The death of Michael Jackson; Mackenzie Phillips‘ incest accusation; Kanye West‘s uber-interruption; Meghan McCain‘s PG-rated (at best) Twitpic: One of these things is not like the others, one of these things does not belong.

On The Huffington Post’s list of Shocking 2009 Celebrity Scandals, the story of Meghan McCain’s Twitpic-inspired firestorm seems to stick out like a…sore thumb. What’s the real scandal here?

HuffPo describes it like this:

Meghan McCain tweeted this chesty photo illustrating her idea of a progressive night in. Controversy ensued and she made an empty threat to quit Twitter but instead tweeted a half-hearted apology for any offense her boobs may have caused.

“Chesty?” Is Bob Eubanks writing for HuffPo now? Are they afraid this picture would give people the urge to “make whoopee?”

The only scandal here is that anyone would object to this, and that it resulted in Meg promising no more Twitpics. It makes me seriously wonder what’s wrong with this country. It’s a really good picture, with the added artsy touch of black-and-white photography.

On the other hand, who could blame HuffPo for finding an excuse to publish the sexy, gritty image one

more time? One of the great attractions of Meg’s Twitter feed is that late-night, unfiltered, intimate quality she achieves, and this photo epitomizes that.

Still, this isn’t even my favorite Meghan McCain Twitpic this year. For my money, that honor goes to this shot of a reporter apparently interviewing Meg’s boobs. This one’s also not scandalous, but another example of Meg’s sense of humor about her pride and joy.

An article on CBN.com that alleges, among other things, that “most of the candy sold during this season has been dedicated and prayed over by witches” has been removed by the site after becoming an object of mockery by The Huffington Post. (We linked a cached version.) The site ran a slideshow and poll of the most evil candy brands.

Why did CBN remove the post, which originally appeared at Charisma.com? Is HuffPo guilty of mocking Christianity, or are they justly targeting a fringe belief?

We’ve reached out to CBN to find out why they took the post down, and we await their response. There are several possibilities. It’s possible that CBN’s editors re-thought the content of the article, given the negative attention being paid to it. The piece also suggests the existence of an unholy trinity, and a laundry list of “behind-the-scenes” Halloween activities that includes:

* Sex with demons
* Orgies between animals and humans
* Animal and human sacrifices
* Sacrificing babies to shed innocent blood
* Rape and molestation of adults, children and babies
* Revel nights
* Conjuring of demons and casting of spells
* Release of “time-released” curses against the innocent and the ignorant.

It’s pretty sensational, out-there stuff that might have slipped through initially due to the writer’s credentials. On the other hand, CBN head Pat Robertson engages in fringe activities like prophecy, so this is a sliding scale.

Or, it’s possible the deluge of traffic from HuffPo might have caused server problems for them.

Many Christian conservatives are sensitive about mockery from the left, which they view as anti-Christian. I asked Dr.Thomas Howe, Dean of Apologetics and Professor of Biblical Studies at the Southern Evangelical Seminary and author of books like The Big Book of Bible Difficulties, if things like “time-release curses,” demon orgies, and demonic candy are part of mainstream Christian thought.

“None of (this is) considered main stream Christian beliefs. Beliefs in curses is occultic, not Christian. I am not aware of any evidence supporting any of these claims about Halloween, neither do I subscribe to the notion of a demonic trinity. This is not found anywhere in the Bible, and it is not a historic Christian doctrine.”

Dr. Howe is an ordained Southern Baptist minister.

It seems, then, that the Huffington Post is not running afoul of mainstream Christians in mocking this article. Although we don’t yet know why CBN took the article down, according to Dr. Howe, they made the right call. This  goes to show that just because an organization puts something online, it doesn’t mean they speak for an entire religion.

Ted Kennedy Jr.’s Tribute to His Father

Ever since Senator Kennedy’s passing last week there has been much speculation over who his successor will be both in the Senate and in the family. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Ted’s second son, is the politician in the immediate family, but after Ted Jr.’s heartbreaking (dare we say, scene stealing) tribute to his father on Saturday, one wonders if we haven’t just witnessed the launch of another Kennedy political career.

Orrin Hatch Crosses Party Lines

We’ve certainly done our part, watchdogging the coverage and the reactions, and measuring the breadth and depth of the coverage.
Mediaite has also worked hard to set the world’s record for voluntary pimping of AMC’s “Mad Men,” shoehorning the red-hot cable drama into every story we can. The Huffington Post, however, has managed to outdo us on both fronts with one fell swoop.

I’m referring, of course, to HuffPo’s recent pictorial,“Ted Kennedy’s ‘Mad Men’-Style Suits.” Can’t you just hear the wheels turning in the guy who thought that up? “Oh, man, we are gonna OWN search engines with this.”

Is it uncharitable to view this as crass? Perhaps, but had Kennedy have died closer to the premier of “Transformers 2,” would we have been treated to renderings of “Kennedy-style Robots and the Things They Transform Into?” Maybe McDonald’s ought to do some kind of “Un-Happy Meal” to mark the occasion.

Plus, isn’t referring to Teddy’s early-60′s wardrobe as “Mad Men-style” a bit like calling the Beatles “Monkee-esque?”

Ted Kennedy’s Mad Men-Style Suits [HuffPo]

(Photo also via HuffPo – and is that a London Fog jacket we see slung over his arm?)

Tommy Christopher is a Mediaite columnist on politics and media and also reports frequently from the White House. Tommy can also be found at his own blog: DailyDose.us. Follow him on Twitter here.