It’s with mixed emotions that I bid farewell to the thrilling role of Managing Editor at Mediaite. While I am very excited about my new opportunity on the digital side of corporate media behemoth Clear Channel (the details of which will be forthcoming in the next week or so), I am sad to walk away from this labor of love, overseeing an influential and successful site and playing the part of post-modern disc jockey to the daily political news narratives that makes up the media zeitgeist.

On Sunday morning’s Reliable Sources, host Howard Kurtz and panel discussed the debut of Keith Olbermann‘s Countdown II: The Wrath of KO, and former Mediaite-er Glynnis MacNicol made a great observation about Olbermann’s ostensible olive branch to former colleague Rachel Maddow. She noted that Olbermann’s strategic demonization of MSNBC (noted here awhile back) doesn’t seem to be working, and that his decision not to overlap with Maddow’s show could represent a step away from that strategy.

Earlier today, Media Matters reported that Glenn Beck’s radio show had lost enough stations that he could no longer claim, as he does on his website, that the show is “heard on over 400 stations.” However, it appears they got some of their math wrong. This is terrible, terrible news, obviously. This means that, for the next three weeks, we’re going to have to listen to Beck go on and on about how Media Matters has “86 employees trying to get me and they still can’t get their facts right!” I’m OD’ing on smugness just thinking about it.

On Monday night’s Countdown, host Keith Olbermann highlighted a screenshot from Glenn Beck‘s website that featured an unfortunate juxtaposition: a photo depicting Beck saying “We must stand together against all violence,” and on the left sidebar, a picture of Beck holding a semiautomatic pistol. The image, first captured by Media Matters‘ Angelo “StopBeck” Carusone, has since been taken down out of “respect” for the events of this weekend, according to former Mediaite-ite Glynnis MacNicol.

Is WikiLeaks founder and controversial truth-sharer/terrorist Julian Assange currently in New York City? So claims the Twitter feed of the NY Daily News who have reported that someone resembling the man for which there is an outstanding Interpol arrest warrant is “at a bar in lower manhattan,” with “a shaved head and was wearing glasses.” One is reminded of the classic horror movie device when the police have traced the phone line of the alleged killer and tell the potential victims “the call is coming from inside your house!”

It was a bittersweet day on Mediaite Office Hours, as Glynnis MacNicol hosted her final show before she exits Mediaite on Sunday.

But it was sweet because Glenn Beck stopped by to say goodbye. Really!

Mediaite Office Hours is has a great show and a new time today from Livestream.com – at 2:30pmET, with MSNBC’s Dylan Ratigan, Ashley Madison President and CEO Noel Biderman and author Dan Fost. And a special surprise for Glynnis’ last show!

Mediaite Office Hours is back today with a great show from Livestream.com at 3:15pmET – with CNN’s Candy Crowley, CNBC’s Darren Rovell and more!

Mediaite Office Hours is back today with a great show from Livestream.com at 3pmET – with NBC’s Hoda Kotb, author Paul David Pope, Jose Simian talking Chilean miners and a surprise guest!

After a couple month hiatus, Mediaite Office Hours is back today! We’ll be coming to you from Livestream.com at 3pmET – with FNC’s Greta Van Susteren, MSNBC’s Willie Geist and Time magazine’s James Poniewozik. There’s certainly a lot to talk about.

On Saturday, an estimated 175-200k people gathered on the National Mall for the “One Nation Rally,” a progressive reply to the Tea Party movement, and to Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally. There are some, including our resident Glenn Beck expert (Beckspert?) Glynnis MacNicol, who are characterizing this rally as a failure. In fairness to the rally’s critics, this is something of a self-inflicted wound for “One Nation’s” organizers, who have elected to use “Restoring Honor” as their yardstick. Be that as it may, there are several important things to consider when judging the rally’s relative success.

Two years ago Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer and I — all working for different organizations back then — had just wrapped up two weeks in Denver and/or Minneapolis for the Democratic and then the Republican National Convention. Obama had blown the roof of Invesco Field, and the Sarah Palin blew the roof off that with her nomination and killer speech (and made me blow a gasket). Looking through a gallery of pictures from that time, it all seemed so long ago, like from another era. Two years ago, no one could have predicted that, as between Obama and Sarah Palin, it would be the latter who would dominate on Facebook and Twitter (remember how avante-garde it was for not-yet-President Barack Obama to announce his selection of Joe Biden as VP via text message? Back then it seemed like a BFD). Come to think of it, everything seems different now except for Sarah Palin – looking at her blithely making that speech, blaming the media for being mean to her even when she refused to sit for a Sunday morning show (she still hasn’t), or any interview (except for Fox and Oprah, has she since Katie Couric?). Her demeanor has been pretty unshakable through these last 2 years – you can say one thing for Sarah Palin that you can’t say for Obama – with her, you know exactly what you are going to get.

