire to create what could be the perfect and funny headline. Like former US Olympic sprinter Tyson Gay losing a 200 meter race in Eugene, Oregon to Olympic bronze medalist Walter Dix, allegedly because he was tired. The headline writes itself!

On last night’s Countdown, Keith Olbermann awarded Bill O’Reilly the bronze in Worst Persons for accusing liberals of being embittered at the hotness of their “most hated” women. I was all ready for Keith to tee off on O’Reilly for furthering some of the right’s piggish attitudes toward women, and maybe establish the premise that hotness is a prerequisite for conservative women to succeed. Yeah, not so much.

On today’s America Live, Megyn Kelly interviewed a real-life victim of MSNBC contributor Dave Weigel‘s furious private emails, radio host Hugh Hewitt. Hewitt, who Weigel called “buffoonish” in one of the emails leaked last week, fielded questions on Weigel, media bias, and the personal insults towards him, but while Kelly was consistently incensed at Weigel throughout the interview, Hewitt’s response was, at best, tepid.

Andrew Breitbart is going on another spending spree. Pockets heavy with the $100,000 no one collected in exchange for footage that Tea Party protesters shouted racial epithets at black Congressmen, he is now offering the same amount– as well as complete identity protection– to anyone that can find him the complete archives of the now-defunct JournoList, because “Why should Dave Weigel be the only person exposed and humiliated?”

Team Weigel rejoice – it didn’t take Dave Weigel very long to land on his feet after he resigned last week from The Washington Post.

Tonight at the end of Countdown, Keith Olbermann introduced new “MSNBC contributor” Dave Weigel.

That’s the question I’ve been stewing over all day. Who is the gutless piece of crap who leaked Dave Weigel‘s Journolist emails to FishbowlDC and The Daily Caller? While I don’t know that person’s identity, I have a feeling it was someone a good deal less talented, and a great deal less honest, than Weigel.

And the Journolist story has come full circle.

Breaking his silence on the leaks and eventual resignation of his colleague Dave Weigel, Ezra Klein announced the end of Journolist – even though no one on it “did anything wrong.”