Tie: Red with white checks dots [thanks to the Tie Fairy for the correction of this subtle distinction]

Worst Person: Cindy McCain, for plagiarizing recipes from the Food Network and claiming they were handed down in her family.

5. Apparently, America is not feeling so bitter about Obama’s “bitter” remarks. A new national Gallup poll has Obama leading Clinton 51% to 40%, his largest lead all year. Senator Obama has reiterated to the media that those comments were no different than those he had made on other occasions, and his wife reminded Obama supporters that neither of them came from privileged backgrounds. (In other Dem news, Rep. Barney Frank told the press that the trailing Democratic candidate should drop out by June 3rd…even if it is Sen. Clinton, who he is backing.) Jonathan Alter joins KO for some analysis. Clearly, the public is not as upset as the attack ads are making out, and it is possible that this “gaffe” may have actually highlighted some of the frustration Americans are feeling about the economy. [I will freely admit that I am bitter about my economic state! $3.30 at the gas pump? That’s more than enough to make me bitter!] However, Obama must be careful to not lose his positive, hopeful campaign tone.

4. Hey, hey, Bush’s approval rating on the economy is still at an all-time low! Are you surprised? The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll shows an approval rate of only 28%. Ouch. McCain is following along nicely in his footsteps by suggesting some changes to our economy that may cause more job losses. Rachel Maddow joins. She states that, yes, Americans are bitter about the prospect of economic help from Washington. After multiple decades of economic mismanagement in Washington, voters have given up on the idea of having candidates that will behave in their best interest - candidates from either party.

Bushed! 3) The temporary head of the Office of Legal Council is apparently breaking the law by, well, being there. Steven Bradbury has held the position since 2005, but should have only done so for less than a year. 2) The Bush Administration and Sen. McCain are supporting the troops by not supporting the GI Bill. (My dad went to college on the GI Bill, so I will try to control my rage. Oh, and Senator? My dad went to college and then stayed enlisted for 20 years, shooting down your “can’t make it too good for the troops!” theory). 1) The IRS has lost a net $37 million by hiring private bill collectors to go after people who have not paid their taxes. Wait, isn’t the IRS supposed to be good with money?

3. Senator Joe Biden joins KO tonight after giving a major foreign relations speech, in which he criticized Sen. McCain for his positions on the Iraq War. Sen. Biden tells KO that the remarks of Sen. McCain that we would “stay in Iraq for 100 years” only fuel unrest in Iraq and beliefs that Americans want to take control of Iraqi oil and establish permanent military bases. Although Sen. McCain and the Bush administration think that continued U.S. presence is required to suppress the threat of Al Qaeda, Sen. Biden states that discussions between the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and high ranking defense officials indicate the opposite. Sen. Biden (after denying an interest in being VP) called on both Democratic candidates to directly challenge and debate the Republican Party on national security issues. Sen. Biden, regarding Rep. Frank’s wish to wrap up the Democratic primary competition? ‘Calm down’.

Oddball: A previously unknown organ composition by Bach was discovered; we get an interlude of that really annoying car honking “orchestra” (seriously, I hear that on the interstate every day); and an Idaho man is arrested for crazy facial hair drugs.

1. Icebergs may not be to blame after all: the majority of the blame for the sinking of the Titanic may lie with cheap rivets. It seems the construction company cut corners while building the ship, not building things to specification, using cheaper or inferior materials and so on. (This includes the already infamous removal of life boats because the full compliment of life boats looked unattractive.) Dr. Charles Pellegrino joins KO. Dr. Pellegrino comments that this new research is sound, but it is impossible to know at this point how much the inferiority of the rivets contributed to the sinking. As he puts it, the impact from the iceberg was so strong, the ship could have been constructed from titanium and still sunk. I think the real question here is, how would Celine Dion sound when accompanied by the noise of popping rivets?

Well, serious blog was serious tonight. That’s all, see you next time!