memeorandum: Sean Hannity: Media Matters ' 2008 Misinformer of the Year (Media Matters for America)

3:20 AM ET, December 18, 2008

Top Items:

Alexander Mooney / CNN:

Rick Warren to give inaugural invocation — (CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama's swearing-in ceremony will feature big names like minister Rick Warren and legendary singer Aretha Franklin, the Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies announced Wednesday.

Discussion: The Gun Toting Liberal, Riehl World View, Liberal Values, site.pfaw.org, MyDD, The Next Right, The Impolitic, Taylor Marsh, MoJoBlog, The Swamp, Shakesville, The Sideshow, Political Machine, Comments from Left Field, Truthdig, Firedoglake and The Moderate Voice

John Aravosis / AMERICAblog News:

Obama picks homophobe pro-'Prop 8' evangelical preacher to give the invocation at inaugural — 5:22PM UPDATE: Warren compared abortion to the “Jewish Holocaust,” and said that making abortion “rare” wasn't enough, he's for outlawing abortion, period. So that would make pro-choice people …

Discussion: Box Turtle Bulletin, Hullabaloo, Brendan Calling, Sister Toldjah and Jack & Jill Politics

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

Ugh — Rick Warren will give the invocation at Obama's inauguration. Warren is a man who believes my marriage removes his freedom of speech and cannot say that authorizing torture is a moral failing. Shrewd politics, but if anyone is under any illusion that Obama is interested in advancing gay equality …

Discussion: RedState, JammieWearingFool, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and The New Republic

The Politico:

Gay activists furious with Obama — Barack Obama's choice of a prominent evangelical minister to perform the invocation at his inauguration is a conciliatory gesture toward social conservatives who opposed him in November, but it is drawing fierce challenges from a gay rights movement that …

Discussion: Washington Blade, CNN, GayPatriot, Don Surber, American Power, Little Green Footballs and Instapundit

Aretha Franklin / CBN.com:

Pro-Life Rick Warren to Give Invocation at Obama Inauguration — Pro-life pastor Rick Warren will give the invocation at President-Elect Barack Obama's inauguration. It makes a whole lot of sense. Even though Warren and Obama disagree on the life issue, they do see eye to eye on many social justice issues.

Discussion: Salon, Political Machine, Althouse, Don Surber, The Note and The Huffington Post

Katharine Q. Seelye / The Caucus:

Aretha Franklin to Participate in Inaugural Ceremony — Aretha Franklin and Dr. Rick Warren, an author and leader of the Saddleback Church, are among the select group of people who will participate in Barack Obama's inaugural swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 20.

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Right Wing Watch, Box Turtle Bulletin, PageOneQ, Firedoglake, Discover Magazine, Blogging Faith, The Daily Dish, Feministing, The RBC, Spin Cycle and Booman Tribune

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:
Top Liberal Group Hammers Decision For Rick Warren To Deliver …

Discussion: AMERICAblog News, Box Turtle Bulletin, Philly.com and Calitics

Aretha Franklin / inaugural.senate.gov:
JCCIC ANNOUNCES INAUGURAL PROGRAM

Discussion: Chronicle of Higher Education

Teddy Partridge / Firedoglake:
Prop 8 Homophobe Rick Warren to Deliver Inaugural Benediction

Discussion: The Huffington Post, pandagon.net, The Caucus and beliefnet

Frank James / The Swamp:
Obama's Rick Warren pick irks liberals

Discussion: Hot Air and Wilshire & Washington

Matt Duss / Think Progress:
Anti-gay, anti-choice, pro-assassination pastor to give inaugural invocation.»

Discussion: Marc Ambinder and The Seminal

Kenneth Chan / ChristianPost.com:
Rick Warren Not Satisfied with Making Abortions ‘Rare’

Discussion: The Huffington Post

Gateway Pundit:

IRAQI AMBASSADOR TELLS OFF CODE PINK WHACKOS (Video) — CODE PINK AMBUSHES IRAQI AMBASSADOR- AMBASSADOR FIRES BACK — “He's lucky he didn't try something like this under Saddam Hussein.” — Ambassador Samir Sumaida'ie: … The anti-American Marxist front group Code Pink ambushed Iraq Ambassador …

Discussion: Moe_Lane's blog, This ain't Hell …, The Raw Story, KFTY-TV, Weekly Standard, Brave New Films blog and PINKtank

New York Times:
Tumult in Iraqi Parliament Over Shoe Hurling

Discussion: Philly.com and Matthew Yglesias

The Australian:
Bush shoe thrower Muntazer al-Zaidi ‘too injured’ for court

Discussion: Firedoglake, McClatchy Washington Bureau, The Washington Independent and ATTACKERMAN

Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Video: Iraqi ambassador tells off Code Pink for defending shoe-thrower

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Media Matters for America:

Sean Hannity: Media Matters ' 2008 Misinformer of the Year — As Media Matters for America has demonstrated time and again, Fox News' Sean Hannity has been a prolific and influential purveyor of conservative misinformation. But never has he so enthusiastically applied his talents …