Glenn Beck is hosting his “Restoring Honor” Rally today on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and thanks to the folks at MSNBC.com (!) everyone can watch the video via live streaming video. Mediaite’s Glynnis MacNicol, Steve Krakauer, Tommy Christopher and Michael Tripplet are all in attendance and plan to file reports throughout the day.

Whether you’re a fan of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin or not, it is a fairly indisputable fact that she lacks testes, as does Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. The second thing that came to mind when I read Palin’s cojone baloney, then, was this: When attempting to describe Brewer’s alleged courage, why did Palin feel the need to confer new gonads upon the Arizona Governor, as though she was playing pin the tail on the donkey? Hasn’t this sexist trope been hiding (or hanging) in plain sight for long enough?

Glynnis MacNicol noted that yesterday’s daily Daily Caller Journolist leak deviated from previous entries, in that it was simply a “dump” of emails on the subject of Trig Palin, with no accompanying editorial content. While the posting drew a sharp rebuke from Sarah Palin, it made me wonder why Daily Caller wouldn’t have hyped these more, since assaults on Trig figure to outrage pretty much everyone. A cynical person might say it was to avoid a headline like this.

If you have been following the New Black Panther story on Fox News, you probably know it as the “DOJ Whistleblower Case,” a frame that suggests that J. Christian Adams is just an ordinary public servant, pushed to extraordinary lengths by his noble conscience. While he doesn’t quite fit that bill, US Commission on Civil Rights Vice Chair Abigail Thernstrom comes a lot closer. An American Enterprise Institute scholar (and a Republican), Thernstrom has gone from warning that Adams’ case is “fantasy,” to sounding the alarm that her own commission is engaging in a fraud. (h/t Doug Mataconis)

This week marks the one year anniversary of the launch of Mediaite, and what a year it has been. As Dan Abrams notes, predictions of Mediaite’s doom were greatly exaggerated, and as Mediaite columnist and White House reporter from Day One, I have viewed the site’s successful first year from a unique perch. When Rachel Sklar pitched the site to me, I have to confess I was a little bit skeptical, but it didn’t take long for me to see that she and Dan were on to something.

Mediaite Office Hours is live today from Livestream.com today at 3pmET – with CNN anchor/correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNBC’s Darren Rovell and Politico’s Patrick Gavin. There’s certainly a lot to talk about.

It is hard to believe it’s been a full year since our newbie website with the awkward-sounding name was welcomed to the blogosphere with accolades such as “sounds…like something you’d give to a toddler suffering diarrhea,” or “no one really cares about the business and personalities behind the media,” or my personal favorite, “Mediaite feels a bit doomed.” Ah, yes — that honeymoon period was so sweet. We all love to curl up with the scrapbook and reminisce about the early days.

On a beach? Relaxing at home? Wondering how to spend your post-BBQ stupor? Here is some patriotic Fourth of July weekend reading from Mediaite’s staff, columnists and contributors. Enjoy!

Mediaite Office Hours is live today from Livestream.com today at 3pmET – with CNN’s Ali Velshi, John Gapper of the Financial Times, Mediaite columnist Philip Bump and more.

Former Obama administration Special Adviser on Green Jobs (and current Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress) Van Jones would seem to share little common ground with his nemesis, Fox News personality Glenn Beck. Bound together in the “Beat it” video of history as bitter nemeses, I found out last night that they do agree on at least one thing: this website.

Mediaite Office Hours is live today from Livestream.com’s brand new studio at 3pmET, with author David Goodwillie, talk sports with SportsGrid.com and more.

Mediaite Office Hours is live today from Livestream.com’s brand new studio at 3pmET, with Newsday TV critic Verne Gay, New York magazine’s Will Leitch and more.

It’s time for a special edition of Mediaite Office Hours – Book Club is back! We’re live from Livestream.com’s brand new studio, at 3pmET, with authors Katie Rosman, David Sax and Micki Maynard.