BILL MAHER: Obama Should Become the 'Angry Black Man with a Liberal Agenda'

Now that the election is over and President Obama beat Mitt Romney, Bill Maher is free to "hold his feet to the fire" as he begins his second term.

Maher used his final New Rule of Real Time's season to warn Democrats against complacency over the next four years and make sure the president lives up to his full progressive potential.

JAY LENO: Chris Matthews Predicts Bush vs. Clinton in 2016

If Chris Matthews had to guess now, he'd say we're in store for another Bush vs. Clinton election in 2016, with Jeb running against Hillary. But the guy he really likes right now is Chris Christie.

Chris Christie Will Not Talk About Hostess Twinkies

Governor Chris Christie knows what the press is trying to do when they ask him about Twinkies. As he says, "I'm on Saturday Night Live enough."

TOTALLY BIASED: Hannibal Buress on the Twitter Election

Self-proclaimed Twitter expert Hannibal Buress looks at some of Election 2012's best tweets.

Bill O'Reilly vs. Jon Stewart on Mitt Romney and Obama's 'Gifts'

With virtually every prominent Republican distancing themselves as far away as possible from Mitt Romney's comments about President Obama's "gifts," Bill O'Reilly is essentially taking credit for them.

As he pointed out on last night's O'Reilly Factor, the Fox News host started talking about all those people who want "stuff" on Election Night and continued decrying the end of "traditional America" over the following days and weeks. While O'Reilly's commentary gave conservatives a scapegoat besides Romney to blame for President Obama's re-election, it was widely viewed as thinly-veiled racism that irrationally let Romney off the hook.

By large margins, voters embraced President Obama's policies and rejected Romney's. Rather than accept this fact and move forward, O'Reilly and Romney are both choosing to blame the voters and question their motivations.

Jon Stewart saw the connection between the Obama's "gifts" theory and O'Reilly's "traditional America" before O'Reilly made it explicit on his show last night. In the segment below, Stewart characterizes both Romney and O'Reilly as falling into the trap that has often consumed the "frightened ruling class" in this country. By demonizing the fastest growing segments of the population, they are swiftly making themselves extinct.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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LETTERMAN: Mitt Romney's Scapegoats Top Ten

It's not just President Obama's "gifts" that Mitt Romney's blaming for his loss.

Obama Jokes About Boehner's Birthday to Kick Off Fiscal Cliff Talks

President Obama made sure to work in a light moment between himself and the House Speaker in front of reporters before getting to work on what we can only hope will be a compromise on the budget and deficit reduction.

COLBERT REPORT: Petraeus Scandal as 'General's Hospital'

Stephen Colbert cannot get enough of the soap opera that is the David Petraeus sex scandal.

The Colbert Report
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Republicans Run from Romney’s “Gifts” Comments

It's the 47 percent all over again. After Mitt Romney blamed President Obama's "gifts" to minorities for his loss in a post-election conference call this week, Republican leaders are rushing to distance themselves from these slanderous and divisive remarks.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was the first to speak out against Romney's comments, saying in a conference call of his own that they were “absolutely wrong.”

Jindal later repeated his assertions on CNN.

"This is not where the Republican party needs to go. Look, If you want voters to like you, the first thing you’ve got to do is to like them first. And it’s certainly not helpful to tell voters that you think their votes were bought."

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker used some verbal gymnastics to disagree with Romney, saying that the GOP isn’t "just for people who are currently not dependent on the government."

When confronted by Andrea Mitchell on MSNBC about Romney’s “gifts” comments, New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte said she “doesn’t know the full context” of them, but at the same time “doesn’t agree” with them.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio hedged even more, praising Romney “as a person” and a candidate while also admitting he doesn’t agree with his sentiments in this case. Rubio told POLITICO that "our mission should not be to deny government benefits to people who need them."

New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez chalked up Romney's comments to a larger problem with the GOP saying, "that unfortunately is what sets us back as a party -- our comments that are not thought through carefully."

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, no big friend to Mitt Romney these days, only needed light pressure from the Morning Joe panel to denounce the comments.

"You can't expect to be a leader of all the people and be divisive. You have to talk about themes, policies that unite people, and play to their aspirations and their goals and their hopes for their family and their neighbors."

Perhaps the most outspoken Republican on this issue thus far has been former RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who called Romney’s statement “an odd, silly, stupid thing to say” on MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown. Steele’s advice to the Republican party?

"Get your head out of your you-know-what, get into the real world. Understand that America has changed, change with it. You don’t have to change your values, but adapt them to the realities."