hances are you’re at least somewhat familiar with MSNBC’s “Lean Forward” campaign, which features the network’s hosts and anchors offering up their take on the issues they’re most passionate about, be it Social Security or voting or how the GOP is like a group of children going after delicious blueberry pie. Tamron Hall, who hosts NewsNation at 2 pm, devoted her ad to discussing how support for our nation’s troops shouldn’t be an issue divided by political affiliation, race, sexual orientation. Her newer ad, however, takes a look at income inequality — certainly a far more partisan, politically fraught issue than expressing support for our nation’s troops.

Earlier today, I provided a blow-by-blow of the latest chapter in Politifact’s ongoing feud with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, including a rather detailed analysis of the fact-checking site’s dubious ruling on Lawrence O’Donnell‘s claim that critics of the GI Bill called it welfare. As it turns out, I needn’t have bothered. On Monday night’s The Rachel Maddow Show, host Rachel Maddow dispatched with Politifact’s absurd ruling in about 20 seconds.

MSNBC primetime star Rachel Maddow has had something of a feud going with fact-checking outfit Politifact, going back about a year, which makes the timing of Politifact’s questionable ruling about Lawrence O’Donnell‘s Lean Forward “GI Bill” spot very interesting. They gave O’Donnell’s claim that GI Bill opponents called the measure “welfare” a “Mostly False” rating just days after Maddow’s most recent attack on the site, but nearly three weeks after O’Donnell made the claim.

Lawrence O’Donnell‘s new “Lean Forward” ad for MSNBC takes on the GI bill passed during World War II to take care of soliders returning home from war. In the promo, O’Donnell described the bill as “the most successful educational program that we’ve ever had in this country” even though its opponents referred to it as welfare. But according to Politifact, that statement is not accurate.

Have you gotten — ahem– Lin-ough of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin and the pun frenzy associated with him? MSNBC’s Al Sharpton hasn’t and Lin fact, got Lin-volved in an Lin-promptu Lin-terview. Playing off of the cable news network’s Lean Forward campaign — comes Lin Forward!

The National Republican Congressional Committee has released an ad, in support of the Keystone XL pipeline, that parodies one of MSNBC’s latest Lean Forward commercials. The spot features a Rachel Maddow stand-in mimicking the progressive star’s Hoover Dam monologue, then pivots to a thudding comparison with the Keystone pipeline, complete with wildly inflated claims about the number of jobs the pipeline would supposedly create.

Al Sharpton can see the blueberry pie all over the faces of the Republican leadership– metaphorically speaking, of course. The MSNBC host debuted his installment of the network’s “Lean Forward” campaign yesterday, a series in which hosts stand or sit around various locales pontificating on their politics to no one in particular. In this spot, Sharpton stands on a stoop in Brooklyn, talking about the days his mother caught him filching her blueberry pie. He was as guilty as the Republicans are of ruining the economy, he explains– “they were the ones eating the pie!”

The Spike Lee-directed promotional campaign for MSNBC, Lean Forward, debuts a new series of spots today, featuring Chris Matthews, Lawrence O’Donnell, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz–each shot by Lee in iconic American locations, from the Hoover Dam to Washington, D.C.

It is now safe to say that MSNBC’s massive “Lean Forward” campaign has pushed the right buttons with its competitors. Fox News was the first to react with a subtle reworking of the slogan to “Move Forward,” and now, nearly two weeks after the launch of the original campaign, it is CNN that defines itself against both leaning and moving themselves forward– instead, providing that movement/leaning to The Truth.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano popped into Good Morning America this week to discuss what her department was doing to prevent further terrorist plots against the U.S. They’re waiting for tips, building partnerships and… watching Keith Olbermann? “We’re always leaning forward,” Napolitano said, echoing MSNBC’s Lean Forward campaign.

MSNBC threw a party Thursday night at 7 World Trade Center to celebrate the launch of their new Lean Forward campaign.

It was very Lean Forward-centric – from T-shirts being printed off to one side with various slogans like “The Future Belongs to the Fearless” to nearby buildings illuminated with images from the campaign.

MSNBC’s new “Lean Forward” campaign is large enough, bold enough, and the subject of just enough publicity to be the object of consistent ridicule from the right. We’ve seen the parodies, the defiant counter-ads, and now Glenn Beck has taken it upon himself to improve upon the original slogan, suggesting: “MSNBC: Bend Over” because, he explains, “I think it would be more appropriate.”

MSNBC has just started what will become their biggest branding campaign in network history, and you’re probably seeing a lot of “Lean Forward” all over TV, print and the web.

Fox News is using this as a chance to take a jab at the rival cable news channel – proclaiming in new promos that we noticed last night, “we don’t lean,” instead they “move forward.”

Liberal firebrand and host of pioneering radio/webcast The Young Turks Cenk Uygur made his guest-hosting debut on MSNBC’s Countdown last night, and as he signed off, delivered a thank you to regular host Keith Olbermann. Briefly describing Countdown‘s Bush-era emergence, Uygur said it was an honor to host the show “in the house that Olbermann built,” a reference that is sure to both please Olbermann, and launch spit-your-drink cackles from the host’s detractors.

A few weeks ago MSNBC unveiled some new promos that featured a news the slogan, “Lean Forward.” On his MSNBC show last last week, host Ed Schultz used the new MSNBC catchphrase “Lean Forward” to urge Democrats to go to the polls to defeat Republicans in the coming election, further blurring the line between news, opinion, and advocacy.

The new MSNBC “Lean Forward” mega-campaign is already fodder for Jon Stewart, and now the first of what will likely be many parody ads is out.

The folks behind KeithOlbermann.com (as in, The Daily Caller) have a spoof of the Olbermann video promo from yesterday – only this one has him writing a “Worst Person” segment and not a “Special Comment.”

Jon Stewart is a smart and funny guy. As any regular visitor to Mediaite knows, we are big fans of his incisive and entertaining commentary on the often absurd intersection of media and politics. But that doesn’t mean we always agree with his point-of-view; take for example his take down of MSNBC’s new campaign to re-brand themselves with the phrase “Lean Forward.” In the following segment, Mr. Stewart makes a lot funny jokes, but we feel its a little early to dismiss an entire ad campaign.

MSNBC’s “Lean Forward” re-branding campaign will be the biggest in network history, and it kicked off last week with the first two Spike Lee-directed ads.

The broad themed promos will give way to more specific, host-centered ads – which you can now see online (and below):

MSNBC unveiled some new promos that will begin airing next week, featuring the slogan, “Lean Forward.”

But the TV promos are just the beginning. As MSNBC President Phil Griffin explained, this two-and-a-half year plan will help to broaden the reach of MSNBC as a whole.

We learned in August that Spike Lee would be helming MSNBC’s latest ad campaign. Now, Lee’s first two commercial spots have been posted online. The ads are slick and upbeat, implying the news network’s progressive stance without overtly declaring a political stance.