Question!

What is Judge Sonia Sotomayor doing in this photo?

Is she “endur[ing] a third day of confirmation hearings” as the Washington Post has captioned the photo? Looks like those Republican senators really put her in her place, doesn’t it?

No.

Actually, she’s laughing at a joke by Senator Al Franken (I will NEVER tire of saying that). Now, why would the Washington Post caption the photo the way they did, especially in light of the fact that the SAME image is more appropriately (and accurately) captioned elsewhere?

Media Matters

Is there a less legitimate news outlet than the New York Post?

In an article cleverly titled “Tail to the Chief” (that headline writer’s parents must be so proud), the New York Post echoes Matt Drudge in claiming that Obama was caught looking at a 17-year-old’s butt at the G8 summit in Italy.

Alas, the truth rears its ugly head as it turns out the picture is a freeze-frame of a video that actually shows Obama turning to help a woman down the steps. Even Fox News, infamous for its deceitful cropping and/or misrepresentation of any quote, picture or video of President Obama, debunked this nonsense when reliable wingnut Greta van Susteren described it as a “lying picture that’s going around the Web.”

Even after said debunking by van Susteren, other shows and personalities on Fox continue to harp on this non-story.

As usual, my favorite commentary comes from the Rude Pundit:

When we in Left Blogsylvania laughed our asses off at Bush’s stupid facial expression when he couldn’t open a Chinese door or when he massaged the shoulders of the leader of another country, it was because he actually did those things.

UPDATE: Still going. And the right-wing analysis just gets worse and worse.

I would LOVE to see the Republican Party try to run Sarah Palin in 2012 against an incumbent Obama. The debates would be fucking priceless.

Two words: EPIC FAIL.

(thanks Mark)