Ever since the publication of my ground-breaking essay on the Four Golden Ages of talkingpointsmemo.com, I’ve been slammed with emails from people asking whether this or that TPM post heralds the Fifth Golden Age.

Frankly, although JMM and “the boyz” have been on a tear recently, I don’t think they’ve warranted a new Golden Age. But I’m starting to see inklings of a potential Fifth Golden Age — a Golden Age that could actually overshadow all the TPM Ages that have come before it.

Check out JMM’s post titled “Short Memories”:

Most reporters were slow to catch on to the significance of the US Attorney Firings story. (Basically, JMM just called the entire United States press corps a bunch of stupid-ass little gumps –ed.) And though it eventually became a big scandal, it seems most of the reporters have now more or less forgotten the whole thing since we’re now seeing a replay of the offenses no more than two years later. And rather than calling the bad actors out, most of them are whooping and hollering and going along for the ride.

What’s going on here? Simply put, two Golden Ages have been set on a collision course: The Second Golden Age, when TPM exposed the US Attorney firings and brought down Alberto Gonzales, and the Fourth Golden Age, when JMM called out McCain for being a total loser and a Grade-A douche bag.

Do you see what’s happening? The Republicans are going to try to run more bullshit voter purges and “fraud” prosecutions — the very tactics JMM exposed in the Second G.A. — on behalf of McCain, the very politician JMM has been dumping on in the Fourth G.A.

Are you kidding me? I’M CALLING IT NOW: We are on the cusp of a Fifth Golden Age!!! And if my instincts are correct, this Golden Age will be more intense and more ferocious than any age that has come before it. Because, if the Republicans succeed in bamboozling everyone into believing ACORN is somehow stealing the election? JMM is gonna get . . . happy.

For the sake of our country, I hope we can avoid this Fifth Golden Age. But if we can’t, it’s going to be overwhelming.

I can only wish JMM and TPM godspeed.

Ezra Klein on why pundits keep getting it wrong:

(P)undits only know what they’ve seen. And they’ve seen these attacks work. And so the debate finishes, and the red lights beneath the cameras blink back to life, and they go with the safe bet: Today will be like yesterday. But today is not like yesterday. And that’s why John McCain is losing.

In other words . . .

“You want it to be one way. But it’s the other way.”

Check out this TPM post by one “Ben Craw,” in which he analyzes a video of Joe Biden removing his jacket.

Are we dealing with a new TPM superstar?

Pay close attention to this part of Craw’s analysis:

Whoa! Did you see that? :24 mark. At least TPMtv thinks it was the :24 mark, but it was so fast the precise time is impossible to pin down. What just happened there? Did Biden’s jacket get caught in a paper shredder behind him? Did a crowd member suddenly turn on a Suck Kut? Maybe a rabid dog got ahold of the back? Seriously, no man can remove a jacket that quickly.

The vibe is very Friday Face-Offs!

Ben Craw, I like your style . . . can’t wait to read more of your video analyses . . . let me know if there’s anything fishy in Missouri’s 4th District re: Judge Smith and the D.A. purge because of illegal contractor porch-building for Rep. Jones (D-93) . . . TPM in full effect . . .

A reader asks about an endorsement:

Has your new blog decided on an endorsement yet between Republican incumbent Tom Wilson and Democratic challenger Monica Yane with regards to Wayne County Indiana’s 3rd District Commissioner race????

Good question. Anyone who knows me knows I am OBSESSED with Indiana’s 3rd District. Are you kidding me? I’ve been studying that district since college, when I wrote my final paper on that district. Nobody knows that district like me. I even wrote the official theme song for that district: “Wayne County 3rd District Song.” (A hot jam, look for it on youtube or Star Search!)

Sample lyric:

Chillin’ here in the Third
The Third District
Uhh uhh get up on that District
Which District?
The Third! The Third!
Uhh uhh yeah, exactly
District love, got that crazy District love
Third District Third District
Wayne County to be precise
In the great state of Indiana

Anyway, as far as the commissioner race goes . . . I’m actually endorsing Douglas Spaceballs, the Libertinernanian Party’s candidate. Douglas has a clear vision for the 3rd District, which you can read about in his e-book titled “Burning Corpses and Falling Buildings: The Nightmare Becomes Reality” (no amazon link available).

So there you have it! My blog’s first official endorsement! I plan to endorse fifty candidates per day between now and the election, at which time I will settle into a more manageable rate of ten endorsements per day.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the front row of history! I am in receipt of an email from a FRIDAY FACE-OFF FINALIST!

Remember this burner from the second installment of Friday Face-Offs?

