Jill Lepore had an excellent column for the New Yorker today in which she laments that the story of the Susan G. Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood has become “obscenely, a story about partisan divisions, as if some parts of women’s bodies are Democratic and other parts are Republican.” It’s almost impossible to argue with this point but, if you needed any further proof, just look to the way certain news outlets are covering the breast cancer organization’s reversal on their previous stance. We’ve collected some of the…uh…”best.”

Isn’t domestic violence hilarious? I didn’t think so, either. Apparently, Real Time host Bill Maher does, at least when it happens to women who are part of a breakaway Mormon sect. In an appearance on AC360, Maher told host Anderson Cooper that he believes former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney will win the Republican nomination, and that “Obama is going to beat him like a runaway sister wife.”

Actor Don Cheadle, who has managed to help bring us both the heartbreaking Hotel Rwanda and the perplexing Hotel for Dogs, is currently in such a situation. In an interview with Jet magazine, Cheadle, who has a new TV show coming out soon, shared that he believes President Barack Obama “inherited an impossible situation. I wish he had not been so much of a consensus-seeker. I just wanted to see a more ‘gangsta’ president.”

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.

In a comprehensive phone interview with Newsbusters‘ associate editor Noel Sheppard Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough discussing his program’s format and his reputation as “the lone conservative host on MSNBC.” “I love the format. I love the ability of bringing people on and being able to interview them for ten, fifteen minutes. You just can’t do that anywhere else on cable or broadcast TV,” he said. At one point in the discussion, Scarborough divulged that his co-host Mika Brzezinski was pro-life and pro-gun.

Rabble-rousing documentarian Michael Moore has been front and center in the Occupy Wall Street movement for quite some time, and recently, has fended off some shots for being among the 1% himself. During an appearance at Occupy Portland, a conservative blogger harangued Moore about his net worth, and was ignored, had his shot blocked, and was “shoved in the stomach” for his trouble.

Currently, the news catnip du jour for conservatives are Solyndra and Fast and Furious. Today, conservative media watchdog Newsbusters expressed outrage that a Fast and Furious question was left out of ABC News broadcasts of Jake Tapper‘s exclusive interview with President Obama. Fortunately, we’ve got the exchange here.

While the world was freaking out about the Jimmy Hoffa Voter Encouragement Crisis/Incendiary Rhetorapocalypse, Vice President Joe Biden was firing up a Labor Day crowd in Cincinnati with a reference to “Barbarians at the Gate.” Conservative websites like Newsbusters are pointing out that Biden’s remark received little coverage, and oddly, so is liberal website Crooks and Liars. In the spirit of bipartisanship, I’m going to agree that Biden’s remarks deserve more attention.

Conservative media watchdog Newsbusters has taken appropriate umbrage at Cartoonist Garry Trudeau‘s latest Sunday Doonesbury strip over its use of a sexist (and, frankly, lazy) joke about Sarah Palin‘s breasts. The strip feature Palin on TV telling an interviewer that her recent Newsweek cover story “shows that as president, I’d be totally ready if called on to fill out a tight sweater.”

In introducing her “powerhouse roundtable of economic experts” Sunday morning, This Week host Christiane Amanpour omitted a notable portion of Douglas Holtz-Eakin‘s résumé. Holtz-Eakin’s intro included “former director of the Congressional Budget Office,” but it might have been helpful to mention that Holtz-Eakin was chief economic adviser to Sen. John McCain‘s presidential campaign.

On his GPS program Sunday morning, Fareed Zakaria told viewers that he thinks “liberals need to grow up” and realize that President Obama’s oratorical gifts have their limits. The declaration has earned him sharp rebuke among liberals, but also from conservative sites like Newsbusters, each of whom see Zakaria’s premise at odds with reality.

Conservative media watchdog Newsbusters is helpfully defending GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann‘s honor against those serial cover photo offenders at Newsweek, excoriating the magazine for using a cover photo of the Tea Party fave that makes her “look crazy.” Their hearts are in the right place, but is Newsbusters really helping Bachmann out by starting a national debate about how crazy she looks?

Comedian George Lopez, host of TBS’ Lopez Tonight, has drawn the ire of several conservative websites by telling CNN’s Piers Morgan that “If Sarah Palin becomes president at any point, I will say allegedly, I will move to Canada.”

Given Lopez’s prior Palin pronouncements, it’s hard to see what they’re all getting worked up over, but it does underscore the degree to which Michele Bachmann has sucked all of the air out of Palin’s presidential ambitions.

