The campaign is called “Stop Colbert” and the Colbert in question isn’t the Comedy Central host but rather “Stephen Colbert” the character. On the campaign’s Facebook page and in a tongue in cheek video, Pelosi pretends to attack Colbert as a pro-Super PAC money hoarder, which is, of course, the fake position of the show’s satire. The video is even designed to emulate one of the parody Super PAC ads that the Report has been making in the past few months.

Here’s Pelosi’s jokey narration:

“Stephen Colbert used to be my friend. I even signed the poor baby’s cast when he hurt his hand. But since the day he started his Super PAC, taking secret money from special interests, he’s been out of control, even using his super PAC to attack my friend, Newt Gingrich. And if that weren’t enough, I hear he doesn’t even like kittens. Colbert must be stopped. I’m Nancy Pelosi and I support this ad because Americans deserve a better tomorrow today.”

It’s a smart choice from Pelosi. Honestly, Colbert and his show has done more in the last year to let Americans know about the negatives of Super PACs that, say, the Obama Administration could ever hope to (especially now). By positioning herself (we’re assuming from the slightly inferior production values on both the ad and Facebook page that Colbert’s actual team had nothing to do with this) as being both in on the joke and part of solution, Pelosi might be able to give the bill the Colbert bump it needs.

Still, just like Stephen Colbert will probably never actually run for office, there’s something a little uncomfortable to watching Pelosi try her hand as a comedian.

(h/t HuffPo)

West called out not just President Obama, but Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and fellow Floridian Debbie Wasserman-Schultz.

“Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, and take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America.”

He pledged that he will do everything in his power to stop President Obama from “destroy[ing]” the country. West issued a challenge to Democrats who think they might be able to take him down in this November’s congressional elections: “Bring it on!”

Watch the video below, courtesy of CSPAN:

h/t Breitbart.tv

RELATED: Nancy Pelosi Says Newt Gingrich Will Never Be President: ‘There’s Something I Know’

Pelosi also responded to the flak Gingrich has received over the global warming ad she shot with him.

“It’s so funny. Everybody makes it like, oh, you sat on the sofa with Nancy Pelosi!” Pelosi exclaimed. “The point is we came together to talk about the climate crisis, which I thought he had an interest in. I wasn’t particularly interested in sitting on the sofa with him, either. But the bigger issue of climate change brought us together. And Al Gore bringing people who had been on opposite sides of different issues coming together. I thought it was a powerful — it was worth it.”

Watch Pelosi’s interview below via MSNBC:

Here are the different theories:

Eric Bolling - Pelosi may be breaking the law
Bolling, unsurprisingly, gave the strongest condemnation, wondering aloud if Pelosi’s status as a sitting Congresswoman possibly revealing findings from an ethics hearing might be themselves unethical or even illegal.

Bob Beckel – Pelosi’s leaving herself open for attacks
Beckel, even grumpier than usual today after two long segments from his co-hosts that could be summarized as “President Obama is a dumbhead and his dumb speech was dumb,” didn’t try to defend Pelosi. He explained that, if she knows something, she should just say it because, if not, she’s just putting herself out there for attacks from conservatives. Because, apparently, conservatives like attacking Nancy Pelosi.

That’s interesting. I’d never heard that before. Anyway, now back to my list of the different ways a group of conservative television hosts attacked Nancy Pelosi.

Dana Perino – Pelosi’s just turning Gingrich into a victim again
Perino compared Pelosi’s attacks to the attacks from his ex-wife Marianne whose “open-marriage” revelation did little to hurt Gingrich since voters seem to care less about family values or whatever and more about sticking it to those media jerky jerks. It’s entirely possible that Republican voters like Nancy Pelosi even less than John King.

Andrea Tantaros - Pelosi seems like a catty sorority sister
This one’s kind of self explanatory. Tantaros said Pelosi reminded her of a sorority sister.

All good theories. However, Greg Gutfeld’s was the most succinct. He pointed out that no one really cares what Pelosi has on Gingrich because the guy already has so much dirt on him, he’s like an earthworm.

It’s a good argument. I mean, again, people really didn’t care that this dude asked his Multiple Sclerosis-stricken wife if he could open up their marriage with some other lady he was already cheating on her with. Seriously, what else could there be?

Watch the clip from Fox News below:

Pelosi, as we reported earlier today, told CNN’s John King last night that she is confident Gingrich will never become Commander in Chief because “there’s something I know.”

RELATED: Nancy Pelosi Says Newt Gingrich Will Never Be President: ‘There’s Something I Know’

Gingrich found this literally laughable:

Who knows? I mean, she lives in the San Francisco environment of very strange fantasies and very strange understandings of reality. I have no idea what’s in Nancy Pelosi’s head. However, if she knows something, I have a simple challenge: Spit it out. Tell us what it is. I have no idea what she’s talking about.

