Vice President Biden Hates When His Academic Credentials Are Questioned

As Donald Trump makes new demands to see President Obama's college records, it's interesting to note that Vice President Biden had an unpleasant history of having his academic credentials questioned -- something that he has loathed since his first run for president, back in 1988. Check out the below video from the 1988 Democratic Primaries to see how hard he pushed back after a reporter asked about his academic standing in law school: 

Obama & Trump: Back to Back Press Conferences

In an apparent bow to the pressure mounting about his birth certificate, President Obama released a long-form certificate from Hawaii this morning and then held an impromptu press conference on the matter. 

But the problem for Obama this morning wasn't the issue at hand, it was the optics -- the President interrupted Donald Trump's Portsmouth New Hampshire press conference, allowing Donald Trump to appear to have parity with him. Even further, he acknowledged Trump as a compeditor, as he began with the joke, "Let me just comment that I can't get the networks to break in on all kinds of other discussions. I was just back there listening to Trump who was saying it's amazing that he's not going to be talking about national security. I would not have the networks breaking in if I was talking about that, Chuck, and you know it."

Ben Smith of Politico said that "the move suggests White House pollsters saw real danger to Obama here, and saw the distraction as hurting him more than Republicans. It's also a remarkable concession to the kind of freakshow politics that this White House disdains, but has found itself unable to ignore."

Much like the first Kennedy-Nixon debate elevated Kennedy to the level of the then-Vice President, the dueling press conferences elevated Trump, strengthening the perception that he is a real contender, as the split screen images from the networks suggest.

Furthermore, the timing of the White House's move allowed Trump to take responsibility for prompting its release. Even if this puts the whole "birther" issue to bed, Trump can tout this event as an accomplishment, as it appears that he put Obama on the defensive. While many think a Trump candidacy is a "gift," it may be at their own peril. 

Donald Trump on Citizen Kane

Now that Donald Trump is getting so much media attention as a potential republican presidential candidate for the 2012 nomination, it's worth taking a look at this little-known project that Errol Morris aborted several years ago. The subject? Orson Welles' groundbreaking 1941 film Citizen Kane, which was a thinly veiled portrayal of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst.

The film painted an bitterly unsympathetic portrait of Kane and was received unfavorably by Hearst. In turn, this documentary short provides some insights about Mr. Trump, who admits that wealth isolates the wealthy from regular people -- but is it a positive or negative portrayal of the Donald? 

Donald Trump Mulls Presidential Bid at "The Wall" Concert

Last night, Donald Trump was spotted in the audience of Roger Waters' preformance of his Pink Floyd opus -- "The Wall" -- at Madison Square Garden. 

This comes as Trump's name is being floated as a potential contender for the Republican Nomination, and a month after an anonymous poll questioned New Hampshire Primary voters about his possible candidacy. The business and TV icon later confirmed on Morning Joe that, "for the first time in my life, I am absolutely thinking about it," however he denied that he was behind the poll. 

It has also created speculation amongst Pink Floyd fans as to what was going through his head when he heard the famous line "mother, should I run for President" a lyric in the song "Mother".

Far out.