Jesse Jackson, Sr. is worried for the safety of the President. The Reverend made his way to Martin Bashir‘s show today, where he was asked to comment on Republican disrespect of the president. And while the conversation began on the topic of acceptable political discourse, literally within the same sentence Jackson turns around and warns of the possibility that “somebody shoots an AK-47 in the White House.” Huh?

On Thursday night’s Politics Nation, host Al Sharpton called out Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer‘s disrespectful conduct toward President Obama during their tarmac tussle, connecting it to a pattern of such contemptuous behavior by Republican leaders. Sirius XM radio host Joe Madison gave it a name, saying that there are people “who cannot stand the fact that this is an african-american who is now one of the most powerful individuals on the planet.”

Bernie Goldberg and Bill O’Reilly are longtime critics of the New York Times for much of their coverage of politics, and for what they perceive to be an unacceptable left-wing slant. On tonight’s Factor, Goldberg noted that a number of conservative attacks on President Obama have been deemed “racist” by the left– when, in his perception, the left gets no such scrutiny when they attack black Republicans.

Rep. Jeff Landry held his own quiet little protest last night during President Obama’s big jobs talk. Following not in the footsteps of Rep. Joe Wilson (who was seated two rows ahead of him), the Louisiana representative sat quietly through the speech, holding a sign that read: “DRILLING = JOBS.”

“THE RATE at which a person can mature is directly proportionate to the embarrassment he can tolerate,” said the great American inventor, Douglas Engelbart. *** REALLY? Well, I hate to disagree with a famous brain, but if we were to take Mr. Engelbart at his word, the entire GOP (especially since the election of Barack [...]

Hot on the heels of her “I am not a witch” campaign ad, and just in time for Halloween, Herobuilders.com is offering Christine O’Donnell witch dolls for the collectible price of $39.95. The site also offers an “Executive” version of the doll, in a smart business suit, for $29.95. If you live in a cave, the doll is a spoof of O’Donnell’s now-infamous claim to have “dabbled in witchcraft” as a teenager.

The dolls just went on sale today, so when we contacted Herobuilders owner Emil Vicale, he was shocked to learn that his creation had already been featured in The New York Daily News. While he didn’t have any sales figures yet, he did give us some indications of the doll’s possible success.

Remember, folks, you heard it here first. With the historic passage of health care reform last night, the Democrats’ fate in the midterms is in their own hands. If you take Republicans at their word, they stand ready to help the Democrats maintain or increase their Congressional majorities.

According to MSNBC’s Luke Russert, pro-life Democrat Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), who held out until the last minute for more restrictive language on federal funding for abortion, was called a “baby-killer” as he spoke on the House floor tonight. The video of the report after the jump.

On Studio B today, Shep Smith discussed Chief Justice Roberts’ response to President Obama’s SOTU with Judge Andrew Napolitano, who took a rather hard line…against Roberts. Saying, basically, that while it’s nothing new for the President to criticize SCOTUS (at all), it is not okay for any member of the Supreme Court to publicly reply. At all. It’s “unheard of” for the court to reply, says Napolitano.

Considering how many speeches President Obama has made in the last twelve months it’s hard to get too worked up about tonight’s State of the Union. Nevertheless, it’s technically Obama’s first, and filled with pomp and circumstance. Moreover, who knows what Joe Wilson may or may not holler? Some predictions.

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.

Despite the Obama administration’s various bailout plans people are still struggling, and there is the strong things may remain this way for longer than predicted. So who’s fault is this? President Obama, has apparently pinpointed his own culprit: the media.

President Obama sometimes doesn’t have a lot of luck when it comes to timing. Once again a major Obama initiative (China) has been seemingly trumped by spectacle (Palin). Moreover, the White House apparently feels that the coverage they did get Stateside was ‘asinine.’

We all know the stars of the House of Representatives – Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, John Boehner.

But every few weeks one of the 435 other congressmen and congresswomen bubble up and into the media spotlight – and now it’s Rep. Anh Joseph Cao‘s turn.

Whether it was in front of Congress or screaming 20-something year olds at the Video Music Awards, if we’ve learned anything this year…it’s that interruptions are the way to get things done. We wonder if the new viral video of an interruption of a very different sort will help propel gay marriage?

While direct comparisons between Rep. Alan Grayson’s (D-FL) now-infamous “Die Quickly!” screed and Joe Wilson’s “You lie!” don’t hold much water, the two incidents do share one thing in common. They have both given new meaning to the phrase “money quote” – both have used their instant notoriety to raise campaign funds.

An unknown Democratic Congressman from Florida made his celebrity debut on the House floor and in front of CSPAN cameras this week, and since then it’s become the sound bite everyone’s discussing (video after the jump). Representative Alan Grayson of the ninth district has now reached political celebrity because of his sarcastic rant describing the Republican health care plan, which went a little like this:

Considering President Obama is doing five Sunday shows this week, plus Letterman on Monday, it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that the press appears to be ready to dust off and cart out the “Obama media saturation” meme. But will overexposure be to blame if Obama can’t change the health care debate this weekend?

President Obama just can’t seem to catch a break when it comes to holding the nation’s attention with details of his health care plan. Perhaps the President should embrace an ‘if you can’t beat’em, join’em’ mentality and stage his own outburst. It may be a good last resort before all is lost. Consider this.

This week was full of shout-outs, mostly of the incongruous, impolite variety. First Joe Wilson at the Obama’s joint-session health care talk. Then Kanye West at last night’s Video Music Awards. And somewhere in the middle, Serena Williams did a little shouting-out of her own. In this video, Kanye and Wilson collide.

Remember back in kindergarten when the teacher would give you a time out for disrupting the class? Apparently the U.S. government still views said strategy as effective.