In an interview with Fox News host Jon Scott, Chris Wallace walked back his earlier remarks to Neil Cavuto that if Ron Paul wins the Iowa caucuses, it will discredit the contest. “Now, Ron Paul’s fans are legion and they are very vocal. I’m sure your e-mail box has been overflowing with reaction to that comment!” Scott exclaimed.

Libertarian energizer bunny Ron Paul‘s presidential campaign is getting more than enough media coverage according to radio host Alan Colmes. Fox News host Jon Scott noted that Paul was polling 2nd in Iowa with 18%, ahead of Mitt Romney in a new Des Moines Register poll and asked Colmes if the plucky free-market firebrand was being overlooked by reporters. “I don’t agree with the premise, he’s in every debate, I have him on my radio show a lot, I’ve seen a number of segments not just here about how the media doesn’t talk about Ron Paul well they’re talking about Ron Paul!” argued Colmes. “People know who he is if you’re following this stuff and that’s maybe one of the reasons why he’s doing well because people do know who he is and he does resonates with a good percentage of the Republican electorate. I don’t think he can get the nomination because he deviates too far from establishment Republicanism: anti-war, legalized drugs, whole series of positions that are too libertarian for the Republican Party but here we are giving him media attention about not giving him media attention!”

With today being the first time weekly media criticism program Fox News Watch got to discuss it, the top of the program was devoted to the Herman Cain sexual harassment scandal. After going through the more bizarre elements of the story– the fact that, despite 50 stories on it in Politico, no one has any details; the seemingly botched response from the campaign– they turned to the commentary on the story, and neither Judith Miller nor Alan Colmes had anything positive to say about Ann Coulter taking the opportunity to tout the superiority of “our blacks” this week.

It appears that Fox News is not ready to take Media Matters’ “victory lap” over Glenn Beck‘s departure this week lying down. In fact, half of today’s Fox News Watch was dedicated to MMFA’s “guerrilla warfare,” and questioning whether their tax-exempt status was fair given the feud.

Well, this is an interesting theory: On Fox News Watch today, the round table panel got to take their first shot of making sense of “Weinergate,” the bizarre mystery surrounding a lascivious photo that appeared on Rep. Anthony Weiner‘s Twitter account. The strangest part of the whole affair has been the aggressive and confusing way Rep. Weiner has approached the media, and it led panelist Jim Pinkerton to conclude today that “Weiner is actually enjoying this.”

And now for some vitally important news, a brave television news reporter in Indiana dropped everything to rescue a bunch of ducklings that were trapped in a storm drain. Fox News anchor Jon Scott reports that the “mother was quacking for help” and the fearless reporter made the decision to answer the call.

It’s not even summer 2011 and the media is already having a ton of fun with potential presidential candidates from 2012– perhaps a little too much fun. Citing media figures comparing candidates to, among other things, dogs and clowns, the Fox News Watch round table evaluated whether candidates were being treated fairly, if not kindly, by most media sources.

For the uninitiated Fox News Watch is a weekend news program that covers the media coverage of the past week’s events; its ostensibly the FNC answer to CNN’s Reliable Sources. The past episode of the program has earned a bit of unwanted attention themselves when programming staffers inadvertently aired an awkward segment critical of NBC News coverage of General Electric that was interrupted by on off-camera “cut!” and appears to have never been meant to hit the airwaves. Updated.

With the “kinetic operations” in Libya by American troops fully underway, the media is only beginning to comprehend how to evaluate our intervention in the struggle. The Fox New Watch panel analyzed the response to the invasion by the media in the context of President Obama as peacemaker, and were evenly torn between considering it a pure partisan issue or a matter of the media simply not having enough information to make a move.

The post-Super Bowl news drop that AOL and the Huffington Post were merging into the most bizarre internet media conglomerate in recent memory took most of those in the news world by storm, and the Fox News Watch panel appeared as confused as anyone else. While many questioned the size of the merger and the potential impact on content already part of the AOL media network, the main question for the Fox News Watch team concerned Arianna Huffington‘s recent comments on objectivity– namely, that she practices it.

In the 1970′s and 80′s the Philadelphia Spectrum was known for the high-flying dunks of Dr. J and the Philadelphia 76ers. Having opened in 1967, its 43 years service to Philadelphia sportsdom is now over, and today it suffers the inglorious fate that awaits most buildings: a ceremonial destruction. Because we are just days from the Holidays beginning and there is a dearth of non-Sarah Palin or junk touching news to report, day part cable news needs to find items to cover, regardless of they are worthy or not. Like, fore example, the demolition of the Spectrum, which was covered live on Fox News earlier today.

Kudos to Fox News’ Jon Scott who managed to squeeze three whole bird puns into nine seconds of air time earlier. Quite possibly a world record. We’ve managed to capture it here to be used as reference in journalism classes from here on out. Of course, we here at Mediaite would obviously never stoop to anything so base as silly word play.

The Obama administration has an extra cozy relationship with the media. This was the subject of a panel discussion of Saturday’s Fox News Watch. Said Andrea Tantaros: Look at their relationship with ABC News. There was questions around the Town Hall that ABC News did…This administration has a history of having a very cozy relationship with the Mainstream Press.” Really?

Last night Christine O’Donnell won the GOP Senate primary in Delaware, sending shockwaves throughout the GOP establishment. The Sarah Palin endorsed, Tea Party candidate won a decisive and stunning victory over her opponent Mike Castle has led to lots of infighting within traditionally unified and disciplined Republican base. Earlier today on Fox News, Karl Rove challenged Palin to continue her support of O’Donnell, which was nearly immediately replied with Palin’s pledge to “do whatever (she) can do.”

In an interview on Fox News’ today, Senator Lindsey Graham reaffirmed his desire to repeal the 14th Amendment of the constitution which allows children of illegal immigrants to become naturalized citizens of the U.S. While Graham provides a reasonably well-measured and logical explanation of his interest in changing the constitution, he did reveal, perhaps hyperbolically, a greater concern with people “swimming across the river, having children here.”

Fox News anchor Jane Skinner announced at the end of her program, Happening Now, this afternoon that she would be leaving the network effective immediately. “I’ve decided to take a break from this business,” she said.

Skinner has been with FNC since 1998.

Earlier today Rolling Stone released an interview with General Stanley McChrystal in which the the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan criticized the Obama administration’s handling of Iraq. The conflict between US Army General stationed in the theater of war and the White House has been the top news story of the day, and already lead to speculation that McChrystal will be replaced, so claims his former colleague Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer on Fox News.

What is it about prostitution that turns everyone into a 12-year-old boy? Today’s Fox News Watch was particularly giggly, as they were discussing the possibility of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, whose claim to fame is having slept with a prostitute once, getting his own TV show on CNN. After a bout of ineptly-suppressed laughter, Newsweek columnist Ellis Henican suggests a plan so perfectly crazy, it might just work: an Ashley Dupre-hosted show on CNN, instead.

Lost somewhere among the Saturday night Glenn Beck reruns and Geraldo Rivera‘s missing people exposés is usually a nugget or two of pure commentary gold, whether it’s Chris Wallace calling the White House a bunch of “crybabies” or a segment dedicated to bashing Sarah Palin. This weekend, Cal Thomas uncovered the secret “haiku going on” between the Democrats and the mainstream media, and Fox News Watch host Jon Scott did his best impression of a living edition of the Boston Globe.

A tourist helicopter and small plane collided in mid-air over the Hudson River on Saturday — showering debris over the area and sending horrified onlookers to their Twitter accounts. The mainstream media joined in with live breaking news coverage shortly thereafter. But when a story like this breaks there is just no beating Twitter.