In December of 2010, then-Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell (now an MSNBC analyst) famously decried the US as a “nation of wussies” when an Eagles game was postponed due to snow. In an interview with ABC Philadelphia’s WPVI Wednesday, Rendell re-launched the attack at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. Asked “Is mitt romney a wuss?,” Rendell hesitated, and replied “Yes, I think he is a wuss.”

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and MSNBC host Chris Matthews have always had a rocky relationship – Matthews has said that Gingrich “scares me” and said “dogs walk away when they see him.” That was mere prelude to today’s fireworks, however, when Gingrich appeared live on Matthews’ MSNBC program with topics that ranged from the GOP primaries to Romney’s vice presidential search and finally to Gingrich’s love of animals and zoos.Hardball

Hey, remember a few weeks ago when 30 Rock did a live episode and the people on the East Coast got to see Sir Paul McCartney be the special guest cameo while the people on the West Coast only got Kim Kardashian? Remember how that was an almost offensively big step down? Yeah, that was ridiculous. Anyway, this story isn’t about that. This is about something entirely different. It’s about how the Mitt Romney campaign is following up President Obama’s successful dinner with George Clooney by offering a chance to dine with Donald Trump.

On Thursday afternoon’s Now with Alex Wagner, host Alex Wagner and panel employed a bit of pop psychology on presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, musing about how his parents’ political careers may have shaped his own political style. Conservative columnist S.E. Cupp tried to help out by demonstrating that perhaps Gov. Romney hadn’t been turned gun-shy by mother Lenore Romney‘s Senate run, or father George Romney‘s presidential bid.

Will Cain and Roland Martin took to CNN this morning to discuss Mitt Romney‘s comments in his recent Time magazine interview, in which he said he would bring the unemployment rate down to 6 percent in his first term. Cain advised against pegging policy decisions to specific unemployment numbers, while Martin clashed with him, arguing that Congress projects unemployment will drop to that number regardless.

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio appeared on Fox & Friends on Thursday where he discussed his version of the DREAM Act, Hispanic voters and their reluctance to embrace the Republican party and the candidacy of Mitt Romney. Earlier, Romney had praised Rubio on Fox & Friends. When asked about this, Rubio responded that Romney was doing a good job of advancing the cause of the GOP and said a Romney presidency “is going to be about making and keeping America special.”

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney appeared on Fox & Friends on Thursday where he further detailed his proposal to get unemployment below 6 percent before the end of his first term. He responded to President Obama who said that Romney was outlining policies that echoed those of former president George W. Bush. Romney said “These are new problems that were created by President Obama.”

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney granted a rare extensive interview to Time‘s Mark Halperin, the first since his record at Bain Capital became the subject of a national brouhaha. While political pundits have focused on Romney’s evasions on that record, and almost everything else, the real “tell” from that interview is in one of the few areas in which the candidate got specific, but most Americans will never know it.

Whatever they’re putting in Jay Carney‘s birthday cake, I want some. During a gaggle aboard Air Force One today, the just-47 White House Press Secretary woke up a sleepy press corps with a rant about fact-checking Republican talking points that, relatively speaking, nearly veered into Sam Kinison territory. Quoting from a recent MarketWatch commentary, Carney told the press “do not buy into the BS” about the Obama spending record, and that “doing so is a sign of sloth and laziness.”

Penn Jillette visited Hannity today to expand on comments he made earlier this week on his podcast about President Obama– comments that got Sean Hannity‘s attention as Jillette made the point that, had President Obama been prosecuted under his own drug policies, he never could have been President.

“The most famous plumber in the country” is unhappy with Vice President Joe Biden‘s comments that being a private businessman doesn’t qualify you to be president any more than being a plumber. For some reason, Samuel “Joe The Plumber” Wurzelbacher chose as a venue to air his grievances PoliticsNation, where he found more common ground than one would expect with Al Sharpton about the fundamentally flawed tax code.

Former White House advisor Steven Rattner appeared on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday, where he clarified remarks he made on Morning Joe last week that expressed reservations about the Obama campaign’s attacks on Bain Capital. Mitt Romney told Mitchell that while he believes private equity has a beneficial effect on the economy, Romney “reweaves” history by using his experience to suggest he is a jobs creator.

