Last night, Rachel Maddow compared billionaire candidate Mitt Romney to fictional billionaire Thurston Howell III. If you’re looking for a rich-person caricature, there is no better person to cite than the oil baron of Gilligan’s Island. But it seems that 2011 is the year where both liberals and conservatives are pulling out the “You’re more like Thurston Howell than I am” card.

It’s a good bet that, when challenged to defend the Tea Party, Sarah Palin won’t balk from the challenge. Tonight, however, that challenge came in the name of a conservative, as Greta Van Susteren pointed out the group is targeting conservative stalwart Sen. Orrin Hatch for being too liberal. Van Susteren asked Palin how she would respond to their attempt to unseat him, to which Palin replied that she had admiration for the “good things” Sen. Hatch had done, and extremist elements were in “every group.”

In an act of blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Congressional floor surrealism, Sen. Orrin Hatch presented the Senate floor today with an image of beloved Gilligan’s Island character Thurston Howell III during a monologue on tax policy. Suggesting that Democrats, and especially President Barack Obama, were being unfair in calling those that make $200,000 a year as rich as millionaires like Howell, and brought a photo with him to remind Democrats of what millionaires look like.

Prompted by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch‘s uncharacteristic tirade against President Obama’s healthcare reform program, Chris Matthews unveiled his theory about what is happening to the Republican party: it’s just like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. According to Matthews, formerly intelligent Republicans are having their bodies “snatched” and what’s left behind in the case of Hatch or Senator John McCain is a “zombie” who mindlessly recites hard right positions.

Republican Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah gave a speech at Utah State University where he seemed to be testing out some new stand-up comedy material in front of a receptive audience as he trashed President Obama’s healthcare reform program. Although Hatch slightly hesitated before unleashing the harshest description of the bill, after he did, he jokingly apologized for his word choice, but seemed completely sincere with his sentiment.

During a segment on last night’s Countdown, host Keith Olbermann turned a popular right-wing talking point on its head, asking Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter if a prominent Republican like Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) might “not want to prevail in the so-called War on Terror” with a Democrat in the White House. He also defended the use of Miranda warnings by pointing to the results in the Times Square case, which produced a number of raids this week.

Last night Rachel Maddow went off on the GOP for their criticism of President Barack Obama‘s “reconciliation plan,” when they themselves have employed that technique more than once. Then Orrin Hatch thanked Maddow for the “badge of honor,” on his Twitter (really, Orrin Hatch?), so now the MSNBC host will continue the favor…by calling those on the right liars once more.

Earlier today we wrote about CNN’s scoping out of new talent — perhaps in response to a dismal year in ratings. In fact, in an era of opinion media domination traditional journalism, spirited debate seems to have been missing from the CNN programming slate, at least judged by total viewers. Well not so today, when Suzanne Malveaux got into a heated exchange with Senator Orrin Hatch over the current health care debate going on in the Senate. Video after the jump.

Anytime an influential man dies, attention is paid to his wife. The grace and allure of the grieving widow has fascinated Americans for decades, from Jackie O to Ruth Madoff (in a weird way). Vicki Kennedy is no exception. Since Senator Kennedy’s death, there’s been countless profile pieces written about “the woman who saved Ted,” their marriage, and how they fell in love.

Coverage of Senator Edward Kennedy’s funeral and burial dominated this weekend. Both the networks and the cablers carried Saturday’s service live and then returned later in the day in order to broadcast Kennedy’s motorcade past the Capitol, and burial at Arlington National Cemetery. In case you missed any of it here’s a look at the top five moments from this weekend’s coverage.