There were no shortage of media disaster’s this year: from a politician threatening to kill a reporter, a movie star threatening to kill his ex-girlfriend, a Prime Minister killing his own political career, and a CEO trying to “top kill” an oil spill, there’s lots of lighthearted embarrassment and shame to go around.

Here, without further ado, are 2010′s ten worst media disasters:

Jasiri X, the Pittsburgh rapper who last asked the musical question “What if the Tea Party Was Black?” has dropped another topical hip-hop track that manages to avoid the gender-based political attacks that are all the rage right now. “Republican Woman” references the widely-reported trend of high-profile women in GOP politics, but manages to keep its barbs gender-neutral.

It’s also drop-dead funny. (h/t Davey D)

We hear, and write, a lot about certain candidates during this 2010 election cycle, and its not just the ones who are in hotly contested races.

No, we like to hear about the characters – the fun ones. Which of these actually have a chance to win? We ranked them all, based on polls, momentum and more, using what we’re calling the “Minnesota Scale”.

For better of worse nothing fires up Maureen Dowd like powerful women. In today’s column her sights are set on the ‘Republican Mean Girls.’ In other words, Sarah Palin‘s Mama Grizzlies. Perhaps not surprisingly she has some rather mean words for this group (in the words of Drudge: MAUREEN DOWD UNLEASHED)

The Daily Show returned from break last night, and host Jon Stewart used the occasion to catch up on some of the political news of the day. And as he is wont to do, his cultural viewfinder was not biased in finding targets for mockery: Barack Obama‘s new stimulus plan for renewing America’s infrastructure was derided for sounding suspiciously similar to Obama’s last stimulus bill that planned for upgrading America’s infrastructure. And Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s debate…moment was used as an example of…well, the political world in which we now find ourselves.

I guess cojones can only get you so far. Last night, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer stumbled through her first gubernatorial debate with current Arizona Attorney Gen. Terry Goddard. Stumbled is putting mildly. Ben Smith described it as being like “an anxiety dream” and Seth Meyers noted “Other than every single part of it, Jan Brewer’s opening statement last night was pretty good.”

Sarah Palin made her first TV appearance tonight since crudely asserting that President Obama lacked the testicular fortitude to run the country, and she’s standing by her (vulgar Spanish) word. Talking to Sean Hannity, she explained that she said it “in this context:” that Arizona government Jan Brewer was showing the “guts” that the President is not. She also called him “complacent” and “over his head.”

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?

Here is further proof that Sarah Palin is some sort of political, media genius. Any other politician in the country who announced on a nationally televised Sunday morning talk show that the President of the United States didn’t have “the cojones” that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewster has when it comes to taking on immigration would likely be forced to apologize within 24 hours. Sarah Palin, meanwhile, has probably just inspired a new t-shirt line.

Earlier today, Federal Judge Susan Bolton granted an injunction that blocks the most controversial part of the recently passed Arizona Immigration Law. Governor Jan Brewer, who in many ways has became the face of this issue, claimed “today the federal government got relief from the courts to not to do their jobs.” She defiantly used the court injunction to call out her political foes, adding the feds need “to step and do the job that they have the responsibility to do for the people of America and for the people of Arizona.”

If President Obama‘s is looking for a chance to add his own contribution to the growing canon of political YouTube videos filmed along the Arizona – Mexico border, this may be his chance. In an interview this morning with Jake Tapper on This Week Sen. John McCain invited President Obama to visit the Arizona border.

In a burst of common sense, or perhaps with an eye to his Hispanic voters, Sen. John McCain gently pushed back against Gov. Jan Brewer‘s assertion that the majority of illegal immigrants crossing the Mexican border were involved in the drug trade.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who is up for election this November, is throwing her hat in the ring of YouTube campaign commercials. Brewer, perhaps taking a page from John McCain, filmed her new spot 80 miles from the AZ border in front of new signs erected by the Federal government warning visitors traveling that in the desert is not safe because it is a “active drug and human smuggling area.”

In a recent debate, Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona commented that she believed illegal immigrants were mostly not coming into America for the jobs– most were here for representing drug cartels. Today, she added to those comments, claiming that a majority of illegal immigrants are “under the direction of drug cartels.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sparked new controversy over Arizona’s so-called “Show me your papers” law when her announcement (during a June 8 interview on Ecuadoran TV) that the Department of Justice would be suing the state of Arizona reached Governor Jan Brewer last week. The debate carried over to ABC’s This Week, where Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren (who sparred with Mediaite over the issue on Friday) made an excellent point.

This morning, Mediaite columnist Tommy Christopher took issue with some comments Greta Van Susteren made last night on her Fox News program about the White House’s response to the controversial Arizona immigration law– namely, that Van Susteren seemed to express little concern with the possibility that the law may be unconstitutional. Van Susteren, understandably, begged to differ, and suggested Christopher “take the potato out of his ear.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made news yesterday when Arizona Governor Jan Brewer noticed a statement that Clinton made in a June 8 interview with an Ecuadoran TV station. Secretary Clinton revealed that the Department of Justice will be filing a lawsuit challenging Arizona’s so-called “Show Me Your Papers” law. A DOJ spokesman wouldn’t confirm this, saying “The department continues to review the law.”

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has proven to be very no-nonsense when it comes to the illegal immigration problem in her state, and in a recent interview with her state’s local ABC affiliate, she showed she didn’t even spare the children of illegal immigrants who may have been born in America. Asked about how to solve the problem of mixed-status families, Brewer answered: “They can take their children back with them.”

It’s been a huge week all around on Larry King Live, but no interview has been bigger during this birthday week than sitting down President Barack Obama to talk about the barrage of problems that have hit his administration in the past few months. And, predictably, the pressure is bringing out a side to the President we had yet to see: his angry side.

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer met with President Obama in the Oval Office today in what she described as a “very cordial” discussion regarding her state’s controversial new immigration law. Afterward she took questions from various members of the press; when asked if Obama had read the law, she did not answer, choosing only to smile knowingly.

Embattled, and wildly cheerful, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer appeared on On the Record with Greta Van Susteren last night to discuss her upcoming meeting with President Obama later today. Oh to be a fly on the wall for that meeting! Interestingly, Brewer says the meeting was scheduled at the last-minute and that she was looking forward to meeting with the President, noting that this wasn’t her first ride in the Oval Office “rodeo.”

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and TV personality Sarah Palin have thrown down the gauntlet in an epic smackdown of opponents of Arizona’s new immigration law that allows officers to ask for identification when probable cause of illegal immigrant status exists. Enlisting the help of Kermit one of those frogs Lady Gaga wore as a dress once, they’ve created an instructional children’s sing-along to teach kids that reading is good!– which is why opponents of the Arizona law just don’t do it.

With all the controversy surrounding the illegal immigration bill she signed several weeks ago, it’s surprising we haven’t seen more of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. She came out swinging on Thursday in an interview with Greta Van Susteren, accusing the federal government of negligence with the illegal immigration and expressing frustration at the lack of communication between Phoenix and Washington.

Arizona’s sports franchises have surprisingly been dragged into the debate around the controversial new immigration law, showing that when political issues so pervade a community, a sports franchise — from the owner to the players — can’t pretend they are somehow above or below the fray.

Something strange is happening in the wild west these days. Out in Arizona, the negative reaction from the recently signed immigration act has led to demonstrations against even those partially affiliated, and and it seems that everyone from local sports teams to not really local Iced Tea companies have been put into odd positions of politics.