At the time, I wrote:

Sweet Jesus, don’t you remember what those moments felt like? When you were surging on a hot jam in the prime of your youth? When you were loving some pop song so much that you wanted to pound right through your keyboard or smash your guitar over your own head, or at least not study for algebra so goddamn much?

Imagine my “HELL YEAH” when I opened my email to read:

I’m the shirtless piano player in the rec room playing the suffering. And I got 2nd place?! AWESOMENESS! Thank you very much! For the record, I’m no 10th grader taking a break from algebra homework. I’m 25 and a fellow political junkie. I’m now a regular viewer/reader at mnftiu. Keep up the awesome work . . .

I always knew Friday Face-Offs would become the greatest internet sensation of all time . . . that it would make eBay look like a little punk . . . that it would crush amazon.com with the greatest of ease . . . but I never knew how much ass it would kick right from the get-go! NOW I KNOW.

(Thanks to KT for letting me post his email message!)

Friday Face-Offs! WE’LL DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN TOMORROW!!!

Read talkingpointmemo’s entire liveblog here.

HIGHLIGHTS:

9:12 PM … When they invented the term “shit eating grin” were they thinking about John McCain?

9:26 PM … McCain: I went sleazy because Obama wouldn’t do a hundred townhalls with me.

9:33 PM … What on earth is McCain talking about? Obama’s attacking vets wearing vet caps?

9:53 PM … I need to see a slo-mo of McCain’s weird eyebrow response to Obama’s line about the assassination of labor leaders in Colombia.

10:01 PM … Is that McCain’s look when he gets totally blown out of the water?

10:04 PM … John McCain: Hurting and Angry.

10:11 PM … Wow, McCain tries to play the infanticide card. Right off the fringe websites. Utter-bottom feeding.

10:17 PM … If John McCain hyperventilates, does he lose points?

LOL, are you kidding me? THE ECONOMIST likes the new GYWO book?

Enjoy this long, comprehensive review from The Economist‘s supplemental magazine. Here’s a sample:

Between fusillades, Rees reveals some surprising characteristics for an angry cartoonist. One is prescience; in early 2002, he was riffing about war in Iraq, although it would not begin for another year. In spring 2006 he began to rib John McCain for shedding his maverick suit for an ill-fitting orthodox Republican one. And he has long criticised the way America’s relentless campaign in Iraq has pulled resources and attention away from Afghanistan, well before Barack Obama made this concern mainstream. . . .

But perhaps Rees’s most striking quality is his persistence in spotlighting the unending bloodshed. The years have ushered a parade of Washington obsessions — the Iraq Study Group, the Plame Affair, the Democratic takeover of Congress, warrantless wiretapping, etc — yet Rees has been rare in his dedication to reminding readers that real people continue to die violently, and at an alarming rate.

(My emphasis.)

Let’s face it, gang:

1. I AM THE BEST.
2. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO BUY FIFTY COPIES OF MY BOOK.
3. THE END.

LOL, next up I want a glowing review from the Financial Times‘ supplemental magazine, “How To Spend It.” (It’s for rich people). LOL, LOL, please review my book alongside some fancy wristwatches! I propose a photo spread of me on a yacht in a white suit wearing a thick-ass diamond watch pouring champagne all over my book while Damien Hirst is looking at me like, “Why can’t I be a seething genius like him?” LOL! Let’s do this!

Matt Taibbi wrote the introduction to that book you’re supposed to buy fifty copies of.

He just did a live chat interview with National Review’s Byron York on the banking crisis. (York is one of those conservatives who blames the collapse of the international financial system on . . . minority homeowners.)

Here’s how the interview ends: Not with a bang, but with an LOL:

MATT TAIBBI: I mean really. You honestly think a company like AIG tanks because a bunch of minorities couldn’t pay off their mortgages?

BYRON YORK: When you refer to “Phil Gramm’s Commodities Future Modernization Act,” are you referring to S.3283, co-sponsored by Gramm, along with Senators Tom Harkin and Tim Johnson?

M.T.: In point of fact I’m talking about the 262-page amendment Gramm tacked on to that bill that deregulated the trade of credit default swaps. . . . Tick tick tick. Hilarious sitting here while you frantically search the Internet to learn about the cause of the financial crisis — in the middle of a live chat interview.

B.Y.: Look, you can keep trying to make this a specifically partisan and specifically Gramm-McCain thing, but it simply isn’t. We’ve gone on for fifteen minutes longer than scheduled, and that’s enough. Thanks.

M.T.: Thanks. Note, folks, that the esteemed representative of the New Republic has no idea what the hell a credit default swap is. But he sure knows what a minority homeowner looks like.

B.Y.: It’s National Review.

Taibbi will join me on Sunday, October 26 for a fun event at the Bowery Poetry Club.