Salon’s Steve Kornacki went on The Rachel Maddow Show Thursday night and talked about a photo his site had stumbled across. Kornacki thought he saw Mitt Romney getting his shoes shined on a tarmac when, in fact, it was a TSA screening, as NPR’s Frank James pointed out. During the broadcast, Kornacki was caught up in pareidolia, and wildly described an invented-narrative of what the photo represented.

Salon’s Glenn Greenwald, not oft deterred by hairy subjects, met a match last night that he was not prepared for in, of all places, his kitchen pantry.

In an interview with Salon, Ralph Nader praised Sarah Palin‘s iconoclastic Labor Day speech in which she railed against the “permanent political class” that was cut off from the concerns of regular people. “I think she’s a lot smarter than most people credit her,” said Nader. “Judging by her comments, she is squarely in the camp of conservative populism, opposed to corporatism and its corporate state.”

Rick Perry continues to poll well, and a CNN/ORC International Poll released ahead of tonight’s debate shows the Texas statesmen leading in both theoretical votes and general electability, earning the all important “nice guy” vote.

Yesterday Reverend Al Sharpton was officially named host of PoliticsNation, MSNBC’s new 6PM show. The announcement was met with certain hesitation, questions raised regarding his strained history with teleprompters and, more seriously, his journalistic integrity. Yesterday it was pointed out by NPR’s David Folkenflik that Sharpton himself was perhaps wondering if he was up to the job when he penned this op-ed from last Sunday’s New York Daily News.

Oh, Department of Delicious Irony. The self-professed possible potential presidential candidate Donald Trump, who’s been a harsh critic of buying products from China, has his “Donald J. Trump Signature Collection” suits and ties manufactured–yep–in China. As Salon’sJustin Elliott discovered, the clothing line that “promises to provide ‘the pinnacle of style and sophistication’ and ‘the necessities to be boardroom ready all of the time’” comes with a “Made in China” tag.

It seems that, every few months, we get a big fight with media figures accusing each other of not sourcing each other enough. The latest Battle of Hat Tips however, features a genuine TV star wearing the hat; Glenn Beck. The Daily Caller, this morning, took the first shot in a lengthy “exclusive” quoting from such notable Conservative bloggers as Andrew Breitbart and Pamela Geller accusing Beck of using content from blogs on his TV show without giving proper credit.

Looks like the golden era of bipartisanship at the Huffington Post has ended, no more than two weeks after it started. The publication turned many heads after agreeing to publish a post by conservative rabble-rouser Andrew Breitbart on the recent NPR/James O’Keefe kerfuffle, initially standing by the editorial decision. In light of Breitbart’s recent comments on Van Jones, however, HuffPo spokesman Mario Ruiz announced today they would no longer promote him.

As 13-year-old singer Rebecca Black‘s “Friday” video racks up YouTube clicks – and Black reportedly earns loads of cash for her surprising hit song – we’re left to wonder about what Black’s story says about the music industry, the Internet, and us. Ark Music Factory, the company behind Black and other young stars, should be thrilled with all the attention, says Rhodri Marsden in The Independent, since their “whole business model is about reaction, not content.” But they have virtually “disappeared” from the spotlight faced with the inevitable backlash, which is “baffling – like pretty much everything connected to the ‘Friday’ phenomenon.”

It turns out Congress isn’t as overcrowded as it sometimes seems during the annual State of the Union address. Maybe you’ve noticed when the President walks into the chamber how the members of Congress are falling out of the aisle into POTUS’ path and–sheer coincidence of course–into the path of the television cameras. Hey! That’s my Congressman totally shaking the hand of the President! I’ve got to vote them back into office whenever they run again or whatever!

The noose around the necks of Wikileaks is now tightening at a rapid pace, with the United States finally getting overtly involved. Last night, Icelandic Parliamentarian and producer of Wikileaks’ “Collateral Murder” video Birgitta Jonsdottir stated she had just been notified that the US Department of Justice had sent Twitter a subpoena for all of her activity on Twitter– and that of Julian Assange, and anyone involved with Wikileaks.

