The fallout from the House GOP’s  (including Tea Party members) cave-in on the payroll tax cut extension has been heavier than a dumpster full of wet tea bags. Tea Party supporters are furious that not a single member had the stones to object its passage by unanimous consent. Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) tried to save a little face by telling CNN’s T.J. Holmes that he would totally have stopped the measure, if only he could have gotten there in time! Upon follow up, though, not so much.

NBC’s late night comic Jay Leno took on CNN’s Paul Steinhauser on the Tonight Show the other night. What? Who is CNN’s Paul Steinhauser, you ask? Geez. What kind of political geek are you? Steinhauser’s CNN’s deputy political director based in the DC bureau, and he appears on camera during the day, and often in the background when anchors like Wolf Blitzer are doing liveshots from the DC bureau. Leno aired a funny clip stringing together a series of these clips, and in each one, as soon as the liveshot begins, Steinhauser picks up his phone–to Leno, clearly faking importance with a mock three second phone call.

While Sarah Palin remains a big fan of Dr. Laura Schlessinger dropping a few n-bombs to a caller on her radio show, the caller who needed the advice did not take the whole experience so well.

She spoke out today to CNN, saying she thinks Dr. Laura “apologized because she got caught.”

Look, mistakes happen. This one just happens to be a little more cringe-inducing than others.

Here’s what happened. T.J. Holmes is filling in for Rick Sanchez today – CNN correspondent Jeanne Meserve has a report. Except, she keeps calling him Don. Like, Don Lemon.

The Arkansas Governor seat has been held by former two-term President Bill Clinton and 2008 GOP Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

But someone in Huckabee’s current field (TV host) has his sights on the Arkansas governorship in the future – CNN anchor T.J. Holmes.

CNN is not about opinions, they’re about news. So listen, NASA, there’s this movie out about the world coming to an end in 2012, and we know you’ve been out trying to debunk this possibility.

But we need facts, and T.J. Holmes guest anchoring American Morning is going to be our fact-finding vessel.