Meghan McCain stopped by MSNBC to chat with Thomas Roberts about, among other things, Game Change, the upcoming HBO movie based on a book that professes to offer a deeper look behind the scenes of the 2008 McCain / Palin campaign.

Mitt Romney, for many months, has been considered the inevitable nominee for the Republican Party. That is, until competitors started yo-yoing up and down the polls, and Romney only managed to win New Hampshire and appears poised to lose South Carolina tonight. On her program last night, Rachel Maddow made the point that his New Hampshire win was inevitable, and that he was in more trouble than ever with his economic resume under fire for his time at Bain.

CNN contributor and Editor-in-Chief of Big Journalism Dana Loesch took a lot of flak over the weekend for her declaration of solidarity with the four Marines who videotaped themselves urinating on the corpses of alleged Taliban fighters, in which she said “I’d drop trou and do it too.”

Countdown host Keith Olbermann and liberal watchdog Media Matters, among others, have called for CNN to fire Loesch over the remark, and according to Big Journalism, even Politico is in on the act.

With the 2012 primary elections in full swing, this week brought with it some unfinished business from 2008, as Mike Huckabee opened up a can of worms by suggesting that Sen. John McCain encouraged Fred Thompson to stay in the Republican primary to dilute the Huckabee vote. Sen. McCain denied it, while Thompson essentially called Huckabee a liar, and on Fox & Friends this morning, Huckabee noted that he meant no offense, and was a bit confused as why he had to “apologize for thinking they were smart.”

He kinda did, yeah. On Friday morning’s Fox and Friends, the gang confronted former Sen. Fred Thompson with video of Mike Huckabee‘s accusation that Thompson had remained in the 2008 primary race in South Carolina at Sen. John McCain‘s urging, to take votes away from Huckabee. Thompson denied the accusation, and went a step further, saying he “doubted” Huckabee’s assertion that several McCain aides confirmed the story to him.

Appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman last night, Arizona Senator John McCain nervously squirmed as the late night host asked him questions about the state of the Republican Party.

On Thursday, Senator John McCain sat down with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly to discuss the attacks and accusations being lobbed against Mitt Romney, the candidate he has endorsed, and Bain Capital. McCain criticized Newt Gingrich for disparaging Romney’s time at Bain. “I think that Romney has a basis of support in South Carolina that I think is going to carry him on,” said McCain. “and, in all due respect to Newt Gingrich especially, this is a desperate act. These are desperate times for the Gingrich campaign.”

Meghan McCain is a person who gets paid to think and say intelligent things about politics on cable news. The daughter of Sen. John McCain, who before joining MSNBC was famous for tweeting a provocative photo of her breasts, joined Lawrence O’Donnell last night to discuss her father’s endorsement of Mitt Romney. Other than stating the obvious about Romney (“[his sons] are just perfect and beautiful”) she took the time to call someone else a “moron”– namely, Rick Santorum who, had Sen. McCain endorsed him, “I mean, I’d be, like, slitting my wrists” over it.

Appearing on MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown, Chuck Todd asked Sen. John McCain if Arizona was in play. He took a breath, uncomfortably paused, and told him that it possibly could be soon and that the Republican Party had to “fix our problems with the Hispanics.”

On Wednesday’s edition of Now with Alex Wagner, the eponymous host asked MSNBC commentator Meghan McCain if her party was in crisis. McCain trashed the Iowa caucus and dreaded the rise of surging Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum. “My father did not become the nominee having anything to do with the Iowa caucus. I find it completely irrelevant. If Rick Santorum becomes the nominee of this party, I mean, it is going to be bedlam and hysteria like you have never seen.”

An apparently hyper-caffeinated John McCain gave a lovably corny, joke-laden endorsement of Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, much to chagrin of the Republican hopeful. “We forgot to congratulate him on his landslide victory last night,” McCain snarked as Romney stood uncomfortably.

In what was probably the eighth or ninth iteration of the point-and-laugh-at-Fox White House Christmas card story, MSNBC host Ed Schultz managed to top them all, with an assist from a temporary co-host named Rex. Schultz set up the story by introducing the adorable animal shelter beagle, a stand-in for First Dog Bo Obama, whose presence on the White House card, and on a presidential shopping trip, prompted ridiculous criticism from the likes of Sarah Palin and Sen. John McCain.

Arizona Senator and 2008 Presidential Candidate John McCain was a guest on Fox News Thursday morning, and — even though he’s already home in Arizona — he told Fox and Friends host Brian Kilmeade that he “hopes to be called back to Washington” to work out a compromise on the payroll tax cut standstill. But he doesn’t believe that anything will happen until President Barack Obama steps in and asks Senators and Representatives to come back to D.C. and hammer something out. So far, McCain has not been impressed with the President’s leadership on this issue.

