Wonkette

MAR

Election Recycling: Cheney Problem Edition #

• Rice says there is no need to apologize for 9/11 failures and now acknowledges that Bush met Clarke on 9/12 to discuss Iraq; Clarke calls for full declassification of his earlier testimony; White House may move to declassify Rice's private testimony with the commission. [WP and NYT]
• Bush's attacks on Kerry's defense positions could backfire, hurting the president's credibility. [WSJ]
• Kerry visits African-Americans at a Baptist church, says Bush neglects those less fortunate: "In too many ways our school systems all across this country, 50 years after that great decision was made by the Supreme Court, our school systems are still separate and unequal. We still have doors to open, we still have prayers to say, and we still have feet to move." Bush campaign criticizes his "exploitation of Scripture for a political attack." [NYT and LAT]
• Kerry opts for elective shoulder surgery for a slight tear; denies a "Cheney problem." [WP]

[more...]

MAR

Remainders: We Always Thought Ari Was Vaguely Sexy Edition #

• We miss Ari too. [Slate]
• "We want to consecrate this sidewalk ... let's stay focused." First-person account of the Pledge of Allegiance case protests in front of the Supreme Court. [The Washington Oculus]
• Slate's "Juicy Bits" on Richard Clarke's book: "Unlike some of the books Slate has diced and julienned in this space, this one's worth reading." But why bother? [Could We Have Prevented 9/11?]
• Are you missing references on the Daily Show? Footnote TV is here to help. [Footnote TV]
• Sometimes I wish I were a man: "I was at the Unity Dinner in DC Thursday night, and I experienced something that only a blogger would write about: John Kerry and I were urinal neighbors." [Daily Kos]

Knock, Knock. Who's There? WMDs! #

how low can you go C-SPAN has posted its footage of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association dinner, and it will air Saturday night at 8PM. Bush hits his comic peak at minute 29:30. How good was the president? Well, his opening was some reporter getting an award for a story about maimed soldiers (what a downer!), and Bush still got laughs.

David Corn recently whipped up some gags for former presidents that try to compete with that level hilarity:

Imagine if Lyndon Johnson had joked about the trumped-up Gulf of Tonkin incident that he deceitfully used as a rationale for U.S. military action in Vietnam: "Who knew that fish had torpedoes?"

But there's a much richer history here than Corn realizes. Who can forget Lincoln's Gridiron dinner punchline: "Is there a carpenter in the house? Because I've got a house divided I'm having trouble with." Or Nixon at White House Correspondents' Dinner: "You may have heard we bombed Cambodia. It's not my fault. I told them left at Laos, left."

He really killed with that one.

Radio & Television Correspondents Association Dinner (03/24/2004) [C-SPAN.org]
MIA WMDs--For Bush, It's a Joke [The Nation]

Bipartisanship at the DNC #

billdobig Drudge, your source for the latest news in indecency, is outraged by the presence of an anti-Bush doormat at DNC headquarters. How mad is he? Well, his headline is really, really big.

But his typographical tantrum has paid off" DNC staffers feel terrible and have decided, in the spirit of bipartisanship, to put Bill Clinton vibrating dildos in the ladies' rooms.

Dem Headquarters Uses Bush Face As Doormat [Drudge!!! Report!!]
Billdo [GetaGadget.com]

Who's That Girl-In-Pink? #

Today's Note makes it sound like a certain Clinton stalker at last night's "Democrats United" dinner failed to hit her mark:

The Note must give a particular shout out to the lovely couple whom we'll identify as Intensely-Gum-Chewing-Guy and the Girl-In-Pink. We really were pulling for you to get that picture. And for the longest time, we thought you might. And we were rooting for you, honestly, up until the point of hearing Girl-In-Pink get introduced by Intensely-Gum-Chewing-Guy to someone else and ask that person, "So, what is a New Democrat anyway?"

But, clearly, she succeeded:

clinton-1

Also, we hear that she's written Mark Halperin to tell him she was "being sarcastic" when she asked about New Democrats. (We use that line about things we say drunk, too!) Who is the Girl-In-Pink? None other than mildly controversial sex columnist (junior division) Julia Baugher, formerly of the Georgetown Hoya. I'm sure she and Bill had plenty to talk about. We were sort of on the fence about naming her, but we think she's of the "any publicity is good publicity" school. And we graduated from there, too.

After the jump: Pix she scored with Kerry and Hillary (Please note the New York senator's frozen, even mildly terrified expression).

