Terminally tasteless Rolling Stone political reporter Matt Taibbi has a new piece in the February 7 edition proclaiming Hillary Clinton is "The New Nixon." The article comes complete with a cartoon of Hillary with Nixon's ski-lift nose. (Earth to Rolling Stone: the Weekly Standard beat you to this punch by at least a decade.) Taibbi is so far left that both Hillary and Barack Obama are on the right. The pull quote reads "It's Kennedy-Nixon redux -- two superficial conservatives selling highly similar politics."

The longer quote in the text is this: "In Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, we've basically got Kennedy-Nixon redux, and I mean that in the most negative possible sense for both of them -- a pair of superficial, posturing conservatives selling highly similar political packages using different emotional strategies." I quote this not because Taibbi is worth reading, but because his political radar is so mangled.

In the ultimate bout of the century, three heavy weight celebrities fight it out for the candidates in a proxy battle to see who can go the distance. By special arrangement Chuck Norris has retrieved Howard Cosell back from the grave by starring down the Grim Reaper and putting Death in a chock hold.

Howard...

Thank...you... Brit.

La...dies... and... Gentlemen,... This bout will de...ter...mine the next... Pres...i...dent of... the... United... States.

This will be... thee most... exciting... bout of my ca...reer as an a...nnounc...er.

Never before... in the history of box...ing... has one man... fought two opponents. This is... truly un...prec...e...dent...ed. I am here... live... at ring side... to bring you... the blow by blow... ex...cite...ment of the battle be...tween these three heav...y weight champ...eens:

Chuck Norris in the Huck...a...bee corner

vs.

The tag team of Ram...bo and the Term...i...nat...or in the McCain cor...ner.

Place...your...bets,...and lets get this fight... un...der...way. Back...to...you.

(applause)

Following the dropout of John Edwards, the remaining two Democratic presidential candidates are squaring off tonight at 8 on CNN (live video link).

Watch the fur fly and post your comments here or, if you are a registered NB user, join the live chat.

Two weeks and two rate cuts later, CNBC "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer has a revived faith in the U.S. stock market.

On January 18, Cramer appeared on MSNBC's "Hardball with Chris Matthews" and warned if the government didn't intervene and prevent the failure of two large insurance companies, Ambac and MBIA, the Dow Jones Industrial Average would drop 2,000 points in the upcoming weeks. Cramer isn't talking about that sort of collapse anymore.

"For months I was worried about [MBIA CFO] Chuck Chaplin and MBIA (NYSE:MBI) and ABK [Ambac Financial Group, Inc.] (NYSE:ABK)," Cramer said on the January 31 "Street Signs." "Everyone's worried about it now? Why should I be worried about it? When you have a problem on your hands and everyone's worried knows about it, [New York State Superintendent of Insurance] Eric Dinallo to [President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York] Tim Geithner, it's done. It's done."

Did anyone catch the segment on Tucker's show with Ed Shultz? Tucker poses
the question, "Here we have two candidates, arguing over which one wants
to stay in Iraq
more. How could this be so if the everyone against the war as the media
says?"

Ed completely avoids the question and goes on a rant about something Tucker
asked earlier in the segment. It was a rare moment where Tucker broke his bonds
and asked a VERY logical question. Its one I've been waiting to hear someone
explain for a long time.

Fellow Republicans,

You are shooting yourself in the foot. By all clear accounts, a pro war nominee will NOT win the election. If we choose McCain OR Romney as the nominee, they will surely lose.

As well, it appears with each passing day that Obama is closing the national gap between he and Hillary. It is very likely that he will be the Dem nominee.

My opinion is that if the race were between Obama and McCain (which it likely will be) that Obama will crush him. I'm talking 60% to 40% of the vote.

By his own admission, Obama will (supposedly) end the occupation of Iraq. If this is correct, then my premise of us "shooting ourselves in the foot" is true. Why? Becuase we could just as easily vote for an anti-war Republican known as Ron Paul.

In other words, either way you are getting an anti-war president. Do you want them to have conservative fiscal and social values or liberal. That will be the only difference.

As I have said before, the choice is ours. Lets hope we use it to pick the right candidate.

Slate.com Editor Jacob Weisberg can now add "medicine" to his list of expertise. Weisberg told an audience the awkwardness some claim Bush shows during speeches can be attributed to a learning disability.

Weisberg linked it back to a pattern of dyslexia in the Bush family.

"I agree with that," Weisberg said when presented the possibility that Bush has a "learning disability." "The other thing I've done is collect ‘Bushisms' over the years and I sort of joke this book is my penance for doing that, because one of the things ‘Bushisms' do is I think they make Bush sound stupider than he is, or stupid in a way he isn't. And I do think he does have some sort of language processing impairment that is probably akin to dyslexia, and dyslexia does run in the family. But, I don't think it is dyslexia because if you watched the State of the Union, you could see he has no trouble reading a teleprompter."