Arizona Senator John McCain appeared on CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer Tuesday and lamented the political impasse over the payroll tax extension. “We have to recognize reality, and that is we are not going to see the payroll tax cut expire on the first of January, and we have to accommodate to that reality,” McCain observed.

During the annual televised phone-in with Russians, Vladimir Putin blamed American special ops for killing Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and inferred Arizona Senator John McCain a war criminal. “Who did this?” Putin said. “Drones, including American ones. They attacked his column. Then − through the Special Forces, who should not have been there − they [...]

Appearing on Fox and Friends Tuesday morning, Sen. John McCain questioned whether Donald Trump‘s planned debate on December 27 would be a good use of candidates’ time, and encouraged the GOP contenders to get their rest instead. “It’s their decision, but I believe that on December 27 on an obscure network, I wonder if that [...]

On CNN’s State of the Union today, Candy Crowley asked Senator John McCain if the Republican party should be worried about courting Hispanic voters in places like his home state of Arizona heading into next year’s presidential election, particularly given the anti-immigration sentiments of many of the candidates. McCain explained the policy of the United States should be “humane” when it comes to dealing with such matters, a word that got Newt Gingrich in hot water with conservatives when he used it about immigration several weeks ago.

Ann Coulter made a hot mess of her Morning Joe appearance today, launching verbal assaults at late Sen. Ted Kennedy and Sen. John McCain, one of which was censored by the show, but neither of which prompted any real-time reaction from host Joe Scarborough. Since then, though without mentioning Coulter, Scarborough has repeatedly tweeted his followers to remind them of his respect for both of his former colleagues.

The news that Newt Gingrich has secured the endorsement of New Hampshire’s Manchester Union Leader seems to have prompted something of a feeding frenzy over at Morning Joe, which spent a large portion of this morning’s episode alternately chomping on the candidacies of endorsee Newt Gingrich and snub-ee Mitt Romney. While tough to narrow down, host Joe Scarborough‘s litany of Gingrich’s “conservative principles” probably cut deepest.

John McCain joined Fox Business Network’s Don Imus on his Imus in the Morning show Monday morning, and, in a nine-minute segment, the duo hit on everything from Pakistan to a plane crash at Superstition Mountain. But McCain and Imus excelled when talking on topics that had a lighter tone; namely, MSNBC’s hiring of the senator’s daughter, Meghan McCain, and the greed associated with college football re-alignment.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the latest in a string of non-Romneys to seize the lead in Republican primary polls, has secured the endorsement of The Manchester Union Leader, the key conservative newspaper in New Hampshire. Although the endorsement itself is about as ringing as an underwater bell, it’s sure to kick off the week with some game-changing media buzz about Gingrich’s shot at the Republican nomination.

Sen. John McCain has been one of the most vocal Republicans speaking out against mistreatment of enemy combatants since the topic became salient once again upon the beginning of the War on Terror and, naturally, he was not happy to see his party so willing to use waterboarding techniques in interrogations in last Saturday’s debate. “Of course I am disappointed,” he told host John King on CNN today, arguing that waterboarding was “an affront to all the standards that we believe in” and clearly illegal as per the Geneva Conventions.

Hot off his performance moderating last night’s Republican debate, National Journal‘s Major Garrett joined Chris Matthews and his fellow panelists in discussing the effect television has on political candidates. Matthews cited Mitt Romney‘s relaxed demeanor during the Republican debates, and wondered how much his appearance would factor into how much voters trust in him and see him as a confident leader. Garrett believed whoever becomes the Republican nominee will have to show they are confident and trustworthy.

Jon Huntsman has been on a quest to reach out to Republican voters who would prefer to see a moderate candidate run against President Obama as opposed to an extremist one with little chance of winning a general election, but he was put on the hot seat about this very issue on Meet the Press today, when David Gregory brought up Huntsman’s glowing speech about 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin at the Republican National Convention three years ago.

Former Saturday Night Live cast member Darrell Hammond is offering a revealing look at his life, career and addiction in his new memoir God, If You’re Not Up There, I’m F*cked. Recently, we told you about his struggles with alcohol and crack cocaine while at SNL. (Everyone’s Reaction: Who didn’t do some form of cocaine while at that show?) But, now, Hammond is digging deeper into his past and allowing viewers a glimpse into a harrowing childhood marked by abuse at the hands of his mother.