Today on MSNBC’s Hardball, Chris Matthews tried to debate Salon‘s Joan Walsh and former Gov. Howard Dean that Andrew Breitbart‘s version of the controversial Shirley Sherrod speech was completely unedited. Considering there were about 35 minutes missing from that tape, this was wrong for obvious reasons. But if you caught the 7PM rerun, you wouldn’t have seen that, because Hardball retaped the segment, this time with Matthews admitting the Breitbart version was incomplete.

There has been so much reported on Shirley Sherrod and Andrew Breitbart that it’s hard to believe that there are actually news junkies out there who don’t understand the story, but they apparently exist. What’s harder to imagine is that a television news anchor like Chris Matthews happens to be one of them. In today’s opening segment on Hardball, Matthews debated Howard Dean and Salon Editor-in-Chief Joan Walsh about the tape, and steadfastly refused to believe that Breitbart published an edited version of the clip. Huh?

The Washington Post may be ignoring Salon’s stories on the Arlington Cemetery mismanagement saga, but they will have a hard time ignoring Joan Walsh who launched a Twitter attack last night to air her grievances over WaPo’s alleged snub.

The secondary storyline this week with respect to President Obama and his handling of the BP oil spill appears to be how many Democratic stalwarts turned coat and began to loudly criticize the President in recent days. Salon’s Joan Walsh, meanwhile, thinks the nation should stop looking for a daddy.

It may or may not come to pass that 2009 was the year “real” journalism died (at least as we’ve come to understand the definition). Despite the plethora of hard news stories in 2009: the inauguration of our first black President, the economic collapse, health care reform, the Iran election, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., it does feel like all the big news stories we actually recall in our year-end lists have been a bit…hollow.

David Carr’s latest New York Times column, “Reality TV’s Glare Hits High Office,” has more zingers than Obama has photo ops, as he suggests the president scale back on the “oversharing.” The White House-crashing Salahis are after reality TV fame, but the Obamas have it locked down. But in his criticism of the “Celebrity in Chief,” isn’t he forgetting an important player — namely the press club he’s a valuable member of?

Where were you a year ago today? If you are a political journalist — or media hanger-on — chances are you were living out of a suitcase at the 2008 Presidential Conventions, with the Dems nominating Barack Obama in Denver and the GOP nominating John McCain in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Remember those heady days?

What’s the difference between a Web magazine and a Web publication? We’re not 100 percent sure either. But apparently Web magazines harbor ineffectually bloated staffs and when before they turn into Web publications they have to give a few beloved staffers the axe — at least, according to Salon.