NewsBusters: Stephanie Miller Racist? Not exactly, but you like the headline?

This amazing non-story did not go unnoticed by the few liberal bloggers willing to go that extra mile on a slow news day.

Just before playing a clip of Malkin from Fox News Channel's Hannity program on her radio program, Miller snarked, "Let's unpack this rice ball of health care nonsense from Michelle Malkin." This line could leave one with the impression that it was a racially-tinged insult of the conservative
commentator.

But before clearing up any misperception's," NewsBusters also included:

Miller's sidekicks Chris Lavoie and Jim Ward joined in the verbal assault on Malkin with sophomoric jabs about her digestive tract:

JIM WARD: Did she need a colonoscopy to pull that out of her ass? (Lavoie and Miller laugh) Is there insurance for that?

CHRIS LAVOIE: Someone on your Facebook page just said, dear Michelle Malkin, your colon is not a fact checker, no many how many of your ignorant statements you pull out of your ass. (Lavoie and Ward laugh)

Still looks pretty bad, especially if you only read the first few paragraphs of the story, but here's the eventual twist:

The "rice ball" line was actually a reference to something the radio host mentioned earlier in the hour and became something of a running gag during the program: a video of a primate called the slow loris eating the food item. But someone tuning into the show at that very moment might have been left with the wrong impression, to say the least, if they had missed this banter.

But since it wasn't racially-tinged...oh, never mind.