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Following up on their exclusive story about Charles Koch reportedly comparing to President Barack Obama to Saddam Hussein, The BRAD BLOG and Mother Jones released audio Wednesday of David Koch praising New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R).

"It is a real privilege for me to be asked to say a few words on behalf of Governor Chris Christie," Koch said in his introduction of Christie during a secret June seminar for million-dollar donors. "Five months ago we met in my New York City office and spoke - just the two of us - for about two hours on his objectives and successes in correcting many of the most serious problems of the New Jersey state government. At the end of our conversation I said to myself, 'I'm really impressed and inspired by this man.' He is my kind of guy."

Christie began his remarks by saying Obama had "failed the test of leadership" but quickly moved on to attacking teacher unions.

"There's nobody in this room who runs a successful business who says, tells an employee after three years and a day -- I'm sure this doesn't happen at Koch Industries -- where they call 'em in after three years and a day and say, 'Hey, you have been great for three years and a day, and guess what? You have a job here at Koch Industries for the rest of your life. Congratulations!' Christie said.

"But this is the way we're running our schools. We need to get rid of tenure... It's just not right. And so we need to do these things and that's where we head next. We've taken care of the first two big of the big things, at least for the moment, and now the third big thing is we need to take on the teachers' union once and for all and we need to decide, who is determining our children's future? Who is running this place? Them or us? I say it's us, and we've got to go fight to do it now."

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Chris Wallace says he just doesn't understand the difference between Fox News' activism and the type of material presented by Comedy Central's Jon Stewart.

Stewart tried to spell out the differences Sunday when he appeared on the conservative network but Wallace just didn't seem to get it.

Wallace accused Stewart of playing politics by comparing a video for former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's bus tour to a herpes medication ad.

"You're insane," Stewart charged. "Here is the difference between you and I. I'm a comedian first. My comedy is informed by an ideological background. No question about that. The thing that you will never understand and things that conservative activists will never understand is Hollywood, yeah, they're liberal. But that's not their primary motivating force. I'm not an activist. I'm a comedian."

"Honestly, I think you want to be a political player," Wallace insisted.

"You can't understand because of world you live in that there is not a designed ideological agenda on my part to affect partisan change. Because that's the soup you swim in. I appreciate that. I understand that. It reminds me of, you know, you know, ideological regimes. They can't understand that there is free media other places. Because they receive marching orders."

"I don't think the viewers are the least bit disappointed with us," Wallace said. "Our viewers think finally we're getting somebody to tell the other side of the story."

"Who are the most consistently misinformed media viewers?" Stewart asked. "The most consistently misinformed? Fox viewers. Consistently. Every poll."

"I'm just trying to understand you," Wallace claimed.

"Is that really true? Here is the thing that surprises me about that. I've existed in this country forever. There have been people like this who satirized the political process," Stewart explained.

"I'm sitting here talking to Jon Stewart. I'm trying to get it. Understand you and what I believe to be true: there is as much bias on the other side as you subscribe to Fox and why you go easy on that."

"I think there is, probably a liberal bias that exists in the media because of the medium in which it exists. The majority of people working in it probably hold liberal view points, but I don't think they are as relentlessly activist as the conservative movement that has risen up over the last 40 years," Stewart said. "Do you get me?"

"Well, you know what? When you come back we can explore this some more," Wallace concluded.

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The midterm elections brought big wins for the Republicans but it also exposed fractures within the party. Fox News' Juan Williams described Sunday what he called a "civil war" between the establishment Republicans and the tea party.

"I think there is a civil war of sorts going on," Williams said. "We don't talk about it much -- between the Republican establishment and tea party people. It's Sarah Palin [vs.] Karl Rove if you want to personify it."

Leading into the midterm elections, in no place were the divisions as obvious as they were with opinions on Republican Senate candidate in Delaware Christine O'Donnell.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin endorsed O'Donnell which may have put the candidate over the top in winning the Republican endorsement.

On the night that she won her primary victory, Rove told Fox News' Sean Hannity that O'Donnell was known for saying "nutty things."

"This is not a race we're going to be able to win," Rove added.

Following O'Donnell's loss in the general election, Rove said, "Look, it gave me no pleasure to say she was unlikely to win."

"This again proves a lesson. This is a candidate right on the issues, but had mishandled a series of questions raised by the press early on in the race about her background and previous statements."

Palin called out Rove by name after O'Donnell's loss. "I look forward to Karl Rove and others looking at...reporting that exit polls are showing that Mike Castle would have even lost to Chris Coons," she said on Fox News. "There was never any guarantee that a hard-core conservative would win in a deep blue state like Delaware."

But Rove's viewpoint may be representative of other establishment Republicans who weren't fond of O'Donnell.

"I think Delaware was a missed opportunity to have a really good United States senator, Mike Castle, and that's why I endorsed him in the primary," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on NBC Sunday.

Rove and Palin also clashed over the former governor's new reality show. Rove told the Telegraph that he failed to see how a reality show helped Palin make a serious run at the presidency in 2012.

"There are high standards that the American people have for [the presidency] and they require a certain level of gravitas, and they want to look at the candidate and say 'that candidate is doing things that gives me confidence that they are up to the most demanding job in the world,'" he said.

The next week, Palin compared herself to another entertainer, President Ronald Reagan, to defend her new show. "Those standards have to be high for someone who would ever want to run for president like, um, wasn't Ronald Reagan an actor? Wasn't he in Bedtime for Bonzo, bozo or something? Ronald Reagan was an actor," she said.