Have a look, from NBC:

h/t Hot Air

RELATED: Most Of The Five Side With Brian Williams Over Newt Gingrich, Think Silencing Audience Is A Good Idea

The Friends got the comments out of him by complimenting his most recent debate performance in comparison to the couple that gave Gingrich such a surge. Romney went off on those debates and perceived notion that Gingrich’s boost was caused by his attacks on John King and Juan Williams.

“It’s very easy to talk down to a moderator. A moderator asks a question and then has to sit by and take what you send to them. And Speaker Gingrich has been wonderful at attacking the moderators and attacking the media. That’s always a favorite response for the home crowd but it’s very different to have candidates go against candidates, and that’s something I’ll be doing against President Obama if I’m the nominee.”

Gretchen Carlson then asked Romney what he thought of Nancy Pelosi’s claim that she “knows” something that will keep Gingrich from being president.

“I wish I knew what that was,” laughed Romney. “I’d tell people what it is right now.”

Romney continued by saying that the full records from the ethics investigation on Gingrich in the 90s needed to be released because, if Pelosi knows them, she will assuredly give them to Obama’s campaign.

Watch the clip from Fox News below:

King brought up how Gingrich has described the ethics committee investigation against him as a “partisan vendetta led by Democrats,” to which Pelosi responded that it was a “sad time” during a Republican-controlled Congress. Where the investigation against him is concerned, she added, the “public record speaks for itself.”

RELATED: NY Times Buries The Lede: Anderson Cooper’s Ratings Surge At 8PM

She also tackled what King described as a “revisionist” version of how he left the Speakership. “I wasn’t going to hang around,” Gingrich recently said, “like Nancy did.” Pelosi responded with laughter. “Putting it on somebody else. It’s vintage projection, projection, projection,” she said. “He would loved to have stayed, he just didn’t have the support in the caucus to do so.”

King then asked what goes through Pelosi’s mind when she thinks of the possibility that Gingrich could become president. Her response was exceptionally frank:

Let me just say this: that will never happen. He’s not going to be president of the United States. This is… That’s not going to happen. Let me just make my prediction instead by… it isn’t going to happen. There’s something I know. The Republicans, if they choose to nominate him, that’s their prerogative.

Oooooo NANCY!

Watch, via CNN:

He showed a clip of Pelosi saying that, as opposed to the Tea Party’s relationship to the Republican party, Democrats don’t have a clear ideological connection to the Occupy movement.

“But wait a minute…” Cavuto continued. Wasn’t this the very same Nancy Pelosi who once said “God bless [the Occupy protesters] for their spontaneity,” and who opined that “we must give that 99 percent a stronger voice” and work harder to “empower” them?

RELATED: Tea Party Leaders To GOP: Reduce Spending Or Get Ready For Primary Challenges

Cavuto brought on Daily Caller reporter Jamie Weinstein to discuss this further:

Well, look, the President once said that we’re on their side, he’s adopted the language of Occupy — one of his spokesmen yesterday [said] he used the term “99 percent,” he often used the term “millionaires and billionaires,” you just saw what Nancy Pelosi said. There’s many other examples. And the fact of the matter is it wasn’t just yesterday the Occupy movement turned violent. There’s been plenty of examples of sexual violence in these Occupy camps. I think there’s been five dozen arrests just at the Washington DC Occupy camp up through January 3rd; I’m sure there’s been several since then as well. So I don’t think the Democrats can escape being associated with this. With their own words, they tied themselves to it.

As Cavuto sees it, the Democrats aligned themselves with the movement when it attacked what are deemed to be primarily “Republican institutions,” but, now that they targeted the home of a Democratic president, they want to distance themselves.

Check it out, via Fox News:

Candy Crowley brought up the ad, hoping to get Pelosi to expand on her comments last month that when the time is right, she would dish some dirt on Gingrich acquired from being on a committee that investigated him in the 90s. When Crowley reminded Pelosi of her comments, Pelosi insisted what she meant was for people to read Gingrich’s public record during his time in office. She did not say whether or not anything in his record was a disqualifying factor to becoming the president, however.

But Pelosi didn’t let Gingrich get away so easily, getting in this quick swipe at him:

“Since you brought up my name in association with him as the dumbest thing he ever did, I think there’s plenty of stiff competition for that honor as far as his activities are concerned.”

In the first part of the interview, Pelosi alleged that Gingrich was fined $300,000 by the House Ethics Committee. Later on in the show, Crowley gave Gingrich’s response to the charge, with the candidate claiming the money was paid to reimburse the cost of the House investigation.

Watch the video below, courtesy of CNN:

And watch Crowley read Gingrich’s response here:

RELATED: Mitt Romney Campaign Releases Tired ‘Newt And Nancy’ Attack Ad

During a town hall in Iowa today, Gingrich was asked by a supporter to clarify his position on global warming. The candidate immediately stated that global warming “hasn’t been totally proven” and even if it were, he would still oppose a cap-and-trade solution to combat carbon emissions which, as Gingrich argued, would “turn… over the entire economy to the EPA.” He offered the following analogy to explain his position.

“The Dutch face the problem of oceans. They decided to build dikes instead of lowering the sea.”

