Ashley Judd

On Tuesday's World News and Wednesday's Good Morning Ameica, ABC's George Stephanopoulos and Jim Avila ballyhooed far-left magazine Mother Jones's secretly-recorded audio recording of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's strategy meeting with political advisers about potential opponent Ashley Judd. Stephanopoulos touted the "startling secret tape revealing how the Senate's top Republican was planning to go after...Judd if she ran against him."

Avila played up McConnell's apparent "cutthroat attack on a Hollywood opponent" and the Republican's "private and politically-embarrassing strategy session", all the while omitting left-of-center ideology of the publication that released the audio clip and minimizing the possible illegality of its recording.

"No chance anyone’s looking for a nekkid picture of Mitch McConnell.”

As amazing as it might seem, such was actually said by MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Hardball Monday (video follows with transcript and commentary):

New York Times reporter Trip Gabriel promoted movie star and aspiring liberal politician Ashley Judd on Saturday: "Kentuckians Don’t Rule Out a Star as a Senator." Gabriel wrote: "How serious could such a candidacy be? Plenty, it turns out."

In a panel discussion on Wednesday's NBC Today, the morning show cast excitedly touted the possibility of left-wing actress Ashley Judd running for senate against Mitch McConnell in 2014, with co-host Willie Geist declaring: "She was a delegate to the Democratic convention this summer, she's very involved in politics, she's outspoken." [Watch the video after the jump]

News reader Natalie Morales heaped praise on Judd: "She's a brilliant woman....Harvard, I think....she's a U.N. goodwill ambassador, speaks out on HIV/AIDS prevention. And also, you know, she's done so much good for public – public good and she's a great, very smart woman." Celebrity chef Paula Deen, a guest on the show, chimed in: "I've heard that she's an extremely bright woman." Morales added: "Very."

The Huffington Post's Howard Fineman said Sunday that Democrats in Kentucky are hoping actress Ashley Judd will run against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in 2014.

This happened on the syndicated Chris Matthews Show (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

Patrick Gavin at Politico reported that Ashley Judd spoke out glowingly for Obama to NBC’s David Gregory on the "Press Pass" segment on Meet the Press, and that she she’s willing do whatever she can as a surrogate for the Obama-Biden ticket. She added, “As long as the Republicans keep doing really dumb things about women’s reproductive health, that should help energize girls and women in this country,” she said.

She said Obama moved her to tears: “I think that he is a powerful leader. I think he’s a brilliant man. I think that he has an incredible devotion to our constitution. And that he is now able to flower more as the president I knew he could be.”

On Wednesday night's edition of the poorly-performing prime-time show Rock Center, Brian Williams tried to rub some stardust on his ratings and strike a blow for feminism at the same time. He honored actress Ashley Judd for writing an outraged feminist essay about "patriarchy" on The Daily Beast because someone criticized her puffy face.

Williams supportively explained, "This week the 43-year-old actress wrote a bold, and at times angry essay on the Web, calling out our whole culture, the haters, the cheap shots, how easy it's become for everyone to pick apart someone else." He noted she accused the media of having a quote "nasty and misogynistic conversation at her expense about the way she looks," but he left out the rest of the feminist jargon.

"Sarah Palin Makes New Enemy: Ashley Judd," reads a February 5, 2009 AP headline.

But in truth, there's hardly anything new about the controversy in question save for a celebrity chiming in to resurrect the issue of aerial wolf hunts in Alaska:

It's not the first time Defenders of Wildlife has targeted Palin. Last fall, when Palin was John McCain's running mate, it ran ads in several states denouncing Palin and the predator control program, and raised more than $1 million. Judd had campaigned for President Barack Obama during the campaign.

Far from Palin making a new enemy, this is a new twist on an ongoing complaint by animal rights activists about the state of Alaska's wildlife management policy, which allows for limited, licensed aerial hunting of wolves in remote areas difficult to access or traverse by ground.

From the Alaska Department of Fish & Game Web site (emphasis mine):

Did you know that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin promotes the brutal aerial killing of wolves?

You didn't?

Well, that's what actress Ashley Judd claims in a new ad for the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund. 

Even worse, according to Judd, Palin is "casting aside science and championing the slaughter of wildlife" (video embedded below the fold):