This may have gotten a bit lost in 'tickle-fight Tuesday.' While speaking to law students at the University of Alabama yesterday, Chief Justice John Roberts made waves when he pushed back against President Obama's criticism of SCOTUS during January's State of the Union address. Think of it as a very delayed, much subdued, Joe Wilson moment. Here's what he said: (more...)

Probably if President Obama hadn't been averaging one major speech per week for the last twelve months (and at least that as a candidate for the previous two years) than absolutely all eyes would be on the President tonight for the most important speech of his life. But it's hard to get all that worked up about it when the man has been taking over the airwaves on a pretty regular basis for quite some time. One imagines that if tonight doesn't go that well (though the bar has been set fairly low this week) we'll hear from him again in a couple of weeks. (more...)

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. (forget about a big decade, it's been a big year) it does feel like all the big news stories we actually recall in our year-end lists have been a bit...hollow (or bogus, depending). Says Salon's Joan Walsh: (more...)

You don't need us to tell you that the recession is not over. Despite the Obama administration's various bailout plans people are still struggling, and there is the strong sense things may remain this way for longer than predicted. So who's fault is this? Depending on what news source you follow and/or how well-versed you happen to be in the economic history of this country the answers range from Wall St, to Main St., to Reaganomics. President Obama, however, apparently has pinpointed his own culprit: the media. (more...)

President Obama sometimes doesn't have a lot of luck when it comes to timing. First there was Kanye West, followed by Joe Wilson, and now Sarah Palin going Rogue all over the President's Asia trip. Once again a major Obama initiative has been seemingly trumped by spectacle (unless, of course, you are a Time reader). Moreover on top of getting submerged under a bunch of Sarah Palin madness the White House apparently feels that the coverage they did get Stateside was 'asinine.' From today's Playbook: (more...)

video 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. (more...)

When Rep. Joe Wilson did it, he got called a racist. When Kanye West did it, he got called an asshole alcoholic. 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. Wilson's rudeness helped him raise over $1 million big ones for his campaign, and West's hissy fit got him all up in the headlines once again (suspiciously enough just in time for his Fame Kills tour with Lady Gaga, which ended up getting cancelled anyways. Can you say ultimate fail Kanye?). So when Andy Hertzberg proposed to his partner, Andy Rollman, during his testimonial at round two of the Washington D.C. Council meetings on marriage equality, perhaps he had even more of an agenda. Wonder if this interruption will help propel the ruling in favor of equal marriage? Video Clip Below

video 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." (more...)

video A relatively 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:  (more...)

President Obama starts his marathon round of interviews today ahead of Sunday's "el Completo" when he will appear on five networks (but not Fox). On Monday he does Letterman. On Wednesday he addresses the UN. All of this follows last week's joint session address, and this week's 'jackass' remark. So perhaps it shouldn't come as a total surprise that it appears the press is about to dust off and cart out the "Obama media saturation" meme. (more...)

video 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 a '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. (more...)

VIDEO 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. (more...)

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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.

Heckling the President during a joint session of Congress will get you a lot of cable flack, a long conversation with Rahm Emanuel (oh to be a fly on the wall for that chat), raise your Democratic opponent's election funds by about 1000%, AND turn you into an Internet meme. (more...)

Rep. Joe Wilson's outburst of “You lie” at President Barack Obama during his speech to Congress Wednesday has created quite a media stir, and the way that this story unfolds reveal a lot about the health care debate and the odds for a bipartisan solution. But not everyone seems to feel that this is a lead story. Let's take a look at how the websites for the cable news networks chose to cover the story: (more...)

Overlooked in much of the post-speech, "You Lie!" chatter last night was the fact that President Obama also used the word "lie" in his address and not just to describe (smackdown!) Sarah Palin and her death-panel assertions. He also, rather boldly, called out the "bogus claims" of "radio and cable talk show hosts." (more...)

video In what many considered to be a shocking and embarrassing breach of decorum, a Republican House Member, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shouted “You lie” at President Barack Obama during his speech to Congress Wednesday. Democrats AND Republicans were quick to call out his eruption (bipartisanship at last!), and Wilson himself was quick to issue an apology. But on the strange world of the Internet, Joe Wilson's scene appears to have made him an instant hero. (more...)

video "The time for bickering is over. The time for games have passed." President Obama struck a tough tone tonight in his address to a joint session of Congress about Health Care — and got a little of that back courtesy of a heckle from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), who shouted out "You lie!" during Obama's speech, succeeding in getting himself in the first graf of pretty much every story on the matter. (more...)