Gingrich touted his conservative credentials on opposing cap-and-trade by citing a testimony he delivered before the House of Representatives following a testimony by Al Gore. Referring to the negative attack ads his opponents have used to accuse him of anything else, he dismissed them as “a plain lie.”

And then, in a rather bizarre offshoot, Gingrich bragged about his own personal experience studying the history of the Earth’s climate.

“I, also, am an amateur paleontologist, so I’ve spent a lot of time looking at the earth’s temperature over a long time, and I’m a lot harder to convince than just looking at a computer model.”

So if we’re keeping track now, Newt Gingrich is both an amateur historian and an amateur paleontologist. All he needs is a fedora and a whip, and we’ve got ourselves a real-life Indiana Jones here! (Yes, Indy was technically an archaeologist, but let’s not ruin what could be a great franchise reboot here.)

RELATED: Meghan McCain: If We Nominate Gingrich It Is ‘The End Of The Republican Party’

Watch the video below, courtesy of CNN:

Watch the 2008 Nancy Pelosi / Newt Gingrich Climate Change Ad below:

From Big Government:

“She would retire right now, if the donors she has didn’t want her to stay so badly. They know she wants to leave, though. They think she’s destined for the wilderness. She has very few days left. She’s 71, she wants to have a life, she’s done. It’s obligation, that’s all I’m saying.”

Of course, this isn’t the same thing as hearing it from Nancy herself but it holds some weight. I mean, daughters know about these things, right?

The Big Government interview also included some disses of Anderson Cooper and 60 Minutes whom Alexandra Pelosi believes has edited and aired her mother’s comments out of context in the past. Read these quotes from Pelosi here.

RELATED: Ron Paul Campaign Releases Brutal Newt Gingrich Attack Ad

Politics has become such a cynical business that it hardly seems worth pointing out the fundamental unfairness of the fact that Romney’s ad implies that Gingrich still supports legislative action on climate change. I do so only to highlight the fact that Newt’s reversal on this issue (and many others) is a worse offense than his couch trip with then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, but Yuen Woo-Ping-worthy flipper Mitt Romney is in no position to point that out.

While climate change denial may play well with the conservative base, an ad like this runs the risk of making Gingrich more appealing to general election voters, and in the process, making him seem more electable to the Republicans who now support Romney.

The ad itself is overly manipulative, crossing the line where sinister political commercial boilerplate is effective, and leaving it far behind. The crazy-eyed slo-mo of Al Gore at the beginning is a nice touch, but the disorienting cuts and focus effects are overdone, and the faux-American Beauty score is a drag. Ron Paul cut an ad that included this attack, and while it was over the top, it was brutally effective. Romney’s ad is unsubtle in a grinding, look-at-the-seams way that reeks of pandering, and it suffers from the pall of the candidate’s own history of “progressive” lapses.

RELATED: More Archival Video! Watch Mitt Romney Proclaim In 2002 ‘My Views Are Progressive’

Here’s the clip, from YouTube:

In a weird example of the pendulum swing of partisan politics, the vilification by on party gives credibility and power within one’s own party. Even with their strong personalities and political profiles, the two had managed, thus far, to stay out of each others’ respective ways. Until Pelosi told Talking Points Memo on Monday that:

“One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich,” Pelosi told Brian Beutler. “I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.”

Gingrich responded that he welcomed those talks, pointing out that anything Pelosi reveals from the private sessions is against House ethics rules. Pelosi backed down later on Monday, with her spokesman saying she was referring to public record.

This will likely not be the last of the tussles between the dueling Speakers. So we present the tale of the tape — a quick refresher on what you need to know about Gingrich and Pelosi:

NEWT VS. NANCY: TALE OF THE TAPE
Birthday	June 17, 1943	March 26, 1940
Home District	Suburban Georgia	San Francisco
…But Born In	Pennsylvania	Maryland
Past Scandals	Affairs while married; ethics violations while in Congress	Possible insider trading
Messaging	Conservative, with a very rare liberal slant on minor issues	Consistently progressive
Personal Life	Divorced twice; currently married to his third wife, Calista	Married 48 years
Religion	Roman Catholic	Roman Catholic
Possible Nepotism?	His daughter, Kathy Gingrich Lubbers, is president of Gingrich Communications	Her daughter, Alexandra, has produced three election-themed documentaries with startling access to politicians
Alleged Air Travel-Related Silliness	Shut down government, allegedly over airplane seating arrangement on Clinton’s Air Force One	Allegedly had a “party plane” with thousands of dollars worth of booze and food.
Embarrassing Moment Caught On Video	This	This
Signature Gavel Moment	Contract With America	Health Care Reform
Popular Urban Legend That Has Since Been Proven Untrue	He served his cancer-stricken wife divorce papers while she was in the hospital.	She couldn’t answer a question about which of Captain Cook’s voyages was his last.

Gingrich responded to Pelosi Monday afternoon by warning Pelosi about such revelations, not because they weren’t true, but because he says they would violate House rules.