Whenever a Republican gets caught in a sex scandal the GOP party affiliation is permanently affixed to that person's name in the media - think most recently of Larry Craig and Rudy Giuliani. However when it comes to labeling Democratic politicians caught in affairs, reporters often suffer from brief bouts of amnesia. Such was the case on the Thursday "Today" show where co-host Ann Curry forgot to note the party affiliation of the Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in her report on his recent ordeals:

See if you can spot the (D) label in the following January 31 "Today" show story:

ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross attacked Hillary Clinton from the left on Thursday's "Good Morning America." The correspondent looked into the Democrat's ties to Wal Mart during the late '80s and early '90s. He found the image of a "very corporate Hillary Clinton" and someone who played "the loyal company woman" to the successful business.

However, the news wasn't all bad for Clinton. GMA co-host Robin Roberts led into the piece with an almost apologetic tone. She labeled the New York senator "probably one of the most investigated politicians in American history." Ross began his segment by informing viewers that Clinton "served for six years on the board of Wal-Mart, the huge retailer criticized by many for its treatment of workers and its strident opposition to unions."

On Wednesday's Rush Limbaugh show, the host spotted the first "Drive-By tentacle" reaching into the John-McCain's-too-old bin. In this week's Newsweek, liberal columnist Anna Quindlen takes up the case for age discrimination. "The senator's pursuit of the presidency reminds me a bit of those women who decide to have a baby in their late 50s. The impulse is understandable, the goal possible. But, looking at all the facts, and the actuarial tables, is it really sensible?"

Here are the relevant McCain-dismissing passages of the Quindlen column:

...71-year-old John McCain, who actually has been beaten in captivity, may think that the fact that he would be the oldest person ever to enter the job is immaterial. In this, alas, he is mistaken.

If "CBS Evening News" anchor Katie Couric makes statements about someone's downbeat economic reporting - you know it's blatantly gloomy.

CBS News Business Correspondent Anthony Mason, who rarely finds a positive thing to say about the U.S. economy, gave another negative report during the January 30 "CBS Evening News," after the Federal Reserve decided to cut 50 basis points off its Fed funds rate. This time Couric compared Mason to "the grim reaper."

"Anthony, you're starting to sound like the grim reaper every night," Couric said." So - but it's good to have you."

Mason warned Standard & Poor's, a financial research firm, just announced it may cut its ratings on some securities associated with the turmoil in the subprime lending market.

In a January 29 article for the Associated Press, reporter Rachel Zoll lambasted conservative Southern Baptists as "vicious" partisans who sought to "wipe out" any trace of liberals or moderates from the denomination. What's more, this characterization came while reporting on a gathering of "moderate" Southern Baptists set to convene tomorrow and featuring ex-presidents (and liberal Democrats) Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. (h/t Steve Barrett)

Both Clinton and Carter were raised Southern Baptist, but Carter has since cut ties to the Southern Baptist Convention and Clinton frequently attended the liberal Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., with his wife while president.

Here's Zoll's first two paragraphs:

Weary of Southern Baptists' dominance in American Protestantism, a new push is starting by other Baptist groups aimed at working on social justice issues, and showing their religious tradition is broader than the conservative SBC. Former President Jimmy Carter is leading the effort.

I voted for Governor Swartzenegger twice. I knew that he was not a conservative. He has kept his promise not to raise taxes and to veto any bill allowing illegals to have a drivers license.

But as the manager of the state he and the democrat controlled state assembly and senate have passed budgets creating a 14 billion dollar deficit. All of the leaders blame the down turn in the housing market. This to me is like blaming your company for stopping the overtime work that you were using to pay for your car.

Too make matters worse he is supporting proposition 93 which would change term limits in California. This proposition if passed will allow  Democrats Fabian Nunez and Don Perata to stay in their present positions of Assembly Speaker and Senate President Pro tem. Both of them have been praised by the Governor.

Arnold actually has more experience than John McCain at managing a business and meeting payrolls. Before being elected he owned a restaurant and pointed out during his last general election that he was the only candidate that had signed checks for his employees.

We are told over and over again that the United Nations is the answer to all the world's ills. It is often claimed that without the UN things would be so much worse in troubled spots around the world. But, when we look at the pernicious effect the UN has where ever it goes, it's awfully hard to reconcile the claims with the hard truth. For one thing, we've seen the UN responsible for turning indigenous teens into prostitutes for UN workers in Cambodia, Africa, and Bosnia. Well, now we can add vandalism of sacred, ancient wall-art to the ever growing list of evils perpetrated by UN operatives.

