President Obama made a surprising announcement this afternoon, telling reporters that Chief of Staff Bill Daley has resigned, and will be replaced by Jack Lew, current head of the Office of Management and Budget. While the announcement is a surprise, it’s not much of a shock, since Daley’s role was significantly cut back in November [...]

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.

Glenn Beck is very much not a fan of Newt Gingrich. If anyone didn’t yet know that from this interview, he made it very clear Saturday on Fox Business Network when he alleged that Gingrich was so similar to President Obama in his “progressive” ways, that the only reason Tea Partiers would like him over the President would be because of his race. Unsurprisingly, this has caused some anger. Even less surprisingly, one of those angry voices is Andrew Breitbart, a man who is very much not a fan of Glenn Beck.

The nation is just waking up today to learn the rather huge political news that Chief of Staff Bill Daley‘s role at the White House is changing, with many outlets reporting that he is moving into a more of a “big picture” or “ambassador” role in the Obama administration. The news of Daley’s evolving role at the White House, however, is just about as unclear and muddied as the administration’s detractors claim the White House policies to be; is he being demoted?

The Herman Cain alleged sexual harassment story already has more wrinkles than a shar pei who slept in his clothes, but the latest one is a doozy. The Washington Times‘ Kerry Picket alleges that Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel “is likely involved with the sexual harassment accuser attacks” against Herman Cain, on the strength of sourcing so thin, it has to wear snow shoes in the shower to keep from slipping down the drain.

As the White House continues to reel from the fallout of the recent Solyndra debacle, it’s little surprise that a certain higher-up within the Obama administration at the time is professing to have had little to no knowledge of the administration’s involvement with and promotion of the solar energy company. Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s former Chief of Staff, told a Chicago radio station that he does not recall the administration’s loan $500 million loan to the company. “I don’t actually remember that or know about it,” he said. “So, what I’m dealing is with what I’m dealing with here today.”

Have you been missing Rahm Emanuel? To be more specific, have you been missing angry Rahm Emanuel? Well then, today is your lucky day.

Earlier this week, outgoing Fox News host Glenn Beck illustrated David Carr‘s criticism of Midwesterners as “neanderthals” by doing an offensive caricature of a mentally disabled person. Mediaite’s Frances Martel wrote a relatively mild critique of Beck’s performance, given the level of offense, and for her trouble, conservative website Big Journalism has accused Martel of anti-disabled bigotry, and defended Beck’s vile minstrelsy by (I’m not kidding) asserting that those offended are mentally deficient.

It finally happened. After two and a half years of pleading with the public for a chance to be heard, former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich finally took the stand today in his defense. As one would expect from his many media appearances, Blagojevich adamantly denied any wrongdoing, but also, according to press in the room, put the jury to sleep with an unnecessarily elongated biography that detailed his disco years and love of Elvis.

It is on. A new online campaign ad attacking Mitt Romney has been released, funded by a recently group called Priorities USA Action. Who is that you ask? Well, its founders former Deputy Press Secretary for the White House Bill Burton, and Sean Sweeney, who is former senior adviser to former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel; and CNN contributor Paul Begala, who was a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton. So, safe to say its a a pro-Obama group.

You can’t please everyone: nearly two years after former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich became the face of disgraceful political mischief worldwide, the ethics lecturer and warrior poet has become so predictable and trite that even Chicago media– who actually have to deal with the circumstances of his governorship, are bored with his current trial.

In the wake of last week’s Wonkette/Trig Palin controversy, people keep sending me updates, related stories, and new slights against the special needs population, the latest of these being a Los Angeles Times editorial that calls Sarah Palin a “special-needs case.”

This is as good a time as any to clarify a few things about the issue of special needs-bashing.

Last week a lengthy profile appeared in The Atlantic that revealed the man behind the incredibly popular (and politically influential) fake Twitter feed @MayorEmanuel was none other than Dan Sinker, a Chicago-area professor and founder of the influential punk rock zine Punk Planet. Last night, Stephen Colbert had Sinker on has his guest in a creative booking that reminded us of Colbert’s greatness.

Well, it finally happened. The man behind the incredibly popular, fake Twitter @MayorEmanuel has drawn back the curtain and shown himself. After months of anxious speculation, a lengthy profile in The Atlantic has revealed the writer to be Dan Sinker, a professor and the founder of the influential punk rock zine Punk Planet.