RELATED: Nancy Pelosi Says She’ll Dish Dirt On Newt Gingrich ‘When The Time Is Right’

In an interview conducted Friday, but published on Monday, Leader Pelosi told TPMDC’s Brian Beutler, “One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich,” adding, “I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.”

When Beutler asked for details, Pelosi responded, “Not right here…When the time’s right.”

Asked about Pelosi’s threat Monday afternoon, Gingrich didn’t respond by saying, “Bring it on! I’m an open book,” but instead, pointedly attacked the messenger, not the message. “I want to thank Speaker Pelosi for what I would regard as an early Christmas gift,” Gingrich said. “If she is suggestIng that she would use material developed when she was on the ethics commIttee, that is a fundamental violation of the rules of the House.”

He went on to say that Leader Pelosi’s comments demonstrated that the ethics committee was “tainted,” then underscored, again, his problem with such disclosures. “I would hope the House would immediately condemn her if she uses any materIal that was gathered while she was on the ethics committee, because it would be a violation of the committee.”

Gingrich then provided his own generous summary of the ethics probe that resulted in an unprecedented $300,000 fine, and made him the first House Speaker in history to be disciplined for ethical misconduct. Even here, Gingrich never claims to have acted ethically, only that certain of his activities were “totally legal.”

Leader Pelosi’s office responded, through a spokesperson, that she ““was clearly referring to the extensive amount of information that is in the public record, including the comprehensive committee report with which the public may not be fully aware.”

She also, apparently, succeeded in drawing former Speaker Gingrich into a very public exchange that highlights the candidate’s ethical difficulties, and a tacit admission that the dirt is there, but that Gingrich ironically thinks that ethics rules should protect him from such revelations. Pelosi won a gunfight simply by unsnapping her holster, and watching Gingrich shoot himself in the foot over and over.

Here’s the clip of Gingrich’s response, from C-Span:

Does that answer your question, Kirsten Powers?

Fox News Democratic analyst Kirsten Powers asked, yesterday, “does he (Newt Gingrich) implode before he gets the nomination or after he gets the nomination?”

If Democrats have their way, the answer to that is a clear “after,” and Leader Pelosi is more than willing to do her part. Here’s what Pelosi told TPM:

“I like Barney Frank’s quote the best, where he said ‘I never thought I’d live such a good life that I would see Newt Gingrich be the nominee of the Republican party,’” Pelosi said in an exclusive interview Friday. “That quote I think spoke for a lot of us.”

Pelosi didn’t go into detail about Gingrich’s past transgressions, but she tipped her hand. “One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich,” Pelosi said. “I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.”

Pressed for more detail she wouldn’t go further.

“Not right here,” Pelosi joked. “When the time’s right.”

The reaction of many Democratic strategists is likely “That’s good to know, but can you ix-nay on the saying it out oud-lay?”

It’s no accident that, despite Gingrich’s rise in the polls, despite every Republican with a dollar and a dream getting a ride in the lead, Democrats have maintained an unwavering focus on one Mitt Romney. In fact, I’ll probably lose a significant number of Professional Left™ Rewards Points (redeemable for discounts at Whole Foods and Institutions of Fancy Book Larnin’) for even pointing this out, but there’s little danger that Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, or I will put a dent in conservatives’ shared delusion that Gingrich is the ultimate brainiac who will finally put uppity Barry Obama in his place.

No, if Gingrich falters, it will be at his own hand, or at the hands of his rivals. There has been blood in the water in this primary race for months, and as feeding time approaches, the bites will only get bigger and deeper.

The ad doesn’t even touch all the bases on Gingrich, but hits hard at Gingrich over his climate change ad with Nancy Pelosi, his criticism of the Ryan budget plan, his Freddie Mac connections, and his support for an individual health insurance mandate, all set to an epic score, and sinister, grainy black-and-white photography. The production is slick, if a bit cliched, but the overall effect is devastating.

Ordinarily, a web ad wouldn’t figure to have much of an impact, but Ron Paul’s supporters are a highly motivated, resourceful lot who will doubtless make sure this spot reaches maximum eyeballs.

Newt Gingrich is the latest in a long line of non-Romneys to take a ride at the top of the polls, and Ron Paul is one of the only candidates left who hasn’t gotten his turn. While Paul is routinely ignored by the media as a candidate with a cultish following who can’t improve on his middling poll numbers, much crazier things have happened in this year’s Republican race. Game on.

Here’s the ad, from the Ron Paul campaign:

RELATED: Awesomely Random Fox and Friends Panel Decides President Obama Can Keep Nobel Peace Prize

O’Connor began the list by chomping on a turkey leg (sadly, he could not share transcontinentally with host Clayton Morris and going after Occupy Wall Street, who nabbed the number five spot. “Only these precious little dirtbags can make Wall Street bankers look sympathetic,” he noted, while making the predictable Michael Moore/Butterball joke (he apologized– just couldn’t resist).

