We’re starting to worry about an amnesia virus that’s plaguing our political leaders — two New York mayors have succumbed to it, and now Michael Steele seems to be infected:

“I didn’t ask for, I didn’t seek this job, I didn’t ask for it.”

Steele must be recalling his famous quote from last year’s election for RNC chair:

“If drafted, I will not run; if nominated, I will not accept; if elected, I will not serve.”

Problem is, we can’t find it — instead, Steele tells Sean Hannity, “I want the gig.” And somebody must have been impersonating Steele back in November 2008, when he “announced his candidacy for the position of Chairman of the Republican National Committee.”

Won’t you give generously? A mind is a terrible thing to rot.

After Declaring ‘I Want The Gig,’ Steele Claims He Didn’t ‘Seek’ RNC Chairmanship [Think Progress]

George Stephanopoulos, who doesn’t even bother to remind Mayor Shithead that, among other things, 9/11 and the shoe bomber happened on the Boy King’s watch.

Stephanopoulos, attempting to save a bit of face, takes to his blog to point out that Giuliani had a little memory lapse – and gets taken to task in the comments for his failure. I suggested he retire.

There’s only one solution: Announcing the Stinque Tea Party Convention! All we need is a room, a logo, and a Sarah Palin drag queen.

Mark Lisanti went on a Twitter tear Thursday, following the (officially denied) rumor that Jay Leno would be returning to the Tonight Show, bumping Conan O’Brien back to post-midnight. Let’s watch the keeper of the Giant GrazerHead at work!

Perhaps out of psychological self-preservation, I’m for now choosing to believe that TMZ’s wrong about the Leno/Conan thing. No. Nono. No.

THIS JUST IN: Leno to get chair next to Conan, “to chime in whenever he feels like he has something to add.”

UPDATE! Leno to do Tonight Show monologue, sit in Conan’s lap for first half-hour of new format.

BREAKING! NBC announces Leno to sit in jalopy on Tonight Show stage, intermittently honk horn to throw Conan off his game.

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Rudy Giuliani, whose ability to count has been severely disrupted by the Underpants Bomber, is now joined by Ed Koch, whose eyes have been permanently crossed from assessing the lack of damage:

Of course the vast majority of Muslims, there are a billion, 400 million, are not terrorists. But there are hundreds of millions who are. They want to kill every Christian, every Jew, every Hindu who won’t convert.

Adds Koch, “We’re going to be at war for the next thirty years.” Not with odds like that, we aren’t.

Ed Koch: Most Muslims Aren’t Terrorists — ‘But There Are Hundreds Of Millions Who Are’ [TPM]

Michelle Malkin is an outspoken advocate of sunshine in government proceedings.

Well, except when the sun shines in the wrong place:

Judicial activism + far Left radical activism = Courtroom intimidation.

Yesterday, liberal California Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker issued an unprecedented ruling that will put the trial involving a challenge to the Prop. 8 same-sex marriage ban on YouTube…

This isn’t a sincere educational effort to provide transparency to the public. It’s a flagrant attempt at making Prop. 8 a show trial — and intimidating Prop. 8 backers who will be called to testify.

You would think Prop. 8 backers would be proud to show their faces in public, proclaiming their high principles in denying rights that don’t affect them whatsoever. Apparently, you would think wrong.

The anti-Prop. 8 mob strikes again [Malkin]

Prop. 8 trial will be shown on YouTube [SF Chronicle]

When we first heard Wednesday that Sarah Palin would be headlining the “National Tea Party Convention” in Nashville next month, we had only one question: How much are they paying her?

And we now have the answer: $100,000.

Which is an interesting amount for a “grassroots” movement.

As is the price to attend the speech: $349. The CPAC convention — which Palin is skipping, because they don’t pay squat — costs only $149 to attend.

So, our next question: Which teabaggers are ponying up the bucks? They’re by no means a united front, you’ll recall — the “Tea Party Patriots” see themselves as the real deal, as opposed to the “Tea Party Express,” which TPM calls “a group run by GOP political consultants” that manages to funnel two-thirds of its money back to its founders.

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