Last Thursday night, while one-half of Wonkette was appearing on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, the other half was listening to Olbermann get mocked, at the gala dinner of the Media Research Center.

How’s that for objectivity? Wonkette: Fair and Balanced!

In case you’re not familiar with it, the MRC is a conservative watchdog organization deoted to “documenting, exposing and neutralizing liberal media bias.” In a nutshell, think of it as a Media Matters for right-wingers — and with cleaner bathrooms.

Cal Thomas likes his liberal journalists shaken, not stirred.

The highlight of the dinner was the presentation of the “DisHonor Awards,” bestowed upon “the most outrageously biased liberal reporters of 2005.” The awards were followed by a special tribute to the American military.

After the jump, a more detailed account of the evening’s festivities.

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* Rep. Cynthia McKinney hits a Capitol Police officer with her cell phone. We’ve been all over this one — our coverage is collected here (scroll down). MORE »

* We are apparently, to our embarassment, way behind with this FEMA Rap thing. And dammit, he was underpaid. [RidingSun]
* Here’s Helen Thomas with a shitload of roses. Because she finally goaded Bush into admitting that his entire administation has been a failure and that he’s personally responsible for a number of war crimes. Or because she finally got a chance to actually ask him a question, which he easily dodged. We don’t remember which, tell you the truth. [DemUnderground]
* Yesterday was the anniversary of the day John Hinkley shot an old guy. We didn’t write anything about it because we, unlike VH1, hate the ’80s. But here you go, here’s a thing about it. [whitehouse.org]
* Look, Media Matters — we do like you. We think this piece is hysterical! And very important for the discourse or something. [MMFA]

Oh, Media Matters. This was almost too much even for relentless sadists like us: MORE »

After we exposed the bathroom difficulties of the men of Media Matters, DCist published this helpful primer on ass-wiping protocols, as well as other matters of bathroom etiquette. MORE »

* DCist offers some ass-wiping pointers for the Media Matters men. We’ll probably have more to say about this tomorrow. For now, please read this — it’s some funny shit. And be sure to check out this comment. [DCist] MORE »

(Well, so far, anyway.) MORE »

The good people are Media Matter for America: hard at work fighting conservative bias, still pissing off the janitorial staff: MORE »

* Rush Limbaugh on Hillary Clinton: “She sounds like a screeching ex-wife.” Heh, he should know. [Media Matters] MORE »

We received a copy of this email from confidential sources at Media Matters: MORE »

Yes, yes, yes: The Bill Bennett thing. We’ve refrained from commenting on his assertions that “you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down” largely because, well, in a very literal sense he’s not wrong. Aborting every white baby would also reduce crime, as well as free up space in Ivy League colleges and country and western bars. Aborting every baby of any color would virtually eliminate crime, and we have no idea why someone hasn’t run on that platform before. Bennett himself hedges that “these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.” Perhaps he’d like to bet on it? MORE »