Rounding out the list were Warren Buffett‘s secretary, the Supercommittee (whom he noted must’ve been named by someone who “called Zima a ‘super beverage’”), and Rep. Nancy Pelosi– for which he needed a bit of that Wild Turkey to stand her actions.

The number one spot? That went to, as O’Connor put it, “the Congressional member whose member we’ll always remember,” for lying and endangering the careers of many while being an embarrassing predator.

The segment via Fox News below:

According to The Daily, the report shows Congress has been doing increasingly better over the years despite the floundering economy, which could partly be attributable to legal insider trading deals for which Congress has been under fire recently. More details from the report:

That said, some members of Congress do considerably better than others. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., topped the list with an estimated net worth of somewhere between $195 million and $700 million, for example, while Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., is apparently the poorest member of Congress, with estimated total net debt of between $2 million and $7 million. According to the study, though, 110 Democrats and 140 Republicans in Congress are millionaires.

What’s more, the numbers are conservative, since the top income bracket for their spouses is listed as “$1 million or more,” and the financial disclosure forms don’t include assets like the personal home of a member of Congress.

Of the top ten, six are Democrats and four Republicans, six Congressman and four Senators. In the bottom ten, all ten are in the House of Representatives, and seven are Democrats, including Rep. John Conyers and Republican Louie Gohmert. Meanwhile, the average American family lost 23% of its net worth between 2007 and 2009 according to the Federal Reserve. The Daily also notes, however, that even within Congress there is significant income inequality, as the difference between the wealthiest and least wealthy member of Congress proves. The Daily report suggests that this disconnect in between Congressional representatives and their constituents could have had an impact on their approval in Congress on top of the perceived continual dysfunction of the legislative body, noting that Congress’s approval rating hit an all-time low this year at 9%.

Find your Congressman or peruse the Center for Responsive Politics report here.

First, both Rove and Fox News’ Bill Hemmer asked the question that’s on everyone’s lips; Why on earth is Rick Perry, that Rick Perry, challenging anyone to a debate at this point. Rover didn’t seem to think it was a great idea. However, he theorized that the high-profile exposure with this and all his campaign ads might help plug the holes in Perry’s sinking boat. However, could it be too late?

“I don’t think I would have challenged somebody to a debate. Just simply raises all of those memories of bad moments during his debate performances. But, look, he is spending a lot of money on television. He issued two substantive policy statements in the last several weeks, one on reform of congress. That is pretty good. My suspicion, we’ll see he bottomed out and this has helped him to stabilize himself. The problem is he is stabilizing himself in a very low position.”

Of course, no one is pointing out one of the bonuses to challenging Pelosi to a debate; there wasn’t a chance in hell she was going to accept. Why would she? Perry might as well have challenged Dracula to an arm wrestling match (that would make an amazing campaign ad).

Still, Perry seems to have moved his target squarely onto the Obama administration with this challenge and his “pathetic” anti-Obama ad. Only time will tell if this will help him or if it’s foolhardy to forget the people he’s actually running against, a number of whom are moving steadily farther up in the polls.

Watch the clip from Fox News below:

It’s unusual enough for a presidential candidate to challenge a member of Congress to a debate, but in light of Perry’s performances in the forums thus far, his invitation was doubly confounding.

Here’s Perry’s invitation to Pelosi, via GOP12:(full letter here)

“I am in Washington Monday and would love to engage you in a public debate about my Overhaul Washington plan versus the congressional status quo.

I think it would be a tremendous service to the American public to see a public airing of those differences. Let the people decide.

If Monday doesn’t work, perhaps we could find a time in Iowa over the course of the next month to discuss these issues in front of the people of America’s heartland.”

Perry’s plan, which calls for Congress’ pay to be cut in half, along with their time in Washington,drew sharp criticism from House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer. He accused Perry of “pandering to the Tea Party,” and questioned the seriousness of the plan. Perry’s letter to Pelosi is pegged to Hoyer’s “outburst over my ‘Overhauling Washington’ plan.”

Since Monday didn’t fit in to Leader Pelosi’s schedule, Perry might be tempted to follow up on his plan B meeting in Iowa. He probably ought to just let it rest.

Update: Here’s Gov. Perry’s sad trombone rejoinder: “Something @NancyPelosi would like to forget: passing a 2k-page gov takeover of healthcare without reading it. American ppl haven’t forgotten”

It gets better, though. The site has obtained a letter from Gov. Perry, to Leader Pelosi, in which he challenges her to said debate on Monday in Washington, or if that doesn’t work…someplace in Iowa.

Here’s Perry’s invitation to Pelosi, via GOP12:(full letter here)

“I am in Washington Monday and would love to engage you in a public debate about my Overhaul Washington plan versus the congressional status quo.

I think it would be a tremendous service to the American public to see a public airing of those differences. Let the people decide.

If Monday doesn’t work, perhaps we could find a time in Iowa over the course of the next month to discuss these issues in front of the people of America’s heartland.”

