It turns out that Texas Gov. Rick Perry doesn’t just have trouble remembering lists of three. In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Wednesday afternoon, the forgetful former frontrunner had trouble remembering just one conservative website, the Michelle Malkin-founded, Ed Morrissey-run Hot Air. Discussing a possible path to victory in Iowa, Perry told Blitzer he had seen a poll “off the internet. I think ‘Hot Gas’ was the site.”

In a somewhat scary development for first-term Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren‘s campaign has just released its first fundraising numbers since she joined the race, and the trend is stark. Warren raised $3.15 million since August 30, while Scott Brown, who already had a substantial fundraising lead on Warren, took in only $1.55 million. Warren’s haul and her performance in early polls have at least one conservative wondering if Republican fundraising committees should cut bait on Brown.

Several conservative blogs have taken note of a campaign email, from Obama For America Texas Campaign Director Hector Nieto, that asks Texans to submit their choices for “which part of Rick Perry‘s record you’d most like to see him held accountable for.”

Conservative blogs are interpreting this as an oppo research fishing expedition, but given the staggering resources at OFA’s disposal, it’s hard to imagine that this is anything other than a fundraising come-on.

The Center of the Political Universe this past week, Iowa, produced great quantities of news (of debatable value), and while the biggest culinary star to emerge from the festivities was the Iowa State Fair’s deep-fried butter on a stick, conservative sites are noting that it’s the corndog who is getting the most face time in news photos with Republican candidates. It was the photo of Gov. Rick Perry tearing into one of the crunchy, meaty treats, though, that was the last straw for some conservative bloggers.

On Friday, we reported that Economist and Rutgers associate business professor Susan Feinberg busted Rep. Paul Ryan’s chops over his dinner tab at Washington’s Bistro Bis, confronting the Congressman after his meal for partaking in $350-a-bottle wine, while his party seeks painful cuts to government programs for senior citizens and the poor. On Monday, liberal radio and TV host Thom Hartmann interviewed Ms. Feinberg about her wine-sleuthing, meal-interrupting ways.

Sarah Palin‘s “One Nation” bus tour appeared to have gotten off to a false start yesterday as a member of the pro-veterans organization Rolling Thunder went on NBC to denounce her presence at an upcoming event of theirs, claiming no one had invited her. Turns out, as per organization spokesperson Christine Colborne, Palin had been invited, but had RSVP’d too soon for the group to announce her arrival to all its members.

President Obama’s lack of experience with royalty was on full display today in England as he mistakenly began a toast to the Queen of England at the wrong time, resulting in “God Save the Queen” blaring over his words and no one getting to drink what was in their cups. Awkward.

Former RNC Chair Michael Steele is negotiating a deal to become a contributor for MSNBC, according to The Hill. Steele had hinted to a future in cable news since his defeat in the national party elections earlier this year, and had been making appearances on the network, most notably with Rachel Maddow and most loudly with Ed Schultz.

Former Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is about to get the tabloid documentary treatment from E!, according to the network. A network spokesperson tells Mediaite the E! True Hollywood Story: Sarah Palin is set to air April 24.

Known for dramatic tales of celebrity murder mysteries, and the cautionary tales of porn stars and child actors, the E! True Hollywood Story is more about celebrity than politics.

A diverse gaggle of online media outlets (from Drudge and Hot Air to Wonkette and HuffPo) are enamored with the idea that a series of 2007 speeches that Joe Biden gave regarding the possible impeachment of George W. Bush are now applicable to President Obama‘s Libya policy.With varying degrees of shrillness, they’re playing “Gotcha!” with Biden’s promise that a unilateral move to war with Iran would be met with impeachment, and applying that promise to Obama’s Libya policy.

During Wednesday morning’s edition of Fox & Friends, co-anchor Brian Kilmeade offered compelling evidence that the pro-union protesters in Wisconsin are swimming against the tide of popular sentiment, in the form of a Gallup poll which Fox claimed showed 61% of Wisconsonians favor restricting collective bargaining rights. The actual poll says the opposite. (h/t Media Matters)

Video game Medal of Honor, set during the current Afghanistan conflict, allows gamers to play as Taliban fighters. Gold Star Mom Karen Meredith took to Fox News over the weekend to express her displeasure over the game, calling it disrespectful.

In response, a blogger at Hot Air knocked Fox, and presented a rather tone-deaf rebuttal.

