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In a clear sign liberal media elites are growing weary of the White House, comedian David Letterman went after President Obama's Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel Tuesday evening.During the "Top Ten" segment of the "Late Show," Letterman counted down the signs that Emanuel is nuts.Before beginning the list, Letterman explained with shocking detail that this was precipitated by Rep. Eric Massa's (D-N.Y.) assertion that Emanuel once cornered him in the Congressional shower room wearing nothing but an evil grimace.Maybe most surprising, Letterman managed to lampoon the COS without once referencing to Sarah Palin (video embedded below the fold with transcribed list, h/t Story Balloon):10. Every morning takes a leak off the Truman balcony9.  President Obama smokes cigarettes; Rahm eats them8.  Spotted today at Toyota dealership7.  He's leaving Obama to become a special advisor to Richard Nixon6.  In a fit of rage, he snapped Dennis Kucinich in half5.  Changing his name to Rahm Emanuel Lewis4.  Refers to every cabinet official as "Clarkie"3.  Recently got into heated policy debate with his stapler2.  You mean, besides walking around D.C. naked?1.  Even Andy Dick is telling him to chill  Following "Saturday Night Live's" pointed attack on the Administration this weekend, it appears broadcast network comedians and their writers are finally beginning to feel comfortable going after this White House. 

What's a principled stance on the life of an unborn fetus if it means achieving the be-all and end-all victory for liberal ideologues - a government intrusion into health care? According to The Nation's Chris Hayes, it's just "one giant obstacle." Hayes, filling in for Rachel Maddow on MSNBC's March 9 broadcast of "The Rachel Maddow Show," didn't seem impressed with Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich. Stupak, who has a documented history of having a pro-life position on abortion long before so-called health care reform was even a possibility, has been taking heat from left-wingers in this political battle. But according to MSNBC, it's just his "15 minutes of fame." "If health reform is finally going to happen this year, Democrats have one giant obstacle standing in their way, his name is Bart Stupak," Hayes said. "Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak from Michigan has threatened for the last week to pretty much anyone who will listen, to bring down the health reform bill if the anti-abortion language he prefers is not in it. And Bart Stupak says he's not just speaking for Bart Stupak. He is speaking for the Stupak dozen." At issue is whether or not Stupak can push through language into a House health care reform bill similar to that in an amendment that passed back in November in the House's first go-around that won the vital support of pro-life Democrats and even one Republican. Stupak vowed that necessary support would not be there this time to MSNBC's "Hardball" back on March 3. "There are at least 12 of us who voted for health care who have indicated to the leadership and others, and unless you fix this abortion language, we can't vote for a final version of the bill." This impediment apparently has some on the left frustrated because it would violate a key constituency's stance. The pro-abortion movement that has some strong Democratic allies in the U.S. House and opposes restrictions on abortion, at least as it pertains to federal funding. Determining precisely what Stupak insists upon had Hayes perplexed. "As Democrats in the House scramble to find every last vote they can to pass health reform, a 12-vote block committed to voting no just might be the single biggest obstacle they face," Hayes said. "And so Democrats have apparently started negotiating with Congressman Stupak who told reporters yesterday, quote, ‘I'm more optimistic than I was a week ago ... I think we can get there.' So where exactly is there?" Stupak has maintained his intentions are not to expand or restrict current law on abortion despite receiving strong opposition from those in Congress who maintain any language on this issue would be a setback.

It’s looking like a movie sequel/viral video kind of a day. Or in other words: I’ll see your Iron Man 2 trailer and raise you a Tron Legacy. That’s the official name of Disney’s (DIS) sequel to its 1982 classic, which may have been the first movie to imagine to suggest what living inside your computer would be like. Now we now longer need to guess, since way too many of us are essentially doing this every day. But Tron still has a special resonance for Web nerds of a certain age — hence “Tron Guy”, one of the first viral video characters to break on YouTube — and Disney is hoping it can revive its appeal for the young ‘uns. Hint to the Disney folks — it will be easier to get free promotion if you make the YouTube version of this embeddable. Still, we’ll do our best: Here’s the newest Tron trailer; a vintage one for the original version (note that Oscar winner Jeff Bridges, who starred in the first movie, shows up in the new one as well); and “Tron Guy,” himself, Jay Maynard.

Has Chris Matthews's brain been exiled to the Phantom Zone?The "Hardball" host has a penchant for making loopy cinematic references, such as the time he compared Rush Limbaugh to the villain in the James Bond film "Live and Let Die."Well, yesterday the MSNBC host made some odd, labored metaphor that found the former vice president being compared to Jor-El, the biological father of Superman (audio here; transcript via NB's Geoffrey Dickens):One of the new ideas that Dick Cheney's trying to sell right now is his daughter, Steve. He reminds me of that Marlon Brando character in, in Superman up on Krypton. The island is about to, the planet is about to blow up. So he puts his little kid, in this case Superman, into a little capsule and sends him to Earth.  It's like Cheney knows his whole world is blowing up, so he's put his little daughter in this capsule and is sending her to us. It just seems like he's spending all his time, it's kind of like a booster rocket, building one for his offspring. What's going on with this family?! "How stupid. Can't Matthews get ANYTHING right? Everyone knows that if you are of Matthews' political persuasion, Cheney=Zod!" the New York Post's Robert A. George tweeted in reaction to my post of yesterday's video. Good point. Perhaps Chris has just been spending way too much time in his den Fortress of Solitude late at night watching action flicks on cable.

Speaking of YouTube… Remember when NBC was befuddled by the success of “Lazy Sunday” on YouTube, and tried to pull down the first viral hit? Eons of ago, in Internet time. Since then — the original SNL clip ran in December 2005 — Google (GOOG) purchased YouTube for $1.6 billion, a host of would-be YouTubes rounded up venture money (and then ran through it), and the broadcast networks assembled Hulu in an attempt to create their own YouTube. And now, of course, every TV program goes out of its way to create viral clips. Like NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” did last night, when it got Chris Parnell and Andy Samberg to reprise Lazy Sunday live. Give the duo credit for doing more than just dragging out the old chestnut — they at least got The Roots, Fallon’s awesome house band, to create a new medley based on classic hip-hop. But the original still works just fine for me. Bonus clip: Some old-timey hip hop backed by a live band that still holds up some two decades (!) later.