Discussion: Liberal Values

Greg Sargent / TPM Election Central:

Report: Obama Campaign Manager Disdained Mark Halperin, Politico — The Huffington Post got an advance look at the forthcoming New York Times magazine profile of Robert Gibbs, the campaign spokesperson who will be White House press secretary. — Check out the disdain that Obama campaign …

Discussion: The Huffington Post and The Jed Report

Mark Leibovich / New York Times:
Between Obama and the Press

Discussion: Wonkette, Michael Calderone's Blogs and Gawker

Wall Street Journal:

Regulator Schapiro to Run SEC for Obama — President-elect Barack Obama has chosen Mary Schapiro, chief executive of a securities-industry regulator for securities firms, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to two Democratic officials.

Wall Street Journal:
Madoff Misled SEC in '06, Got Off

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Curious Capitalist and Time

Associated Press:

Cake request for 3-year-old Hitler namesake denied — EASTON, Pa. - The father of 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell, denied a birthday cake with the child's full name on it by one New Jersey supermarket, is asking for a little tolerance. Heath Campbell and his wife, Deborah …

Discussion: Hot Air, The Daily Gut and Outside The Beltway

Mike Dorning / The Swamp:

LaHood to be Transportation Sec — Peoria Republican congressman Ray LaHood will be nominated Transportation Secretary for the Obama Administration, Republican and Democratic sources said today. — A spokesman for the Obama transition team declined to comment and LaHood's office did not immediately return phone calls.

Discussion: Washington Wire, The Hill, Salon and Ben Smith's Blogs

Adam Doster / Progress Illinois:
“Ray LaHood? Really?” (UPDATED)

Discussion: Journal Star, Washington Post, The Seminal, Firedoglake, Gristmill and The Caucus

Mark Preston / CNN:

Second GOP senator to announce retirement — WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sen. Sam Brownback will announce Thursday he is retiring from the Senate when his term ends in 2010, allowing the Kansas Republican to explore a run for governor. — He will be the second GOP senator this year to publicly state …

Discussion: Liberal Values, Real Clear Politics, Political Machine, The Hill's Blog Briefing Room and MyDD

New York Times:

Kennedy, Touring Upstate, Gets Less and Less Low-Key — BUFFALO — The first day of Caroline Kennedy's tour through upstate New York on Wednesday was meant to be a low-key, decorous excursion, mindful of the skepticism surrounding her bid to be appointed the state's next United States senator.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, The Daily Politics, Althouse, Washington Post, Connecting.the.Dots, Taylor Marsh, Daily Kos, Fausta's Blog, Spin Cycle and Donklephant

Jennifer McLogan / WCBS-TV:

Nassau Cops: PTA Mom, Boy Found Half Naked In Car — Police Come Across Fogged Up SUV On Elementary School Grounds In Baldwin; Residents Shocked, Horrified — A prominent PTA official is facing some serious allegations involving a teenage boy. — Police arrested Joan Tuckruskye …

Discussion: The Jawa Report

Nicholas Kristof / Nicholas D. Kristof:

For senate, Caroline or Carolyn? — Caroline Kennedy strikes me as a very impressive woman with all the right priorities, such as education. But I also find it unseemly and undemocratic that she seems to have vaulted to the top of the Senate list by virtue of who her dad was.

Discussion: City Room, The Daily Politics, Balkinization and Washington Post

New York Post:
HILL TELLS PALS: LAY OFF CAROLINE

Discussion: The Crypt's Blogs, NY Daily News, New York Times and The Daily Politics

Patrick / FishBowlDC:

WaPo: Only Positive Obama Ads, Please — Hoping to make a little cash off of Barack Obama's inauguration (that's certainly nothing new...), Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive and the Washington Post's classifieds departments have launched “Welcome to the White House”, a classfieds …

Discussion: Washington Post, Stop The ACLU, Hot Air, Sister Toldjah and The Corner

Chuck Goudie / WLS-TV:

Blagojevich was bookie, says federal informant — The ABC7 I-Team has learned that an attorney who went undercover for the FBI in the late 1980's says he told federal authorities years ago about wrongdoing by Blagojevich. — His name is Robert Cooley. — Cooley was a criminal defense lawyer …

Discussion: Fox News, The Raw Story, The Note, Patterico's Pontifications and The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

White House:

President Bush Discusses National Security, Homeland Security and the Freedom Agenda at U.S. Army War College — Fact Sheet: President Bush Has Kept America Safe — THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Please be seated. (Applause.) Thank you for the warm welcome. I'm sorry I'm late.

Discussion: The Washington Independent

Natasha Korecki / Chicago Sun Times:

Feds seek to freeze Blago campaign fund, sources say — Federal authorities plan to freeze Gov. Blagojevich's campaign fund, crippling the governor's ability to use the money for his legal bills. — In a letter this week, they put the Blagojevich camp on notice they intend to freeze the money, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.