"Now look. I'm not in a reality show. I have eight episodes documenting Alaska's resources, what it is that we can contribute to the rest of U.S. to economically and physically secure our union, and my family comes along for the ride because I am family, family is us, and my family comes along on the ride to document these eight episodes for The Learning Channel. ... So Karl is wrong right there in calling it a reality show," she said.

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Years after Fox News' Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly fantasized about the death of Michael Moore, the filmmaker is finally speaking out.

Moore joined MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Thursday to discuss the recent news that a woman protesting Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky Rand Paul had her head stomped prior to a debate this week.

One Paul supporter is seen in video taken by Fox News channel 41 pushing MoveOn.org activist Lauren Valle to the ground. Tim Profitt, another Paul supporter, then is seen stomping on Valle's head and shoulder. She received a concussion and a sprain as a result of the altercation.

The Paul campaign condemned the attack but the next day the candidate downplayed it as "jockeying" and a "crowd control problem."

That same day, a full-page newspaper ad placed by the Paul campaign prominently displayed Profitt's name as one of the candidate's supporters.

In a Wednesday interview, Profitt called for Valle to apologize to him because he hurt his back in the scuffle.

The Kentucky Democratic Party released an ad Thursday using the head stomping incident to portray Paul in a negative light. They said that because of the ad's violent content, it would only be aired after 10 p.m.

"Do you agree with the Kentucky Democrats turning this brutal incident outside a campaign event into a broader metaphor for what's going on in politics?" Maddow asked Moore Thursday.

"It's not one of those figurative metaphors," Moore replied. "It's a literal one."

"It's so good to see Democrats just coming out and saying just exactly what's going on here, which is if you want to get a little taste of what is ahead after Tuesday, if they win, here you go," he added.

"As people take the side of the guy who stomped on this woman, is that mainstreaming violence?" Maddow asked.

"Yes," Moore replied. "That is exactly what's going on. We've been mainstreaming violence for the last nine years," Moore said. "When I was growing up you, it was like grab the hippie. If you were down south, it was grab the black guy. This young girl, what that represents, I think they're afraid of this younger generation, because the young kids, they're not the bigots their parents and grandparents were."

Moore also noted that Beck had once fantasized about killing him and that "Bill O'Reilly one night said he didn't believe in the death penalty except for Michael Moore."

The specific quote from Beck came in May of 2005, when he said:

Hang on, let me just tell you what I'm thinking. I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out -- is this wrong? I stopped wearing my What Would Jesus -- band -- Do, and I've lost all sense of right and wrong now. I used to be able to say, "Yeah, I'd kill Michael Moore," and then I'd see the little band: What Would Jesus Do? And then I'd realize, "Oh, you wouldn't kill Michael Moore. Or at least you wouldn't choke him to death." And you know, well, I'm not sure.

"You can become successful preaching violence and preaching hate," Moore summarized. "We're going to enter a very scary time.".

Naturally, the liberal filmmaker added a plea for viewers to get out and vote for Democrats.

"Boy, I'll tell you, if we don't get on the phones and call people, everybody should get out their address book and send a reminder to be sure and vote on Tuesday," he said. "'I'm going to vote and give the Democrats two more years.' That's what I would really ask your relatives who are on the fence, friends of yours. Say two years isn't enough time for the huge mess that was created. Let's give them two more years. Then we can deal with it if they haven't done the job they were sent there to do."

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Karl Rove’s corporate-funded American Crossroads outfit is attacking Jack Conway, the progressive Attorney General of Kentucky, for supporting health-care reform, and we've got it before it's been posted online.

In a nutshell, American Crossroads is very angry that Jack Conway wouldn't sue the federal government over HCR. I thought conservatives hate lawyers and lawsuits, especially frivolous ones, didn't you? I forgot, hypocrisy rules for conservatives, and they sure love those lawsuits when they file them. By the way, here's a prime example of American Crossroads' hypocrisy.

Here at American Crossroads, we want to do things a little differently from other political action groups. First of all, we believe that setting a new direction for America starts with you—not with clever political ads, consultants and slick fundraising pitches.

They hate clever political ads except when they try and run them. So typical of Karl. Rove and Rand Paul’s henchmen at the NRSC even put out a press release attacking Jack for being a progressive and of course being a trial lawyer.

What this country needs are more progressives and not more corporate sellouts. That is why Blue America are joining up to support a MoneyBomb for Jack at www.ConwayFightFund.com on Sept. 7 to fight back against Karl Rove and Rand Paul. Can we really afford to have Rand Paul and his Aqua Buddha representing the American people?

I think not, so please join us at ConwayFightFund.com and let's elect someone competent for a change.

It's always fun to beat The Daily Show to a lead. At our podcast several weeks ago, we played the Evil, Stupid and Crazy Game, and at the six minute mark of this Daily Show clip from last night, it looks like their writers had fun playing, too. Of course, they upped the ante with Team Stupid and Team Evil Tshirts: there's no budget for that in audio podcasting.

Our conclusion on the podcast was that Fox and Friends fell into the "stupid" category, but this clip makes a really strong case for "evil," as well. They could be a two-fer, and with Fox and Friends that's probably the only conclusion you can come to.

My one wish out of all of this is that everyone who watches Fox News for news becomes aware that their second most invested shareholder is Arab and, yeah even I gotta admit, looks like a South Park Cartoon Terrorist. And Fox and Friends just got caught calling this co-owner of their parent company, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a "funder of radical madrassahs.":

Think Progress reports that recently Prince Alaweed headed a Board of Directors meeting attended by NewsCorp executives to "strengthen their alliance."

Maybe Gretchen should Google it.

h/t Kevin H for the tip.

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SNL knocks Arizona State University in Weekend Updates Really!?! segment for not giving President Obama an honorary degree.