When Rahm Emanuel won his campaign to be mayor of Chicago yesterday, many people were curious to hear the reaction of his former boss, President Obama. Many other people, though, were curious to hear the reaction from @MayorEmanuel, the foul-mouthed fake Twitter persona that’s become so popular that the real Emanuel offered a “$2,500 or $5,000 personal contribution” to charity for the writer’s identity. Sure enough, the Twitter feed delivered last night, entertaining many…including Michelle Malkin who ended up getting in a joking fight with the fake Emanuel. However, this morning, she’s ended up in a real fight trying to prove she knew it was a joke.

The most explosive moment in the current Chicago Mayoral race (aside from those red-hot residency requirements) may have occurred Sunday at a candidate’s forum from which lightning-rod frontrunner Rahm Emanuel was absent. Former US Senator Carol Moseley Braun lashed out at opponent Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins by saying that she was out of touch because she had been “strung out on crack for twenty years.”

Van Pelt-Watkins has spoken honestly about her long-ago drug use, which she says did not include crack cocaine. She’s now demanding an apology from Moseley Braun.

Before entering the world of politics, and later opinion television, Fox News weekend host Mike Huckabee served as Pastor at Baptist churches in his native Arkansas. As such, his rhetoric typically seems kinder and gentler towards his political foes than other right-of-center “conflictanators.” However, on his eponymous weekend show on Fox News, he found a perfect proxy to deliver anti-Obama vitriol, Chicago shock jock Mancow Muller.

After spending a few days as the Illinois judicial system’s hot potato du jour, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has finally, officially been allowed back on the ballot for mayor in Chicago. Emanuel’s place in the mayoral race had been in dispute since he moved back to Chicago to run, with the Illinois Appellate Court having ruled that his tenure as Chief of Staff in Washington, D.C. revoked his Chicago residency.

Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised the Rahm-Emanuel-is-going-to-be-mayor-of-Chicago saga took an unforeseen turn yesterday.

If you haven’t heard, an appellate court ruled 2-1 he didn’t meet the qualifications for city residency. Because he’d lived in Washington D.C. to take the job as President Obama’s chief of staff and rented out his house, the court ruled, he was out as mayoral candiate.
But here’s why this brouhaha shouldn’t come as a surprise: This isn’t the first time Emanuel has seemed to take things for granted. It’s very similar to what happened when he was Obama’s chief of staff.

After yesterday’s little hiccup, it seems that former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel‘s back on the path towards becoming Chicago’s angriest mayor – at least for the time being. Earlier, an Illinois appellate court determined that Emanuel was not eligible to run for mayor of Chicago because he was did not meet residency requirements.

Today, however, the Supreme Court of Illinois ordered the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners to place Emanuel back on the ballot.

The near term political career of former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel appears to have been dealt a rather significant blow with breaking news that an Illinois appellate court has decided against his legitimacy as a mayoral candidate for his hometown of Chicago, claiming that he is not, in fact a Chicago resident.

At a news conference today, Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel was haunted by his past statement about exploiting a crisis for benefit. When asked if the Arizona shooting is a crisis that shouldn’t go to waste, Emanuel emphatically said “no” and also was able to establish exactly what he said.

Tucker Carlson‘s The Daily Caller is featuring a piece called “Exploiting a Tragedy,” but the Twitter headline “Exploiting a tragedy: Lefties love a crisis” more closely illustrates the unintentionally ironic, self-contradictory nature of the op-ed, co-authored by Carlson and Neil Patel. Aside from eating its own tail, though, the piece makes several other glaring missteps, including a poorly thought-out comment about gun control, and a yellow assertion about Gabrielle Giffords‘ father.

AP is reporting that President Barack Obama has selected former Commerce Secretary William Daley as his Chief of Staff, replacing Interim Chief of Staff Pete Rouse. The spot had been vacated late last year when former Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel left his position to run for Mayor of Chicago. Not only does Mr. Daley have deep roots in Obama’s home city of Chicago, but he’s thought to have a very strong pro-business point of view, evidenced by his previous role as Commerce Secretary under President Clinton.

With the announcement Wednesday morning that White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs will soon be moving on to a role outside the White House, the next big question is: Who will succeed him? There have been a few names kicked around, but the smart money is on Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton, and with the [...]