TPMtv's Year in Review: Our Top 10 Cable News Moments

Ah, cable news. America's stage for all the absurd, the outrageous, the head-scratching, and the hilarious moments that our politicians, pundits, and assorted news personalities have to offer. And TPMtv watches it all, so you don't have to. As 2009 comes to a close, we present to you our favorite moments from the year in cable news.

1. In the wake of the June shooting at Washington D.C.'s Holocaust Museum, Shep Smith solidified his reputation as Fox News's voice of reason with this blunt and sincere calling out of "more and more frightening" Fox e-mailers:

2. Perhaps 2009's most surreal moment in political, or at least quasi-political, news was former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's appearance on ABC's Dancing with The Stars. Just weeks before the season premiere, DeLay gave us a taste of just how bizarre a turn his post-congressional career had taken in a Hardball interview that hit on everything from ballroom pumps to birtherism:

3. Honest mistake or wishful lie? Either way, former Bush press secretary Dana Perino delivered the most blatant misstatement of the year in cable news:

4. It was quite a first year on the job for RNC Chairman Michael Steele. While most of his cable news appearances resulted in nothing more regrettable than a goofy turn of phrase ("I'm the cow on the tracks!"), his defiance of the mighty Rush Limbaugh back in late February sparked a prolonged intra-party squabble we have a feeling Mr. Steele would've rather avoided:

5. Funny things happen on live television. Perhaps the funniest of 2009 was when attendees at September's conservative Value Voters Summit interrupted an MSNBC correspondent in the middle of delivering his report on the event:

6. That is, we thought it was the funniest until moments later on Fox News when the same exact thing happened to a correspondent, only this time slightly creepier:

7. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) became an instant political celebrity on September 29th with his "Die Quickly" portrayal of the Republican health care plan. It was a celebrity he rode over the ensuing weeks and months with a series of never-dull interviews, culminating in a December appearance on Hardball when he spelled it out for Dick Cheney:

8. On the November 10th edition of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart caught Fox News red-handed passing off 9/12 rally footage as Capitol Tea Party rally footage so as to make the crowd appear bigger. The following night on Fox News we saw something we thought we'd never see - Sean Hannity admitting an error and apologizing to Jon Stewart:

And as a hilarious epilogue, check out Jon Stewart's reaction to Hannity's apology on the next night's Daily Show.

9. Whatever you think of Chris Matthews, his inability to hide his opinions behind a pretense of "objective" or "professional" journalism always makes for entertaining television. As Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal emerged to deliver the Republican response to President Obama's February address to a joint session of Congress, Matthews muttered one of those opinions under his breath, and it was thankfully just barely picked up by his microphone:

10. Liz Cheney rounds out our list of cable news moments with a serious whopper:

And as a technically-non-cable-news-since-it-aired-on-ABC bonus: for those of you dying to see someone actually challenge Liz Cheney, we leave you with this little piece of satisfaction, courtesy of Lawrence O'Donnell: