Bill Maher tried to capture what he saw as the Republican reaction to President Obama’s State of the Union address this week with words, calling Republicans “sourpusses” and describing their reaction as “unprecedented.” But he only truly captured what he was trying to say by making this face– at once childish and elderly– as his panel descended into disarray, with Rep. Dana Rohrabacher trying to explain his party’s attitude and Kennedy making the point that parties don’t matter, while a mum Martin Bashir looked on.

The State of the Union address is a once-in-a-year opportunity for mockery for Jon Stewart. With the President going over his past successes and future plans, there was plenty to go over: The Osama Bin Laden opening, the large amounts of tax credits, and the bad joke that made the First Lady force an awkward smile.

In an interview with Good Morning America host George Stephanopoulos Wednesday morning, Vice President Joe Biden passed on an opportunity to call former House Speaker Newt Gingrich out over his overtly racial politicking. Asked if Gingrich is playing racial politics with references to President Obama as the “Food Stamp President,” Biden responded, “It’s hard to tell. I’m not being facetious. It’s hard to tell what Newt means. He says a lot.”

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor appeared on Morning Joe Wednesday to go over President Obama’s State of the Union speech. Host Joe Scarborough joked (?) that he’d only allow his co-host Mika Brzezinski to say hello to Cantor, but not ask any questions.

In what was unarguably one of the most moving moments during Tuesday night’s State of The Union address, President Obama gave outgoing Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords a farewell hug.

Following the State Of The Union address, Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer commended President Obama for delivering a speech “that struck the right tone.” “It was less partisan than I would have expected,” Krauthammer observed.

Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) has served the state of Indiana in six consecutive terms in the U.S. Senate. While hard core conservatives may derisively point to his willingness to work with his ideological foes across the aisle, Lugar is a well respected member of congress recognized for his tough but well informed positions on U.S. foreign policy. Still, he finds himself in battle with some home-grown Tea Party candidates for his Senate seat, which Lugar took aim at during a sit down with CNN’s Candy Crowley.

On Sunday’s State Of The Union, CNN’s Candy Crowley interviewed Vice President Joe Biden and pressed him on his comments that tied failing to pass Obama’s jobs bill to an increase in rape and murder. “Is it your intention to say, when you give these speeches that if Republicans don’t pass the president’s jobs bill, they will be responsible for increases in rape and murder?” Crowley questioned, alluding to Human Events reporter Jason Mattera‘s heated exchange with the Vice President. Biden disputed that he was playing politics.

In a statement so rich, Republicans are refusing to tax it, GOP presidential can’tidate Tim Pawlenty (R-The Drain) rhetorically asked CNN’s Candy Crowley of President Obama, “Is he chicken?”

This is the same Tim Pawlenty (R-KFC), you may recall, who refused to repeat his criticism of rival Mitt Romney during a GOP presidential debate in June. Pawlenty also asked, “If you’re the leader of the free world, would you please come to the microphone, and quit hiding in the basement?”

As the deadline looms for America defaulting on its national debt, the parties appear to not have inched any closer to a compromise. On State of the Union today, Sen. Lindsey Graham confirmed that he was sticking to the proposed “cut, cap, and balance” plan with very little wiggle room for compromise, and when asked whether he is prepared for the aftermath of the plan being shot down, he merely stated, “I’m focusing on Plan A.”

Possible presidential candidate Donald Trump has spent much of his burgeoning campaign taking swipes at President Obama, but in the second part of his interview with State of the Union‘s Candy Crowley, Trump made Mitt Romney the target of some (not so) friendly fire. He called Romney a “small business guy” who “got rid of jobs,” and boasted about his own net worth, compared to Romney’s.

During President Obama’s January State of the Union address, Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA 10) tweeted “Mr. President, you don’t believe in the Constitution. You believe in socialism.”

Broun became embroiled in another controversy when, at a Tuesday town hall meeting, he was asked “who is going to shoot Obama?” and responded with stunning nonchalance.

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld appeared on State of the Union this morning and didn’t mince words when Candy Crowley asked him if he agreed with the opinion that President Obama has been successful in improving America’s image abroad since President George W. Bush. In a word, the typically blunt Rumsfeld said “no” and in a few more words suggested “I don’t think there’s data that supports that.”

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham appeared on State of the Union and regarding which Republican candidates for President he most favors as of now, suggested “I’m looking for the most conservative person who’s electable, and that person has yet to emerge.” Front-runners like former Governor Mitt Romney and former Speaker Newt Gingrich who have very much emerged already probably won’t be thrilled with Graham’s lukewarm response to their viability as candidates.