Early yesterday evening, the biggest victory in the Afghanistan War quietly slinked onto the internet– brought to you by the site made famous for sending a fake pimp and prostitute to expose ACORN’s shady ties to child sex trafficking. Big Government exclusively broke the news that Taliban leader and close Osama bin Laden ally Mullah Mohammed Omar had been captured by Pakistani authorities, but with no further evidence than the words of “key intelligence sources,” they’re going to have to do a better job of convincing the media that the story is true.

The Congressional Budget Office released its preliminary estimate of the Senate health care bill yesterday. Upon the report’s release, conservative bloggers and pundits began trying to discredit the CBO, saying that the office allows Democrats to cook the numbers and its estimates are often not a good indicator of reality. And if the CBO is so unreliable, then these bloggers wouldn’t cite it uncritically when it favors their positions, right?

The Minnesotan billboard caper plot thickens. It took a few weeks of anonymity to discover the culprit’s of last month’s mystery, where a jovial George W. Bush waved at commuters on Interstate 35 with a caption asking “Miss Me Yet?” This time around, however, it isn’t so much of a joke as a direct conservative message: “Remember Real Hope and Change?” it asks, with a picture of Ronald Reagan in a cowboy hat.

Thanks to Senator Jim Bunning the nation is becoming acquainted with the ins and outs of the dark side of the filibuster. This despite the fact that what Bunning is doing is not technically a filibuster. Nevertheless! Bunning, thanks to a general ignorance of the term filibuster, is giving filibustering a bad name!

On Wednesday night’s Countdown, Keith Olbermann called out several conservative blogs for responding to his Special Comment about the Tea Party’s lack of diversity (without addressing similar charges leveled at his own network). One of the blogs he called out was Hot Air, so I thought I would give Ed Morrissey the chance to respond to Olbermann.

CPAC hasn’t even officially started and already its making news. Mediaite has learned that leading center-right web site Hot Air has been acquired by Salem Communications for an undisclosed sum. Sources close to the deal claim that Michelle Malkin, the conservative pundit and sole owner of Hot Air, has been in talks with Salem for some time, but the announcement was timed to coincided with the Conservative Political Action Conference, which opens tomorrow in Washington D.C.

This morning, we told you about Ellie Light — the fake or maybe-not-fake woman (or man or group?) who had an identical Letter to the Editor published in nearly 50 newspapers around the U.S. in defense of President Obama. The Cleveland Plain Dealer, who originally had the story, thought they figured it out — then, Gawker did. We’re still confused.

In a story picking up steam in the conservative blogosphere — even scoring a segment on Hannity last night (video below) — a frequent Letter to the Editor writer Ellie Light has had submissions appear in numerous newspapers around the country in support of President Obama. First reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Light’s identity remains a mystery though she’s claims, “I’m only me,” unlikely to satisfy many who remain suspicious.

Newspapers are dying, magazines are dying: this is the story of 2009 where the media is concerned. However, the future of media, such as it is, does not look quite so dim. Or dim at all, really. Obviously, the brave new media world that we are slowly moving into (some at a quicker pace than others!) will look entirely different in twelve months’ time, likely in large part due to the efforts of the folks we listed on our online editors of the year poll. So who gets the final nod? Our picks below: feel free to add yours in the comments section.

The new year is as good a time as any for the Obama administration to rework the current media narrative on their policies. And as we’ve learned over and over again in politics, repetition is key, especially when it comes to language. And so now, the Obama administration is pushing a new term, currently building buzz, and bound to be heard incessantly in the coming days and weeks: “hard pivot.” But is it an admission of failure?

The year 2009 had many media bright spots, break-out stars, dominating networks and game-changing technologies. The Mediaite 50 collects the finest, most exemplary innovators and influencers of the year, defining a media moment in time and setting the agenda as we move forward. See the full list after the jump:

If 2009 was a tough year for magazines and newspapers — and boy, was it ever — it was a bang-up year for the editors of the blogs listed here. Now we are asking you, our loyal, smart, and attractive readers to share your thoughts on who had the biggest year in the Online Editor category:

At 3pmET Mediaite’s own Managing Editor Colby Hall will be appearing with intrepid Washington, D.C. reporter Tommy Christopher on The Ed Morrissey Show with the noted Hot Air blogger. We will discuss the Mediaite Top 50, as well as talk about the top stories of the year, and the innovative first year of Mediaite.