Perry’s plan, which calls for Congress’ pay to be cut in half, along with their time in Washington, drew sharp criticism from House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer. He accused Perry of “pandering to the Tea Party,” and questioned the seriousness of the plan. Perry’s letter to Pelosi is pegged to Hoyer’s “outburst over my ‘Overhauling Washington’ plan.”

Aside from the dubious merits of his plan, this debate idea makes about as much sense as 1986-era Bill Buckner challenging Ozzie Smith to a nationally televised game of pepper. The thing Perry should least be trying to remind people of, at this point, is his performance in debates, and there’s really no upside to such a challenge.

If he’s serious about this, which means he thinks Pelosi actually will drop everything on Monday (fingers crossed), and that he can beat her in such a debate, the best case scenario is that he pulls off a Bayonne Bleeder-style upset against an opponent he’s not even running against. More than likely, Pelosi blows him off, and he just looks weak and desperate. Worst case: Pelosi accepts, and destroys him like a womp rat.

On the other hand, if this is just a publicity stunt, it serves only to remind people of his weakness in debates, and fosters a perception that he’s trying to look tough next to someone he’s not even running against.

Perry’s plan is an obvious ploy to exploit record dissatisfaction with Congress, and it might have had some political impact if he hadn’t gotten sidetracked into a feud with Steny Hoyer. Instead, he’s punching down at members of the House minority, and losing.

(h/t TPC)

While the segment may have lacked a “smoking gun,” it did present enough circumstantial evidence to effectively explain how our elected officials seem to gain so much wealth while serving in office. Kroft wisely avoided any partisan affiliation, instead going after the entire inside-the-beltway culture that are so commonly vilified in popular polls today.

Watch the segment below, courtesy of CBS News:

“I don’t think he is a clown,” Taylor replied. “But he’s an author on a book tour. He has a number of talking points that his handlers are giving to him and he is staying to script. It’s awfully odd when he’s asked a question outside the script, he doesn’t know where to go. Asked a question about China, clearly he wasn’t equipped and doesn’t know that China has nuclear capability, then he is off script. That’s the unfortunate thing about Herman Cain, he doesn’t operate without cue cards.”

Earlier in the segment, Taylor slammed the former Godfather’s Pizza CEO’s namecalling over Pelosi, calling it “some of the most misogynistic stuff I have ever heard during a presidential debate and it’s beneath even Herman Cain to stoop that low.”

“And when you recall what Herman Cain in referring to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and negotiating with (Libya) and he said something like ‘bless her’ in that condescending manner, it seems to me that Herman Cain has some kind of difficulty with women holding high office in this country,” Bashir exclaimed.

Taylor said she didn’t know him well enough to make those claims but that if she was in Cain’s shoes she would make a public apology to Speaker Pelosi. She also criticized Cain’s earlier gaffes.

“We are not holding him to the same standard as we hold any other candidate in the race. And truthfully, it’s because he is African-American and it gives the right-wing a way to say look-er-here. ‘We are not racist. We really like Herman Cain.’ And that’s the most unfortunate part about all of this.”

Watch Bashir and Taylor slam Herman Cain below via MSNBC:

RELATED: CNBC Debate Anchor Challenges Herman Cain Over ‘Princess Nancy’ Comment Given Recent Scandal

After discussing issues facing government (basically, the fact that Americans neither trust nor particularly like what’s going on in Congress), she offered an alternative that’s a bit outside of the box. “I think the point is now,” she told the host, “what we should say to the twelve people on the Super Committee, get in a room, sit down, reach agreement, on public television.” Charlie Rose, are your ears ringing?

Have a look, courtesy of Comedy Central:

h/t The Atlantic

“Princess Nancy,” asked CNBC’s Carl Quintanilla, “in referring to Speaker Pelosi… Why go there, why refer to her that way given the controversy surrounding you and women? Do you not feel like that was trying to start to juggle when you’re already having to unicycle?”

Cain responded:

Well, I wouldn’t put it in those terms. That was a statement that I probably should not have made, but I was trying to make a point.

Quintanilla’s follow-up was phrased… interestingly: “Do you believe you’ve put the story to bed, so to speak? Are you back on track? Has your campaign effectively ended that controversy?”

“I am back on track,” Cain said. “Some people in the media are the ones that don’t wanna get back on track, ok?”

Watch their exchange, via CNBC:

Whoopi and her co-hosts seem to think that Warren went out of her way to attack Brown, who appeared nude in Cosmopolitan magazine while he was in college, when in reality, it was the debate moderator who brought up the nude photo shoot. Warren’s response, then, could easily be viewed as either a self-effacing response or a shot at Brown. If it was, indeed, a dig at Scott Brown, it was a relatively good-natured one.

Goldberg went on to explain to her co-hosts, “Now, on a radio show afterwards, Scott Brown was asked, what do you think of that? And he said, ‘Thank God.’”

Weirdly, the audience laughed approvingly at the remark, and the discussion took a similarly jarring turn into domestic violence. Co-host Sherri Shepherd said, “I think people keep thinking they can say something and there’s no ramification back. It’s just like when you hit a man, expect him to turn around and pop you, too.”