Sexpert photos [SexontheHilltop.com]
I Wanna Do What Ain't Ever Been Done [ABCNews.com]

[more...]

David Brooks: Color Blind? #

Sasha Issenberg probably thought he was making a savvy career move when he traveled to Pennsylvania's Franklin county to actually fact-check the brilliant work of sociologist David Brooks. He discovered, among other things, that people in Red areas sometimes do Blue things: They like Woody Allen and Thai food and expensive coffee and apparently are not all Wal-mart-shopping Jeff Foxworthy clones. Then he called Brooks on it.

Too bad for Issenberg that Brooks is not one to be All-About-Eved like that. As Issenberg writes in the latest Philadelphia magazine:

I went through some of the other instances where he made declarations that appeared insupportable. He accused me of being "too pedantic," of "taking all of this too literally," of "taking a joke and distorting it." "That's totally unethical," he said.

Yeah! We hate it when that happens. When someone, like, builds a career on interpreting literally a gross stereotype of middle America? Ew. And then gets all pedantic about it? Maybe even lectures potential Democratic candidates on how they should behave? That sucks!

Don't know about "unethical." Probably should ask someone at the New York Times about that.

Boo-Boos in Paradise [Philadelphia Magazine via Romenesko]

CNN Strategy to Become Number One #

So the president told some jokes about sending people to die. Whatevs. To our minds, the biggest scandal to come out of Wednesday's RTCA dinner are the desperate tactics deployed by CNN to, well, sex up its after party. We hear that the ratings-desperate net flew up a passel of anchor-babes-in-training from Atlanta for the specific purpose of decorating their post-dinner disco inferno and finally beating out rival Fox for the best party prize.

Says our informant, who talked to one of the attractive accessories: "I felt bad for them. They didn't have tickets to the dinner and stood outside in the smoking lounge [until the party started]. They didn't seem to know why they were there."

Way to recreate the '70s, CNN -- at least in terms of prefeminist partying. Very classy!

RTCA: Who Blew It? [Wonkette]
RTCA After-Parties: Pool Report [Wonkette]

Great Moments in Journalism #

On Drudge, context is everything:

drudge!

[Drudge Report]

Is There a Doctor in the House? #

In the second sentence of its story on the 9/11 hearings, the NYT drops R-bomb: Condi Rice is leaving her job at the end of the year. Talk about being out of the loop! We had no idea. But it does explain this posting we saw on Craigslist the other day:

Will Erect Unilateral Foreign Policy for Food

Panel Hasn't Heard From Official It Wants Most [NYT]

Gossip Roundup: Fan of the French Edition #

• Names & Faces: Brian Williams aids an ailing passenger on a flight. Said the passenger, "This is a hell of a way to get viewers.". . . Larry King confuses Michael Isikoff with Michael Weiskopf. . . Sam Solovery, the former Apprentice, will host a three-hour show on WMAL. [WP]
• Inside the Beltway: Laura on whether there will be a Bush campaign in the future: "It will be his last. I can tell you that.". . . Expensive pool table, aquarium, and television packages with porn paid with taxpayer dollars. [WT]
• Lloyd Grove's Lowdown: Ashleigh Banfield dropped by NBC News. . . Owner of WhiteHouse.com wants to sell it to a buyer who won't use it for porn; no comment from the White House. . . Niece Lauren Bush is a fan of the French, models for Evian; "The whole idea is Evian's relationship with youth and beauty. And Lauren Bush is the epitome of youth and beauty," said spokesman. [NYDN]
• Page Six: Ted Kennedy sent campaign letter to Giuliani. [NYP]

Election Recycling: Now How Can This Happen in the Way It Happens Edition #

• White House tries to soften threat of Clarke by saturating media. "They are vulnerable, which is why they are attacking so hard. You have to go back to Vietnam or Watergate to get the same feel about the structure of argument coming out of the White House against Clarke's statements," says scholar. Dan Bartlett: "At face value, based on his résumé and experience, you would think this guy is credible. Particularly because of how egregious the accusations are, you couldn't let them stand." [WP]
• Democrats accuse Bush of being insensitive after his remarks about WMD. White House responds, "There's no question about the seriousness with which this president approaches this issue. It's traditional at events like this dinner for the president to poke fun at himself." [WP and NYT]
• Kerry to propose deduction in corporate taxes to create 10 million jobs by 2009 and encourage domestic hiring. Kerry economic advisor: "The most salient feature, or at least symbolic feature, is the corporate tax rate [cut]. When is the last time you saw a Democrat propose a corporate tax cut?" [WP and NYT]