Daily Kos/Research 2000 polls a random two-thousand and three self-identified Republicans.

I'm not going to get into any of the stats here and now. Instead, I'll just quote Matthew Tobey, after having sent me the link…

Every time you think you get to the craziest one, you scroll to the next and jump out the window again.

I lost count after my twelfth time out the window.

Ah, journalism today. There used to be a little thing called "objectivity." But today, there seems to be decreasing difference between the new reporters and the news makers.

I mean, it's bad enough that politicians like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee are punditing on cable news networks. Now, CNN reporter Anderson Cooper has to one-up them by jumping into the story in Haiti and saving the life of a little kid who was bleeding profusely from the head after having been beamed with a piece of cement or something?

Really, Anderson Cooper? Have you no sense of humanity?

Can you remember all the way back in the last decade when there was that one year that was called 2009 (or something like that)? That was a kinda crazy year, huh?

Well, if you're in the mood to get all retro and hipster faux-nostalgic, here's a bunch of interviews from that year — one for each month — back when the show wasn't even broadcast in high def. (Lo res interviews? That's like the Schlitz of talking stuff. Whatevs.)

January – Jimmy Carter

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

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Formerly-moderateish/increasingly-conservative Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty may or may not be running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, and — as frightening a statement about our times as this might be — he might actually be the least ridiculous contender going.

Here are a few snippets from an interview he did with Newsweek, to show what the most reasonable Republican candidate talks like in the year almost-2010…

On Creationism vs. Evolution…
Well, you know I'm an evangelical Christian. I believe that God created everything and that he is who he says he was. The Bible says that he created man and woman; it doesn't say that he created an amoeba and then they evolved into man and woman. But there are a lot of theologians who say that the ideas of evolution and creationism aren't necessarily inconsistent; that he could have "created" human beings over time.

On his opposition to medical benefits for same-sex couples…
My general view on all of this is that marriage is to be defined as being a union of a man and a woman. Marriage should be elevated in our society at a special level. I don't think all domestic relationships are the equivalent of traditional marriage. Early on we decided as a country and as a state that there was value in a man and a woman being married in terms of impact on children and the like, and we want to encourage that.

On the presidential qualifications of Sarah Palin…
She is easily as qualified as Barack Obama. I would argue she's more qualified in terms of leadership, experience, management, and supervision — actually running something. She was a mayor, head of an energy commission, and governor.

I think the best thing that we can hope for, at this point, is that Pawlenty's Evangelical beliefs are true, and that God pushes the Rapture button sometime in the next few years. Then he and Palin and Huckabee and the craziest faction of Republican voters could all get sucked up into Heaven and leave the rest of us alone.

Governor Mike Huckabee made his fifth Daily Show appearance last night and had a lengthy and thoughtful discussion with Jon Stewart about topics ranging from the first Christmas to his decision to commute the sentence of Maurice Clemmons. It was so lengthy in fact that not all of it made it to air, so here is an extended version. Call me crazy, but I think this guy might be ready to be Sarah Palin's Vice President.

Part 2 can be found below.

The Daily Show airs Monday through Thursday at 11pm / 10c.

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Writing in the Washington Post today, Mike Huckabee explains why it's totally not fair at all for anyone, when considering GOP presidential hopefuls, to take into account Maurice Clemmons — the convict who was made eligible for parole due to Huckabee's actions — or the four police officers he murdered…

"Nine years ago, the name Maurice Clemmons crossed my desk. I commuted his sentence from 108 years to 47 years. I take full responsibility for my actions of nine years ago."

However, the responsibility Huckabee takes is to himself and toward defending himself against anyone who thinks that he might maybe have had anything to do with Clemmons' parole…

"I acted on the facts presented to me in 2000. If I could have possibly known what Clemmons would do nine years later, I obviously would have made a different decision. If I only had the same information I had then, I would make the same decision."

And what was this information he had back in 2000?

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