On the overblown heels of “Dickgate,” which saw Time Magazine‘s Mark Halperin suspended from MSNBC for calling President Obama the wrong kind of “cocky,” conservative media watchdog Newsbusters has taken it upon itself to choke every verbal chicken that comes out of an MSNBC personality’s mouth. The latest culprit is Chris Matthews, who opined that the sight of US lawmakers “dickin’ around” over the debt ceiling is not inspiring confidence among world markets.

Texas Governor Rick Perry seems to have a bit of a Charlie Crist problem, at least according to this week’s Politico article drumming up old rumors that the potential 2012 Republican candidate may be gay. The article is already on the lips of several political commentators, notable liberal talk radio host Stephanie Miller, who wondered whether Rush Limbaugh‘s support would dwindle if rumors were true. The comment landed her in hot water with conservatives, naturally, who turned the spotlight on her own sexuality and her choice to bring up Perry’s.

Salon‘s Joan Walsh got a blistering reaction from conservatives when she wrote a column denouncing GOP Wishful™ Newt Gingrich (R²) over a raft of racial dog whistles, including his nicknaming of President Obama as the “Food Stamp President.”

Walsh appeared on The Ed Show with Prof. Michael Eric Dyson Monday night, where they discussed Gingrich’s oeuvre, and punched holes in the right’s predictable argument that is it Walsh who is, in fact, the racist for noticing.

Update: Wonkette has deleted the post, and replaced it with this message: (h/t Little Miss Attila) Rude Post Deleted By Editor; Author Apologizes A post on this page satirizing Sarah Palin using her baby as a political prop was very badly done and sounded like the author was mocking the child and not just Sarah Palin/Sarah [...]

Conservative site Newsbusters is going after Wonkette for a recent post the liberal political humor site published about Trig Palin, the youngest son of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

Newsbusters prefaces its story by asking “What has become of today’s liberalism that makes it acceptable to attack the mentally handicapped if they or their parents are conservatives?”

On Monday’s Morning Joe, co-host Mika Brzezinski’s reaction to a David Letterman bit satirizing Dick Cheney drew a bemused reaction from host Joe Scarborough, and angry emails from viewers. The bit featured various clips of Cheney, including an open heart surgery, set to the Mary Tyler Moore theme, and finished with Cheney taking the famous MTM kitten’s place on the iconic vanity card. Brzezinski laughed uproariously, to Scarborough’s disapproval, for almost two minutes, over the course of two segments.

Real Time host Bill Maher wasn’t talking about energy efficient light bulbs when he used the term “2 watt” in reference to Sarah Palin on his show, and he wasn’t expressing a wish to see her next Tuesday during a weekend performance of his stand-up act. The late-night comic/political pundit often uses shocking language to [...]

On Monday night, conservative media watchdog Newsbusters published a column denouncing Mother Jones’ David Corn for making what they called an “anti-Semitic remark,” and whacked Hardball host Chris Matthews for laughing at it. Corn responded with befuddlement at the charge, and by Tuesday evening, the original post had been deleted from Newsbusters. Much to his credit, [...]

Although it seems to have originated at right-wing media watchdog Newsbusters, an accusation of anti-Semitism against Mother Jones‘ David Corn and Hardball host Chris Matthews is rocketing around the conservative blogosphere like a coked-up Ricochet Rabbit. Corn, who is Jewish, stands accused of making an “anti-Semitic remark,” while Matthews “laughs hysterically.”

There ought to be a special word for falsely accusing a Jewish person of anti-Semitism. Maybe “anti-Semitism³?”

The recent appointment of former Time magazine reporter Jay Carney as White House Press Secretary has already spawned an effort to discredit Carney, and his former colleagues, by right-wing media watchdog Newsbusters. The right’s answer to Media Matters has released what it calls a “Media Bias Dossier” on Carney, but at eight quotes in a twenty-year career, it’s pretty thin gruel. It might also surprise Newsbusters to know that libeeral watchdog Media Matters has an even thicker “dossier” on Carney, and that Redstate’s Erick Erickson is among Carney’s biggest fans.

Saturday’s Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear was barely even over when some conservatives on Twitter began clamoring for stories about offensive signs at the rally, which only seems fair given the attention paid to offensive Tea Party signs. However, like comparing Restore Sanity‘s Funniest Signs with the funny (for a different reason) Tea Party signs, it only seems fair.

Still, there were a few signs that drew outrage (faux and otherwise), and one that would have if I’d been able to get a sh

Thanks largely to the Tea Party phenomenon, protest signs are now fodder for news stories, with left and right scanning each other’s rallies for the offensive sign that damns their rivals as racists/America-haters. Saturday’s Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, however, set a different bar. At a rally by two world class satirists, placard-makers were under heavy pressure to deliver the funny. Here are the heroes who heard that trumpet’s call.