Things went from appalling to surreal, though, when Whoopi explained how she interpreted Brown’s response. “Scott Brown was saying, Thank God you didn’t have to do that like i did,” Goldberg said, adding, “When I heard it, I have to tell you the truth, I thought he was saying, Thank God I didn’t have to do that.”

Brown, for his part, offers little ambiguity as to his meaning. “I was responding to a wisecrack she made about a decision I made to help pay for school; it’s as simple as that.”

Maybe I don’t watch The View enough, but this seemed dumber than usual. Whether Warren was making a dig at Brown or not, the response was certainly not equal to the offense, as illustrated by Shepherd’s misguided analogy. At worst, Brown was needled, and responded with a Crocodile Dundee knife.

Scott Brown probably should apologize to Warren, even if he feels his sexist blow was warranted. He’s in a tight race with Warren for his senate seat, tighter than it probably should be for an incumbent, and against an opponent who just got in a few weeks ago. This is an incredibly bad visual for Brown. Does he really think he’s going to pick up votes in Massachusetts by being the jerky best friend from a John Hughes movie? Trust me, nobody likes that guy.

Here’s the clip, from The View:

Beck shared these thoughts in a warning to wealthy people, media figures and particularly politicians who may be siding with the protesters. Beck warned Nancy Pelosi that, were she to try to reason with the protesters, they would “take [her] off of your private jet and they’re going to burn your farm down to the ground.”

RELATED: Herman Cain And Glenn Beck Agree: ‘Anti-Capitalism’ Wall Street Protest Is Trying To Start Revolution

He found his proof in the video of circulating this week of civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis being unable to address an Occupy Atlanta rally. Beck claimed that watching that video marked the second time in his life that he’d seen “true evil” (the first being Van Jones of course).

“Capitalists, if you think that you can play footsie with these people, you are wrong. They will come for you and drag you into the streets and kill you. They will do it. They’re not messing around. Those in the media – and I am included in this – they will drag us out into the streets and kill us. If you’re wealthy, they will kill you for what you have. You cannot tolerate this kind of stuff. You certainly do not encourage it.”

Whether or not Beck’s predictions come true, there’s one thing for sure; his quote makes for a perfect Halloween-season headline on our front page.

Listen to the comments below:

First Warren joked that unlike Brown, “I kept my clothes on” in college. Several days later, Brown responded by laughing and saying, “Thank God.” Christiane Amanpour asked Pelosi what she thought of Brown’s comment, and Pelosi saw it as purely disrespectful.

“I thought it spoke volumes about how clueless Senator Brown is. It really spoke volumes about, really, disrespect for women that he may not even realize. I bet you he’d like to take that comment back.”

Watch the video below, courtesy of ABC News:

The comment on Rep. Pelosi arose from the interminable controversy surrounding the possibility that Tea Party members either did or did not shout racial epithets and spit on black Congressmen. Because there is no video showing that they did so, Breitbart claims it didn’t happen, while others argue that it is positive and not negative proof that is required to close the case. You can see how this can go on forever. Anyway, the culprit, according to Breitbart, was Rep. Pelosi, who he did not abstain from calling a “bitch” for promoting the claim, which he considers a “lie” and “smear,” that the event happened. Later on in the speech, he goes after the “execrable” Garofalo for some wildly inane liberal comment she made, probably on Current TV. He explains that, as a longtime Hollywood resident, he knows her as “Hollywood’s pity fuck” who gets called upon to play the role of “loser” in movies when casting people feel sorry for her. So yes, at the very least, it’s a metaphor.

The two clips via Breitbart.tv below:

Rep. Pelosi is a controversial, radical figure– disagreements on her policies easily abound. The allegations of spitting and lobbing racial epithets at Congressmen are anything but a cold case, and given the lack of definitive evidence, could be argued either way ad infinitum. It could also be argued that this debate about whether or not it happened, and whether or not video evidence is necessary in such a volatile situation to prove it, is a legitimate conversation to have.

RELATED: Andrew Breitbart To Mediaite: Yes, He’s After The ‘Institutional Right,’ Too

And as for Garofalo, it’s hard to deny that at this point, having no discernible career or necessary background to earn relevance in any capacity, she has earned herself the rare and laudable title of “idiot.” “Execrable” isn’t entirely off-base on this one, though it’s not her fault people take her seriously. Needless to say, “pity fuck” most definitely is. It’s the sort of comment that any level-headed person would yell at their friend for had they made it in private at Thursday night Happy Hour– it has no place in the public discourse, in a speech about ideological values. Breitbart will argue that it is a metaphor, but it is impossible not to raise the question of whether said metaphor would ever be used against a man of similar stature. Would any conservative call Alec Baldwin a “pity fuck” as quickly as they would Garofalo, given that their politics align? Or, for that matter, any other famous liberal man in Hollywood that hasn’t been in a movie in years? If you answered “no, of course not, just look at him,” you’ll see why any woman in the public eye should have a problem with this statement, intent aside.

