First Lady Michelle Obama made a guest appearance on Tuesday’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon in a pre-taped segment that had her challenging host Jimmy Fallon in a series of challenges at the White House, including dodgeball, push-ups, hula hooping, and tug-of-war. Fallon and the First Lady were all tied up going into the final event — the potato sack race (the results of which we will not spoil for you here).

On Saturday mornings’s Up with Chris Hayes, journalist and MSNBC contributor Karen Hunter challenged The New York Times‘ Jodi Kantor over her motivation for writing the buzzed-about tome The Obamas. Hunter leveled a highly-charged criticism at Kantor, mentioning her “seven figure” payday, and wondering “What was your motivation for doing it?”

Kantor’s response seemed to be leading to a crackling exchange, but host Chris Hayes swooped in and changed the subject.

As we all know from listening to cable TV and talk radio, First Lady Michelle Obama is running an evil Socialist program designed to control the the very sustenance we need to survive by brainwashing our children into “y’know, eating a few more veggies.” Well, today she went on Ellen to further propagandize her sinister program by doing push ups.

Push ups like they do in Communist Russia!

On Tuesday night’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, First Lady Michelle Obama snuck in a stealth shot at former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney‘s singing skills. Asked by Leno what she thought of Gov. Romney’s recent rendition of America The Beautiful, the First Lady replied, with a laugh, “It’s a beautiful song,” adding that “it is America’s song, and it’s a song that’s mean to be sung by every American.”

On Tuesday night, First Lady Michelle Obama visited NBC’s Tonight Show, chatting with host Jay Leno about her “Let’s Move” health initiative.

She also shared that, for her birthday, her mom baked her a red velvet cake (it really is the best kind of cake, folks — the “secret” ingredient is vinegar) with the help of First Daughters Sasha and Malia.

The White House is refuting a completely unsourced British tabloid story that alleges First Lady Michelle Obama went on a $50,000 lingerie shopping spree, but you’d never know it from looking at The Blaze‘s front page. Even though they’ve posted the White House’s denial, and their own original report was skeptical of the claim, their banner slideshow features a huge splash of Mrs. Obama that reads “She Spent How Much On Lingerie? $50K?”

The State of the Union address is a once-in-a-year opportunity for mockery for Jon Stewart. With the President going over his past successes and future plans, there was plenty to go over: The Osama Bin Laden opening, the large amounts of tax credits, and the bad joke that made the First Lady force an awkward smile.

Recently, Rush Limbaugh was one of the loudest voices criticizing the GOP candidates for attacking Mitt Romney’s “evil rich man” status. With Romney telling the Wall Street Journal that he expects those attacks to continue thanks to news of his possible 15% tax rate, Limbaugh decided to take it upon himself in giving Romney a way to respond. He argued that Romney should counter that he would actually be losing money as president whereas President Obama used the presidency as “a path to becoming a millionaire.”

First Lady Michelle Obama‘s much-hyped iCarly episode aired on Monday night, and she had some fun with the guest spot, participating in a game show where she has to guess if a character named Gibby is wearing a hat or criticizing his pet hamster, sharing secret robot-building plans, and dancing with the cast of the show.

Kansas Republican House Speaker Mike O’Neal got into some trouble last week– as, it appears, a number of far-right local politicians have– for forwarding an email in which he referred to the First Lady of the United States as “Mrs. YoMama.” It seems like this wasn’t the worst of it, however, as the Lawrence World Journal found emails where he called for President Obama’s opponents to pray a Psalm towards him with lines such as “may his children be fatherless and his wife a widow.”

On Thursday’s O’Reilly Factor, host Bill O’Reilly strongly pushed back against a report by ABC News’ World News Tonight that he had advanced the narrative that First Lady Michelle Obama was an “angry black woman.” “ABC News didn’t tell the audience it got its clip they used on me from the far-left web site Media Matters which is in business solely to smear non-liberal media people,” O’Reilly opined.

First Lady Michelle Obama spoke with CBS This Morning host Gayle King to address some image issues she’s had to deal with during her husband’s time in the White House… and his possible role in that.

Jodi Cantor‘s new book The Obamas has stirred some controversy over its claims that the First Lady proved somewhat problematic in terms of her image. On The O’Reilly Factor tonight, Bernie Goldberg admitted that the story of Robert Gibbs losing his patience with the First Lady’s extravagant clothing was “doesn’t shock me,” but upon debating further her image as a “Marie Antoinette” type, Bill O’Reilly came to her defense.