Co-Chair of the recent Debt Commission, former Republican Senator Alan Simpson appeared on State of The Union and unleashed a series of somewhat humorous, always weird jabs at current politicians in both parties who are not taking the deficit problem seriously. Simpson, no stranger to making controversial comments in the past, even called some critics “jerks” for lying about his budget saving plans for social security and suggested people don’t “howl and bitch” about a raise in the retirement age.

Monday nights of The Daily Show often serve as a recap of stories that broke later in the previous week, that sometimes have a “clearinghouse” effect that makes the episode feel less newsworthy. Occasionally however, there are great news moments — combined with very clever and insightful writing — that create comedy magic. Like tonight, when Jon Stewart took Sarah Palin’s “WTF” assessment of Obama’s State of the Union speech and came up with the only logical conclusion: Sarah Palin is a Russian Agent!

On CNN‘s Reliable Sources, Howard Kurtz hosted a discussion regarding whether CNN unfairly elevated Congresswoman Michele Bachmann‘s Tea Party response to the State of the Union by being the only news network to air it live. The consensus amongst all the guests seemed to be since Bachmann always creates news, why not cover it?

During Wednesday night’s On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin delivered a nonsensical rebuttal to President Obama‘s State of the Union address that has been a topic of conversation on cable news all week. While there are legitimate reasons to mock Palin’s response, the claim that she said the Soviet Union “won the space race,” repeated again on Friday night’s Real Time with Bill Maher, just isn’t true.

Nope, this gag just hasn’t gotten old yet. Conan O’Brien took time out to comment on how “ridiculous” it looked for Michele Bachmann to look into the wrong camera during her “Tea Party Response” to the State of the Union, and in the process drifted off camera himself–rather extensively.

While mocking Bachmann with sidekick Andy Richter, O’Brien gradually ends up with his back turned. In the process, he rips Bachmann, saying “we’re supposed to trust these people to figure out the deficit when they can’t even figure out where the camera is!”

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin offered her thoughts on President Obama‘s State of the Union address to Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren Wednesday night, and while she cleverly zeroed in on the unfortunate abbreviation of the speech’s “Win The Future” theme, Palin’s analysis quickly went rogue with reality. Despite her proximity to its launch site, Palin displayed ignorance of Sputnik 1‘s significance (both in the speech, and in Soviet history), and offered a bizarre non-prescription for America involving something called “Spudnuts.”

The New York Post reports this morning CNN’s Eliot Spitzer–who was part of the network’s coverage of the State of the Union Tuesday night–suggested a CNN poll on reaction to President Obama‘s speech was “totally misleading and should not be aired.”

The Post, citing unnamed sources, suggests an internal email from CNN standards and practices chief Rick Davis, which offered guidance on reporting the results of the poll, set Spitzer off:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is not happy with President Obama and specifically with one line from the State of the Union address. When the President warned both parties that he vows to veto any bill with earmarks in it, Reid remarked, “the President thinks this will help him a little bit. More power to him, it’s just wrong.”

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin made her first media appearance since discussing the Tucson shooting with Sean Hannity, this time speaking to Greta Van Susteren about her thoughts on this year’s State of the Union address.

Cable news ratings, January 25, 2011:

•Fox News attracted huge numbers of viewers for its coverage of the State of the Union and the Republican Response, with nearly five million total viewers during the president’s speech, and 5.4 million in the next hour, which featured the Republican Response and reaction from Fox News. CNN was second on the night, with 2.9 million total viewers for the SOTU and over 3 million in the following hour. MSNBC trailed CNN by nearly half a million total viewers at 9 p.m. and by nearly 700,000 viewers at 10 p.m. Notably, MSNBC was the only news network to lose viewers between 9 and 10 o’clock.

As White House senior adviser David Axelrod began an appearance on MSNBC’s Last Word Tuesday night, he joked to host Lawrence O’Donnell “am I looking in the right camera?” Get it? It’s a Michele Bachmann joke!

It remains unclear how many politicos and cable hosts will use the wrong-camera gag, but judging from the first twelve hours or so after Rep. Bachmann’s “Tea Party Response” to the State of the Union, the joke probably hasn’t run its course. On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow–before getting down to attacking CNN for carrying the speech in the first place–did an extended bit of TV theater mocking Bachmann’s just-off-camera-gaze.