And it’s sad. Breitbart has dedicated most of the past decade to building up a formidable platform with which to spread his message– on the whole one of small government and tolerance– the pendulum of his tenor swinging wildly and entertainingly from, as he put it, “Nice” to “Angry Andy.” As a general rule, “Nice Andy” is a much smarter, convincing character than whoever showed up to TeaCon. He’s the guy who went up and introduced himself to Rachel Maddow at an MSNBC party, who exposed the very ugliness he exhibits here in the left by simply being physically present at a liberal conference last year, who got asked whether he was a “top or bottom” by John Waters on Bill Maher’s show, laughing it off. He’s been on television with an “irony mustache.” Generally, his willingness to engage the other side and not take himself seriously makes Breitbart one of the more likeable characters on the American right. And not just when he is having a bit of fun.

RELATED: Breitbart Back On MSNBC, Introduces World To “Jovial And Measured Andrew”

To the conservative-libertarian movement (with which I identify), there is much value in Breitbart as an eloquent thinker and writer who goes out of his way to be as inclusive as he is controversial, and as willing to engage in productive discussion as he is to expose the dirtiest secrets of his ideological enemies. Needless to say these comments belie any of that good will, and reflect as negatively on those who wish to support his cause but find it so hard to as anything some of his more deplorable hires have done in the past. Ultimately it’s a discipline problem, not a message problem, and one that those who look up will mature into correcting sooner rather than later.

If you think about it, Howell can be an effective hypothetical tool to use in such a debate. He could not be more of an elitist if he tried: his demeanor, manner of speaking, and treatment of the other castaways is very snobbish.

But what truly makes Howell a perfect weapon to use is that he is unabashedly proud of his wealth. He brought thousands of dollars to the island. He brags about all his money to the others, and wife laments that during the Depression, he lost money and became “just a millionaire.” He is THE rich guy. Liberals paint him as a typical rich conservative who hoards his money and gives nothing back, while conservatives make him the stereotypical elitist liberal with no empathy for regular Americans.

Howell was used by Senator Orrin Hatch several months ago while speaking in Congress about tax hikes.

Hatch explains:

I want to be clear that I do not lump all of these folks in with Bill Gates, LeBron James, Warren Buffett, or Gilligan’s Island‘s resident millionaire Thurston Howell III.

Unlike Hatch, many conservatives have used Howell’s name in reference to establishment Democrats. Conservative blog The Last Refuge described a video of Nancy Pelosi chanting “Hands off our Medicare!” as “Mrs. Thurston Howell attempts to lead the crowd.” One blogger referenced “John (Thurston Howell III) Kerry.” And one blogger even thinks Obama is worse than Howell.

[Y]ou have America’s leader, probably one of the most aloof and indifferent presidents we have witnessed in the modern era, jetting off to the liberal enclave of Martha’s Vineyard. Were Thurston Howell III alive today he would be appalled by the presence of these neo-Marxist, capitalism-hating nogoodniks taking over “the Vineyud.” Wonder how Kennebunkport is looking these days?

But the meme has been used more often by liberals, attempting to link him to Republicans and frame them as friends of the wealthy. A letter in The Republic from earlier this month compared Howell to John Boehner, and this political cartoon illustrated the debate between Republicans and labor groups.

Here’s an excerpt from a PressDemocrat op-ed:

Thurston Howell III, remained rich even when paying taxes at rates much higher than those which apply today. He and Lovey Howell provide Gilligan with proof enough that the rich will do fine under most any circumstances, so it’s about time that the Skipper, Professor, Ginger and Mary Ann, together with the rest of us, demand fairness from our elected representatives.

And blogger Roy Edroso invoked the billionaire while throwing cold water on Rick Perry‘s presidential campaign.

I doubt things will be improved by President Rick Perry, who will upon inauguration give the last $32.98 in the Treasury to Thurston Howell III and ask America to pray for money.

Which brings us back full circle to Rachel Maddow. In another segment of her program last night, she played an ad for Orville Redenbacher popcorn featuring the characters of Mr. & Mrs. Howell. In the segment, which you can watch here, she insisted the ad was an “exercise in 2012 presidential campaign analysis,” and asked if this would be a year where voters would go for an obscenely wealthy candidate.

Would you vote for Thurston Howell III? The country-clubbing millionaire who, for some reason, brought a bunch of ascots and a smoking jacket on a three-hour boat tour in 1965. When voting for president, would you vote for Thurston?

It’s all well and good for pundits to invoke fictional characters when going after their political rivals, but why this particular one? Why not Montgomery Burns, a character who still exists on TV? What about Gordon Gekko? Daddy Warbucks? George Bluth? Lex Luthor?

I’m not old enough to understand the cultural impact of Gilligan’s Island, but it seems to have left a lasting impression on people, since he has become the go-to stereotype for rich elitism even though his star has been eclipsed by many others in the media landscape. Perhaps one day we will see a campaign ad comparing Thurston Howell III to a presidential candidate. But for today’s voters, a face from an old TV show isn’t going to cut it. Update your analogies, people!