In the battle of the presidential memoirs, George W. Bush is gaining some significant ground on his predecessor, selling almost as many copies of Decision Points in two months as President Bill Clinton sold of his in two years. Why would Americans be so eagerly purchasing the product? One suggestion on MSNBC is that, maybe, people just hate Bush more.

So much for the “new niceness.” From today until Wednesday, Salon’s War Room blog will be revealing its list of the 30 “worst” pundits currently stinking up the media. The inventory is being written by Alex Pareene, who learned the art of biting commentary at Gawker.

Nearly half the country does not like Sarah Palin, according to a new CBS poll. Something, they point out, could be a problem should she decide to run for president.

The new ad for Nissan’s electric car, the LEAF, has hit the internet, and you’d be forgiven if you confuse it with a Charmin commercial. Salon is calling it a shameless ember thrown into the fires of the culture wars that will “will send you into a Tea-Party paroxysm of rage.” It’s more of a cuddly furball thrown into the political cage match of the global warming debate that will send you into an apolitical paroxysm of cute.

The Washington Post may be ignoring Salon’s stories on the Arlington Cemetery mismanagement saga, but they will have a hard time ignoring Joan Walsh who launched a Twitter attack last night to air her grievances over WaPo’s alleged snub.

Now that the controversy over the failure of the White House corps to criticize Helen Thomas has temporarily blown over, there is a new journalism controversy facing the DC press: should journalists go to the Biden’s house for a picnic and be Super Soaked by Rahm Emanuel.

The secondary storyline this week with respect to President Obama and his handling of the BP oil spill appears to be how many Democratic stalwarts turned coat and began to loudly criticize the President in recent days. Salon’s Joan Walsh, meanwhile, thinks the nation should stop looking for a daddy.

Last night Rachel Maddow pondered whether SCOTUS nominee Elena Kagan might be the Left’s Harriet Miers in so far as, will Obama be able to muster the support from his own party to confirm her. All signs point to no on this. However, if there were more Glenn Greenwalds in the party she might have something to worry about. Greenwald told Maddow last night her lack of a paper trail is a huge concern.

Is Glenn Beck’s time in the media klieg lights coming to a close? The latest Nielsen numbers reveal that Beck’s audience is down nearly 30% since the start of the year. But why the drop (if, indeed, there even is one)? Is the country growing bored of chalkboards, or is the larger issue that the nation is merely out-Becking Glenn Beck?

The MLB should boycott the 2011 All-Star Game in Phoenix over Arizona’s harsh new immigration law.

That is the idea being set forth by activists at Change.org and Daily Kos, who view the influx of tourism and publicity Arizona will reap from an All-Star Game, prominently featuring Hispanic players, as unwarranted.

Yesterday, Slate released the second in what appears to be a series of profiles in various publications on internet mogul Andrew Breitbart, and for a figure as polarizing as he is, writer Chris Beam paints a remarkably favorable picture. It’s not a glowing biographical sketch but it’s the most candid, three-dimensional look the public has ever gotten of him.

So! 2009 is almost over. The health care bill has passed. President Obama has announced his plan for Afghanistan. The midterms are still eleven months away. What will we talk about? If some of the coverage these last few days (from normally stalwart Obama supporters) is any hint, it’s likely the focus between now and the president’s State of the Union address is going to on Obama’s sinking popularity and everything he has done wrong in the last…eleven months.

Twas the crack of dawn before Christmas, and one hundred angry, vitriolic politicians have aroused themselves at the crack of dawn in order to vote on the health care reform bill that most of the nation may or may not understand, but are willing to fight about anyway! In a last minute Christmas spiritish move the Senate moved the vote from 8am to 7am in order to let everyone attempt to get home for Christmas. Here’s the view from Twitter thus far.

It may or may not come to pass that 2009 was the year “real” journalism died (at least as we’ve come to understand the definition). Despite the plethora of hard news stories in 2009: the inauguration of our first black President, the economic collapse, health care reform, the Iran election, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., it does feel like all the big news stories we actually recall in our year-end lists have been a bit…hollow.