The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, never one to shy away from a political scandal, gave his take on the Internet scandal involving New York Rep. Anthony Weiner. Over the weekend, a lewd photo was sent from Weiner's Twitter account to the Twitter account of a 21-year-old female student from Seattle. The photo was immediately deleted and Weiner claims his Twitter account had been hacked.

Stewart, who is friends with Weiner, said he hoped the story wasn't true but that "as a comedian this is a slam dunk,” he said. “’Weiner’ name, weiner picture – where’s my check? But, as a friend of his, I really hope this story is not true. I really do. I would feel terrible if this were true, as a friend of his. And I do have my doubts about its veracity, having nothing to do with the circumstantial back-and-forth about this, my thoughts stem from this: No way. No [bleep] way. Seriously. No way! No way! In real life my memory is this cat had a lot more Anthony and a lot less Weiner. This is not what I remember.”

The government of Alaska is getting ready to release 24,199 pages of emails Sarah Palin sent and received during her short tenure as governor of the state. Officials will withhold 2,415 pages of emails that were deemed "privileged, personal or otherwise exempt from Alaska's disclosure laws."

The emails cover a 21-month span ending in September 2008, when news organizations and private citizens first requested the release. Emails following that period were subsequently requested, and are expected to be released at a later time.

Copies of the emails will be sent to those who requested them. Among the news organizations that made the request: the Associated Press, MSNBC.com, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and CNN.

Sarah Palin may not have declared herself a presidential candidate just yet, but recently announced stops for her nationwide bus tour are raising eyebrows as to whether Palin will enter the race. In addition to New Hampshire, Real Clear Politics is reporting that Palin will make stops in Iowa and South Carolina. Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina are the states where the first three presidential primaries are held.

A new poll released Wednesday shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leading the Republican presidential field in the all-important primary state of Iowa. According to the poll conducted by Public Policy Polling, Romney tops the field with 21 percent, while Palin and businessman Herman Cain are tied in second, polling at 15 percent apiece. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (12 percent) and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann (11 percent) round out the top five.

Republicans are not excited by any of their possible presidential candidates, a new poll shows. According to the Pew Research Center/Washington Post Poll, 44 percent of respondents used negative words to describe the GOP field, while just 12 percent used positive words. Nineteen percent used neutral words to describe the potential candidates.  

Pew Research Center noted: "Asked for a single word to describe the GOP field, the top response is a variation on 'unimpressed,' with 42 mentions."

Donald Trump, once considered a Republican presidential candidate himself, tore into the controversial budget proposed by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, calling it a "death wish" for Republicans during a Wednesday morning appearance on Fox News

"I’m looking at the Republicans and seeing things that are like they have a death wish," Trump said of the plan on "Fox & Friends." "Whether its the Ryan plan, which is a death wish, for him to have brought this plan out at this time, why doesn’t allow Obama, you know these are not good business people or these are not good chess players, why doesn’t he allow Obama come out first, why does he have to come out with a plan?"

Ryan's plan includes major reforms and cuts to entitlement programs, including Medicare. Some have blamed the plan for the GOP's recent congressional loss in New York's conservative 26th district.