In the midst of all the hoopla over NBC’s big Republican debate, George Stephanopoulos quietly returned to his old position as anchor of ABC’s This Week, and already he’s made some news with today’s appearance by former White House advisor David Axelrod. A new book out about President Obama details tensions between First Lady Michelle Obama and White House staffers, which led to one advisor cursing her out during a meeting. Axelrod confirmed today that this incident did take place.

Kansas State Representative Mike O’Neal celebrates the Christmas season, it would appear, by forwarding “jokey” emails to his colleagues. MISTAKE #1! The email, which included the subject line “Twins separated at birth?” contained a picture of Michelle Obama, her hair made messy by the wind, next to an image of the Grinch. “I’m sure you’ll [...]

While we were all focusing on Iowa yesterday, Entertainment Weekly dropped a clip of the First Lady making an appearance on iCarly. Michelle Obama will be popping by the incredibly popular Nickelodeon “tween” series to help the main character communicate with her dad, an Air Force colonel stationed far away. The guest spot will be part of the First Lady’s Joining Forces initiative.

See? Even though it’s a tough life, this is why people help their spouses become President. Guesting on hit shows is so much cooler than being stuck home, buying doggie sunglasses.

Barbara Walters‘ interview with Barack and Michelle Obama aired tonight on ABC, and Walters got inside the heads of the president and first lady by asking them questions from Vanity Fair‘s “Proust Questionnaire.” She asked the president what his idea for perfect happiness would be. Obama said he’s at his peak happiness when he is doing things to make those around him feel happier, while the first lady said it was being surrounded by her family.

Tonight on the 20/20 holiday special (that’s the one where Sam Donaldson buys a sickly Christmas tree for the pageant and everyone makes fun of him), ABC will air a special interview that Barbara Walters did with Barack and Michelle Obama in which, presumably, Walters explains to them just was they’re so much less fascinating than the Kardashians.

In a dustup first reported by fearless FishbowlDC firecracker Betsy Rothstein, Republican Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) was overheard insulting First Lady Michelle Obama‘s “posterior” in a loud cellphone exchange. His office declined to comment on Sensenbrenner’s own assets, but said he would be apologizing for the remark. Now, Politico reports that Sensenbrenner has sent a note of apology to the First Lady.

Wisconsin’s GOP Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R) has a beef (and a side of mash potatoes) (with extra butter) (tip your waitress) with First Lady Michelle Obama, particularly with her attempts to promote healthier eating and exercise habits. According to a “Democratic operative” who shared his or her story with Fishbowl DC, Sensenbrenner, speaking loudly on [...]

During a Toys-for-Tots drive in Washington, DC, 26-year-old Lance Corporal Aaron Leeks worked up the courage to ask the First Lady to next year’s Marine Corps Ball. Do not let it be said that the dude doesn’t plan things out well in advance. Leeks told First Lady Michelle Obama that he would love to escort [...]

At Fort Bragg, President Obama thanked his wife for introducing his speech marking the end of the Iraq war by showering her with compliments, topping it off by calling her “cute.” “Michelle you’re a remarkable First Lady, you are a great advocate for military families, and you’re cute!”

“I’m just saying,” President Obama grinned, as hundreds of service members cheered. “Gentleman that is your goal to marry up!”

Conservative radio giant Rush Limbaugh has made a career of race-baiting, so his use of the word “uppity” to describe First Lady Michelle Obama (on the occasion of her booing by some NASCAR fans) was about as surprising as the twist ending to a Three’s Company episode. While the audience that gobbles up Limbaugh’s racial “tweaks” is probably beyond reasoning with, I truly believe that Limbaugh, himself, can still be reached.

First Lady Michelle Obama‘s frigid welcome at a NASCAR game was one of the week’s biggest highlights, but to some, it was the reception of the incident from the right that told the story. On today’s Chris Matthews Show, the panel used the NASCAR incident as a prism through which to analyze the Republican race and, noting that the Republican base– the kind that is comfortable with calling the First Lady “uppity”– is “xenophobic and nativist,” they wondered how such an extreme party could win a general election.

In the span of four days, political media types have been tested twice by two very different incidents of female disrespect in the national political discourse. Much of the media, ideological and otherwise, were quick to note that a crowd of NASCAR fans booed First Lady Michelle Obama– some more sympathetic than others. The second test occurred last night as The Roots played the song “Lyin’ Ass Bitch” as Rep. Michele Bachmann walked onto the set of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The treatment of both leave one to the conclusion that defending women from classless attacks might simply not be good for the media business.