But, where is the media to report this outrage against human history and sacred religious relics and sites? About the same place they were when underplaying the reports of UN peacekeepers and employees forcing young women into prostitution the world over... absent from the scene.

ABC reporters Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts acted as debate coaches for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama on Thursday's "Good Morning America." Previewing the January 31 debate between the two, Donaldson suggested that Clinton be aggressive and "put [Obama] on the defensive."

The veteran journalist then casually asserted that it doesn't matter whether the New York senator's charges would be true or not. He spun, "Now, you say, what-- does she come up with something that really isn't accurate? In a sense, unfortunately, doesn't matter. If she can put him on the defensive, so that he has to try to answer something, I think that's what she should probably do." Cokie Roberts contributed more simple advice: Clinton should just let her genius shine through. She enthused, "I think Hillary Clinton should just wow everybody with all of her knowledge, you know, the New York Times editorial calling her brilliant. She should show us that brilliance and not get irritated by him and not go after him."

Does left wing "View" co-host Joy Behar owe her success to the king of talk radio, Rush Limbaugh? At the very least, he gave her "the best advice" she has ever recieved. On the January 31 episode of the women’s chat show, Behar discussed a very friendly encounter she had with Limbaugh and recounted his wisdom when he urged her to "be bold."

"I used to work on the same radio station with him. I always credit him with giving me the best advice. He said to me ‘Joy’- after I got fired- he said ‘whatever you do Joy, be bold.’ He gave me the best advice I ever got."

Video (1:17): Windows (4.64 MB), plus MP3 audio (579 kB).

Behar first began by describing her encounter with Limbaugh where he allegedly "squeezed" her "to death," "snuggles and nuzzles" her neck. Her fellow panelists seemed surprised about the cordial meeting and kind words about one of America’s greatest conservative icons.

The transcript is below.

In a January 30 Newsweek Web Exclusive, Matthew Philips added his voice to a chorus of mainstream media figures effusively eulogizing the failed candidacy of class warrior par excellence John Edwards.

In, "Travels With John: Edwards ran hard, and he leaves a lasting mark on his party," Philips moved from his lament about Edwards long hours and non-stop campaigning...

Some of us started wondering why we couldn't have been assigned to Fred Thompson. At least he slept, apparently a lot.

...to gushing over the former trial attorney's persistent optimism:

On Thursday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith continued the media’s love affair with John and Elizabeth Edwards following the former Senator dropping out of the presidential race: "John Edwards says he is stepping aside so 'history can blaze its path.' And it will tonight. Also this morning, we're going to look at the amazing grace of Elizabeth Edwards who has campaigned passionately beside her husband all these months despite her diagnosis that she is terminally ill."

In a later segment, CBS Correspondent Tracy Smith began by exclaiming: "They've been a team since the start. And that's how they went out. Elizabeth by John's side. It's the end of a campaign made all the more difficult by a disease that would have made a lesser woman give up long ago."

While Harry Smith portrayed Elizabeth Edwards as graceful, reporter Tracy Smith referred to her as being an "attack dog" against the likes of Ann Coulter, whom Edwards ambushed on MSNBC’s "Hardball" on June 26 of last year:

For general discussion and debate. Possible talking point: the Federal Reserve cut the fed funds rate by another 50 bps yesterday. That's 1.25 percent in six business days.

What does it mean? Does the Fed know something we don't know? Is the economy doing so poorly that interest rates need to be dropped so quickly? Or have America's leading banks gotten the Fed to bail them out?

Consider this possibility: heads of Citibank, BofA, etc., meet with Bernanke to discuss how they have to cut expenses quickly. They can either lay off LOADS of people, thereby worsening the recession, and forcing deeper interest rate cuts down the road, OR; Bernanke can lower interest rates FAST thereby allowing banks across the country to drop their savings rates FAST thereby dramatically reducing their biggest cost -- interest payments to depositers!

As such, is it possible this almost unprecedented drop in interest rates is more of a defacto bailout for America's banks than an economic stimulant?

Heaping praise on moderate Republican Rep. Tom Davis (Va.), the Washington Post devoted not one but two articles in the January 31 paper to the congressman. The Post lauded Davis for his centrism, but particularly for angering the Virginia GOP's conservative base. Yet left unmentioned was any analysis suggesting moderation was what felled his wife's 2007 state senate reelection campaign.

Staff writer Bill Turque penned a Metro section front pager ("In Va., Congress, Davis Has Ruled From the Center") that began by noting Davis's Republican Party family pedigree before adding that Davis "crushed" his first political opponent in a 1979 election "by placing himself firmly in the center."