Mediaite’s own Tommy Christopher popped up on The Big Picture with Thom Hartmann yesterday to discuss the controversy surrounding Cory Booker’s instantly critiqued, walked back, and manipulated comments condemning the Obama campaigns attacks on Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital. While Hartmann wanted to begin by discussing the revelation that Booker had accepted thousands of dollars of support from Bain Capital over the years, Christopher argued that he didn’t believe campaign donations factored in Booker’s comments.. However, he decried Democrats like Booker who were complaining about Obama’s Bain attacks since, after all, they’re true.

Former Secretary of State Colin Powell stopped by Morning Joe Wednesday morning, where he offered a bit of advice for presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

When it comes to foreign policy, Powell, himself a retired four-star general, believes Romney would do well to “think” beyond the advice of advisers who might be quite far to the right.

The upcoming cover of Time magazine features a young Mitt Romney with his mother, Lenore Romney. “Raising Romney,” the headline reads, for a feature about his mother’s 1970 Senate run. Summed up on the cover, the story’s premise: “When Mitt was 23, his mother ran for Senate. How that race shaped his life.”

Former major league baseball star and notoriously nonsensical tweeter Jose Canseco was profiled today by Grantland as the bulky slugger begins his stint with an independent ball club, the Worcester Tornadoes. Besides discussing his breakfast regiment and new career, Canseco randomly veered into politics, taking the time to blast presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney as a “joker” who believes in “bullshit” about fixing the federal deficit.

In a panel debate on CNN, Brietbart.com editor Dana Loesch and Democratic strategist Robert Zimmerman debated the efficacy of President Barack Obama‘s reelection campaign’s attacks on Bain Capital. Loesch questioned the Obama campaign’s decision to run with attacks on Bain and asked “who’s running that clown car?”

It’s Wednesday, and the Romney campaign is still complaining loudly about the Obama campaign’s examination of Mitt Romney‘s claim that his tenure at Bain Capital qualifies him to be president. The strategy has been to recast the campaign as an “attack on free enterprise,” but they undercut that argument this morning by touting a clip of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick saying just the opposite.

Former Mitt Romney spokesman Richard Grenell took to the Wall Street Journal to voice his thoughts on “Marriage, Gay Republicans and the Election.” In the op-ed, Grenell insists that while there are many reasons to vote against President Barack Obama, his stance on gay marriage is not one of them.

Last week, Mitt Romney released his first election ad titled “Day One,” in which the narrator describes what the first day of a Romney presidency would look like over a video of positive, patriotic images. As we reported, David Letterman mocked the ad by creating his own “Day Two” ad. On his ABC late-night program Tuesday night, Jimmy Kimmel followed suit, giving the original Romney ad a more literal twist.

On Wednesday, the folks at Morning Joe collectively weighed in on how Mitt Romney‘s experience and record — both as a businessman at Bain and as the former Governor of Massachusetts — will impact his chances of landing the presidency. MSNBC’s Chuck Todd offered an explanation for why President Obama’s re-election campaign is “trying so hard” to disqualify Romney’s business background.

Critics of the Obama campaign’s attack on Mitt Romney‘s record at Bain Capital have called such scrutiny hypocritical, because the President has prominent donors who are also in private equity. At today’s White House briefing, Press Secretary and Birthday Boy Jay Carney (he’s 47) explained the difference between the two, and responded to former PA Governor Ed Rendell‘s latest rebuke of the campaign.

CNN’s John King sat down with Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick to discuss Bain Capital and serving in the office Mitt Romney once held. Patrick, “an enthusiastic supporter” of President Barack Obama, staunchly maintained that Bain is fair game — but, as other Democrats have recently, refused to full on attack the company.

Amid a difficult week for President Barack Obama with his campaign under regular attack from allies and surrogates regarding the appropriateness of attacking Bain Capital, MSNBC host Chris Matthews went after Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Tuesday. “Where have you been,” asked Matthews.

Bill O’Reilly called into The Five on Tuesday where he demanded that President Barack Obama clarify for the American people whether he still supports the Occupy movement after a series of protesters were arrested in Chicago for conspiring to commit violence and terroristic acts during a NATO summit.