On Thursday night’s The Last Word, host Lawrence O’Donnell discussed the recent fortunes of former House Speaker Newton Leroy Gingrich with panelists Goldie Taylor and Touré, and in addition to providing fresh insight into Newt’s newly-resurfaced extramarital history and racial politicking, they also managed to sneak in a few Star Wars references. Goldie likened Newt’s supporters to “stormtroopers,” while Touré compared Gingrich to Jabba The Hutt.

You may remember a story from several months ago about a college in Indiana banning the national anthem because its lyrics were “too violent.” Obviously, this raised many eyebrows and made Goshen College a target for national outrage. Who would imagine the national anthem would be the subject of such controversy? Well, luckily the state of Indiana has legislators who understand just how sacrosanct the national anthem really is.

Thanks to our friends at BuzzFeed, here’s a run down of all the funniest, weirdest, most disturbing, and all around best viral stories of the past week!

First she commented on Keith Olbermann‘s exit from MSNBC, then she debated Reaganomics and finally opined about defense spending. When President Reagan’s Budget Director, David Stockman revealed the fact that more for defense is being spent today than in 1980 when the evil Russian empire was a real threat, the conversation launched in discussing the effectiveness of the SDI missile defense program.

Just two days after Jon Stewart spent a few minutes explaining how Barack Obama’s presidency follows the path of Luke Skywalker, Glenn Beck took time out to explain how progressive radicals are like Darth Vader using the dark side of the force. Clearly Star Wars is the greatest political allegory of all time. Suck it, Animal Farm!

The Daily Show returned to the airwaves last night after a two week holiday break with little hard news nor media coverage having occurred in the last week to dissect. So host Jon Stewart turned to his not-so-wayback machine, and recapped President Obama‘s stunning string of legislative victories that came in the last week of the lame duck session. Stewart compared Obama to a young Jedi known as Luke Skywalker, hero of Star Wars, in a funny, clever and somewhat ham-fisted analogy.

It always seemed the sexually frustrated C-3PO had a weird crush on R2-D2, but its seems after years of R2 ignoring his advances, C-3PO has finally moved on and found a way to entertain himself. Now presenting the C-3PO tape dispenser, where C-3PO has learned to lean back, smile, and enjoy anyone reaching near his crotch.

Who: James Earl Jones, interviewed by Patrick Healy
What: “A Conversation With James Earl Jones”
Where: The Times Center
When: September 20, 2010
Thumbs: Down

It was a more innocent time. Dave Weigel was still writing for The Washington Post, and BP was still just an awful name for a brand of honey. On April 19, 2010, CNN’s Ed Henry sat down for a (much lighter) follow-up to our Inside the White House Press Corps interview. After bravely tackling subjects like Star Wars, tattoos, porn star names, and the then-imminent Lost finale, Ed’s interview promptly vanished into thin air.

Luckily, the video has resurfaced, allowing a nostalgic look back at a bygone era.

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow is enjoying a very good time right now. Not only has she become the most respected thought leader on left of center opinion media, but she also gets great respect from those on the right, who otherwise disagree with her opinions. But the following clip illustrates another reason why she is so likable – she doesn’t take herself too seriously, evidence by her highlighter turned lightsaber trick.

So, I’m peripherally watching the World Cup, wondering to myself for the hundred-and-eighth time if one of those annoying World Cup horns (they’re called vuvuzela) will actually fit up a soccer fan’s ass sideways, when I hear the goofily melodic strains of the Mos Eisley Cantina Band. I turn, and am confronted with the worst perversion of the Star Wars franchise since Bea Arthur sang there in the Star Wars Holiday Special. Actually, that was kinda awesome.

This is an outrage! In a segment about a discrimination lawsuit on his eponymous Factor, Bill O’Reilly drew a comparison between transgender people and Ewoks, perhaps the lamest non-Binks characters from Star Wars. He couldn’t have chosen something cool, like Boba Fett? Even C-3PO would have been better than this.

Sadly, ignorance about transpeople (the “T” in LGBT) is nothing new, and it isn’t confined to right or left, or even gay or straight.

My last interview with NBC News Chief White House Correspondent Chuck Todd was such a big hit, the editors at Asylum asked me to fire some pop-culture questions at him for them. Chuck did not disappoint. Although I couldn’t get him to name Matt Drudge his least favorite Star Wars character, he did reveal a fluency in Wookieese, a talent for impressions, and the titular comparison. Here’s a preview.

Since joining the White House beat on the eve of Barack Obama‘s inauguration, CBS News Chief White House Correspondent Chip Reid has distinguished himself as one of the toughest questioners in the Brady Briefing Room.

In this edition of Inside the White House Press Corps, Chip speaks frankly about the role of the Press Secretary, compares the Obama White House to the Bush administration, and much more.

I’m guessing even if you haven’t seen the childhood-shattering Star Wars prequels, you know enough to not be pleased by them. Whether he made them for his children, for himself or for his greed, George Lucas disappointed generations of moviegoers with his second Star Wars Trilogy. When the most beloved franchise in film was revisited decades after its inception, it was just missing that… something.

Like vampire or zombie bites, geekdom is infectious. But this year it really seems like something has changed. Everyone seems to be talking about Comic-Con. With an entertainment industry that is interested in sequels, franchises and the already-proven value of any new investment in an entertainment property, Comic-Con has become the center of both the entertainment-industrial complex as well as the countless fan-universes that each franchise has created.