Following the launch of his Facebook and Youtube accounts, Energy Secretary Steven Chu made another attempt to reach the young, hip, in-crowd Tuesday night by appearing on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.

Chu,  a Nobel Prize winning scientist and self-described nerd, began his appearance by  offering a t-shirt to the show’s host comedian Jon Stewart, proclaiming him an honorary member of the “Nerds of America Society.”

“You know I have been an unofficial member for years,” Stewart quipped in response.

The rest of the chat mostly dealt with the climate change legislation before Congress. 

Earlier in the show, Stewart jokingly fell asleep into a cream pie as he described the cap-and- trade system that Democrats hope to put in place to limit carbon dioxide emissions. He also suggested the bill has been watered down by the political process.

When asked whether the bill that recently passed the House of Representatives went far enough to address global warming, Chu said “if you go to the left or the right, people are not happy with it. But the  bottom line is it puts a cap on carbon emissions.”

Stewart pointed out that Chu has to deal with lawmakers who believe global warming is a hoax and argue that carbon occurs in nature so it can’t be bad for the planet.

“That is true, but on the other hand, water is generally very good. Water in great deluges is not good,” Chu responded.

Stewart gave Chu the ultimate compliment.

“Can I tell you something? You are the first Cabinet member I’ve met from the Obama administration that seems alive. You are the first one,” Stewart said.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Chu during Reutes Energy Summit June 1)

No matter what kind of day you’re having, it’s probably not as bad as the one Louis Caldera had yesterday. Caldera is director of the White House Military Office, and he approved what might well be one of the most criticized photo op choices of all time: a low-level flyover of Manhattan by a plane often used to transport the president as Air Force One.

Caldera said federal authorities informed the appropriate officials in New York and New Jersey beforehand, but many New Yorkers were instantly reminded of the 911 attacks when they saw the blue and white passenger plane flying by their skyline, trailed by an F-16 fighter jet carrying a photographer. The idea was to get a picture of Air Force One with the Statue of Liberty.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg excoriated the plan, and Caldera reportedly got a dressing down from a “furious” President Barack Obama. Caldera apologized profusely, saying federal authorities took “the proper steps” but “it’s clear that the mission created confusion and disruption.”

That didn’t begin to satisfy many in the media, especially those based in New York City. ABC television’s normally avuncular Charles Gibson added a sarcastic “You think?” after he reported Caldera’s apology. On morning television, the headlines were openly hostile. From CNN, it was “Air Force Dumb.” On Fox, the line was that the flight “Sparks 911 Flashback.” The New York Times ran a picture of the plane on its front page with the restrained caption, “A jet regularly used as Air Force One flew low over Jersey City, above, and Manhattan on Monday, scaring many.”

Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart called it “Mistakes on a Plane,” a riff on the 2006 movie “Snakes on a Plane.” 

It’s not like there’s nothing else to worry about: swine flu, health care and climate change, to name three being discussed in Washington today. So you tell us: is the widespread criticism of the AF1 photo op a continuing story or a one-day drama?

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Photo credit: REUTERS/Jim Young (Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington after a day trip to New York, November 11, 2008)

“The Daily Show” has this welcome sign for Republican convention-goers in St. Paul, as posted on flickr:

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, 78, managed to crack a few jokes and talk about his faith on Wednesday as he vowed to fight a recurrence of cancer and seek reelection in 2010.

“I consider it another bump in the road,” the Pennsylvania Republican told a Capitol Hill news conference called to discuss a recurrence of Hodgkin’s disease. “I’ve had a lot of bumps, and I’ve got good shock absorbers.”

Specter, who successfully battled the illness in 2005, disclosed this week he had been diagnosed with a recurrence of the cancer. His doctor said he had an “excellent chance of achieving a complete remission.”

Specter told reporters he will begin chemotherapy later this month and is confident he will again be able to keep up with his Senate duties.

Asked what keeps him going, Specter said wryly: “Got a good job, yes, faith, family, questions from the news media.”

Specter said he intends to seek a sixth term in 2010 and expects Democrats to try to make his health and age a factor. Democrats ousted a more conservative Pennsylvania senator, Rick Santorum, in the 2006 election.

Then Specter resurrected a couple of quips he used on a visit to the popular cable TV program, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

“He (Stewart) asked me how old I was, and I said, ‘I forget.’ And then I said I looked at my birth certificate recently and I decided not to let a little thing like that bother me because it happened so long ago.’” 

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Specter last September on Capitol Hill)