Mavericky ex-Gov. Sarah Palin attended the Time 100 gala earlier this week—thrown by the mainstream media—and tried to justify her bizarre views on the press. She did so in a forthright and, well, utterly confusing and garbled way.

A Rasmussen poll shows the number of people identifying themselves as Republicans is at the lowest level since July 2008. It's not a huge decrease — 1.3 per cent — but seems to undermine claims of a tea party revolution.

Still fuming over the sneaky tanning salon tax, Rep. John Boehner says that after the GOP sweeps the November midterm elections, they will repeal America's oppressive health care law and replace it with some conservative "common sense." [NPR]

Florida governor Charlie Crist just announced that he's leaving the Republican party to become an independent candidate, making the Florida Senate race more chaotic than Daytona Beach during Spring Break.

Lawmakers in Arizona approved a fun immigration bill that would oblige cops to stop anyone swarthy and ask them to prove their legality. Everyone, bar some right-wingers, thinks this is a bad idea. Including, as of today, the President.

On Friday Palin lied — she took a quote from an Obama speech out of context and used it to imply that the President doesn't like America as much as real Americans. Now the AP have lent her their credence.

Robert Mueller joined Bill Clinton in warning that anti-government groups (read: Tea Partyers) pose a genuine threat. Maybe this will prevent Republicans winking and nudging at legitimately extremist right-wing figures with guns. But probably not.

We've just run across this intriguing CBS poll which shows that the Palin is viewed favorably by just 24 per cent of people, and unfavorably by 38 per cent. Admittedly, the numbers get better among Republicans. But still. 2012? [CBS]

The mother of a man charged with making threatening phone calls to House speaker Nancy Pelosi says Fox News was to blame. The National Review, meanwhile, say that Pelosi should be threatened more often, particularly while traveling on planes.

The frontrunner for the 2008 GOP Presidential candidacy has added his voice to those gently pointing out, in the wake of about 24 minor scandals, that the party chairman is an awkward blend of clown and muppet. [HuffPo]

RNC chief of staff Ken McKay resigned on Monday, because Republicans are not allowed to enjoy simulated lesbian bondage sex on their donors' dime. And yet Michael Steele isn't going anywhere. How does the RNC chair still have a job?

Palin and the Tea Party get a lot of analysis today as they gather in Nevada for 'the Conservative Woodstock'. Healthcare reform passed. 24 is being cancelled. Conservative racists are making headlines. But the most important factor is the simplest.

James O'Keefe, the Teabugger/conservative rapscallion is pleading guilty to reduced charges for sneaking into a Senator's office to do... something. He once "investigated" ACORN. So we've conducted an in-depth, O'Keefe style psychological "investigation" of him, using only his Facebook pictures.

Andrew Breibart watched Tea Partyers call black lawmakers 'nigger' and Barney Frank 'faggot' over the weekend. He was outraged. That the lawmakers had the temerity to provoke a "peaceful" middle-American crowd. The black caucus should be ridiculed, he says.

John McCain, struggling in an Arizona re-election campaign, will wheel out the universal sign for LOOK, I'M CONSERVATIVE LIKE THIS NUT by making several appearances with his former running mate. Next week: Victor Frankenstein appears with his monster. [AP]

Today at Gawker.TV, Kate Gosselin makes her Dancing debut, Neil Patrick Harris cannot take a bad photo, Anthony Bourdain visits the South of France, and GOP Chairman Michael Steele attempts to explain the "Fire Pelosi" website on The Early Show.

Healthcare reform has passed. It's not perfect, but it's better than nothing and almost universally a good thing. Unless you're Fox News or Sarah Palin, in which case it's the end of the world. We watched today's apocalyptic coverage, mystified.

Yesterday a bunch of Tea Party anti-healthcare protesters called black and gay lawmakers 'nigger' and 'faggot'. Today the right-wing blogs want an apology — from the lawmakers, to the protesters.

Tea party protesters, on Capitol hill to rail against healthcare reform that will benefit them, and stoked up by speeches from Republican lawmakers, unleashed abuse and spit against black and gay members of congress.

Michele Bachmann, the batshit-crazy Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, is either illiterate or so sick of the liberal conspiracy to take over the US that she's started her own country, called 'Amarica' (on Yahoo searches at least). [DCeiver's Twitter]