• Reliable Source: Bush showcases a Taliban brick, World Trade Center steel, and Bush bobble-heads that he flicks. . . Teresa said being first lady was "worse than going to a Carmelite convent". . . Linda Tripp giving European tours, but no press coverage: "Gee, I need more ugly pictures of me." [WP]
• Heard on the Hill: Polier's article worth "considerably more" than $10,000. . . McDermott’s rival uses McDermott’s photo to raise money. . . Wanda Baucus in court today. [Roll Call]
• Bush praises new Iraqi government, warns of continued violence: "A free Iraq in the heart of the Middle East is going to be a game-changer." [NYT and WT]
• Bush faulted for "excessive reliance on subordinates." [WP]
• Kerry talks of need to secure nuclear materials; would cancel development of new generation nuclear weapons. [WP and NYT and LAT and WSJ]
• In Europe, Bush to visit Pope, Chirac; speech to bridge World War II and Operation Iraqi Freedom. [WP]
This White House pool report is understated.
Pool report #3The president's helicopter landed at Andrews in a gusting rain. As he stepped off, he opened his own umbrella--and it immediately popped inside out. Bush wrestled it all the way to AF1, before handing it over to the officer accompanying him, still inside out.
Take off was otherwise uneventful.
Greg Hitt
Wall Street Journal
So we started that New York magazine story about the girl who might have been John Kerry's lover. . . and then we just skipped to the end. Did she do him or what, right? She did not. In fact, "In retrospect, I wonder whether I should have denied the rumor sooner or if I should have asked more clearly for advice." Huh. You think? In the end, however, she has learned some things. The state of political reporting? "Pitiful." Opposition research? "Unholy." The Internet? "Its latest tool."
Shorter Alexandra Polier: "Maybe I should have paid more attention in journalism school."
Oh, we kid. We totally owe her a drink. Do you think she might pose for some fake lesbian soft-core porn pictures?
Sightings of obscure mini-celebs, war criminals, and other famous-for-D.C. types are sent in by readers. Send yours to . In this issue: Woodruff, Rove, Stephanopoulos, Kissinger, Lockhart, Clarkson, Novak, Carville.
• I saw judy woodruff too. at national airport waiting to get picked up last sunday night [5/16] I had to keep glancing at her cause she looked familiar but I couldn't quite figure out how. she looked like some friend of my mom's from garden club or something in her boring capri pants until i realized she's on cnn. also at national on friday [5/14] I saw helen thomas sitting in this gross dark airport bar huddled over an irish coffee looking dazed at 11AM. oh and who cares about that cake love dude, warren brown, i saw him at results this morning wearing a "run against bush" tee -like his $5 cupcakes need any more publicity.
• [S]aw Karl Rove walking toward the OEB from the NEB, Monday [5/17] morning. No one with him. Considering large groups of people consider him evil incarnate . . . shouldn't Karl have a body guard?
[more...]
The right-wing hate machine -- or, as we like to think of it, "the conservative irritation gadget" -- has been producing some low-level noise about last weekend's biggest, dumbest action movie, "The Day After Tomorrow." Their main complaint seems to be that it's not realistic, which will come as a surprise only to those who believe that Bruce Willis saved the world from a gigantic asteroid a few years ago. Their other complaint is that the movie is unrealistic in a way that favors Democratic policy and villainizes Republicans, which will come as as a surprise only to those believe that "The West Wing" is still just a part of a White House building.
People are saying that the most recent edition of the Washington Blade "all but outs" BC04 campaign director Ken Mehlman because it makes reference to his being "unmarried" and having "few hobbies outside politics." Sure. If being single dork who's into policy means someone in D.C. is gay, it's a wonder that the orgy at the Washington Monthly stops long enough for them to get a magazine out.
And it's not like being homosexual leads to being interested politics. If that were the case, don't you think Bush would have started paying attention by now?
Bush campaign mum on any openly gay staffers [Washington Blade via Boi from Troy]
The White House pool report comes from an informant who wonders if making the pool sit through a "video presentation and spiritual music" means that the admin, having given up on spinning the press corps, is now just trying to hypnotize them. But who says they're not hypnotized already?
POOL REPORT #1, 6/1/04[more...]
Bush at Faith-Based Conference at the Washington HiltonThe motorcade left the White House at 9:29 a.m. and arrived at the Hilton at 9:32 a.m. Nothing unusual happened enroute. We spent the next half-hour sitting through a video presentation and spiritual music while the president was behind closed doors in a roundtable; press office says names and background for the event will be forthcoming.
At the just-completed presidential press conference, Bush was asked about the mood of the Iraqi people. Bush replied that people who have been in Iraq report that things are better than the American media have portrayed them to be, that, in fact, "They report people have got a sparkle in their eye."
Of course, France used to send us a box of chocolates once a week.
• Washington Whispers: Democrats to launch online reality show, "Republican Survivor," starring Bush, DeLay, Coulter. GOP flak: "Cartoons don't win elections". . . Brazile worried Clintons took black vote for granted when McAuliffe was named chair. . . Top officials to detail techniques used at Gitmo. . . Brock writes Rumsfeld to remove Limbaugh. . . Revamped Kerry site will let supporters phone bank from home. . . G-8 leaders can bring their wives for the first time in five years. . . Kerry requested diverse security detail. . . In meetings, Bush's new advisor on homeland security has authority over Ashcroft, who fired her from Justice. [USN&WR]
• Names & Faces: Baby Jessica graduates high school. . . Colorado chef gets to serve Peking duck to Bush. . . Bono addresses EU. [WP]
UPDATE: About that Bushism, the one where he declares, "I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein". . . We're received quite a bit of mail from people who claim not to "get" the joke or even that they are "offended" by it. "What's funny about this?" they ask. Well, duh: Cripples are hilarious! Haven't you people ever seen a pirate movie?
No, no. We get it. Bush was making a reference to how great it is that this man has a hand to shake, despite having his real hand lopped off by Saddam. And, yes, we -- and Slate and Dana Milbank -- took the quote out of context in way that made it easy to get a cheap laugh at the expense a president who, let's face it, provides a myriad of other targets for less offensive swipes. But if we're going to ban making fun of poor word choices, then Wonkette will have nothing left to mock but Kerry's gigantic penis, and that seems unfair.
Now, if the penis were prosthetic. . .
President Bush: Does He Have a Leg to Stand On? [Wonkette]
Latest Bushism [The Volokh Conspiracy]
We knew that Blackberrys could be used as sex toys, but we had assumed that it had to do with setting them on "vibrate." On Sunday, NYT informed us that this Tamagotchi-for-grown-ups can also be used to meet people: "Once the Hill staffers got the Berries, the social dating scene was revolutionized. . . Suddenly they have gone from earnest policy wonks and flacks who leave at the end of the day to mini-keyboard Lotharios."
"Mini-keyboard Lotharios," eh? Do they exchange tips with the Bluetooth Don Juans? Of course, if you rely on your Blackberry to get laid, you will never hook up with anyone outside the congressional-journalistic complex. Way to isolate the gene pool, people! Until now, we'd thought that talk of "the incestuous relationship between media and the government" was just a metaphor, but, clearly, it's starting to look like West Virginia over there. The next generation of Hill staffers will flirt by just pointing at their genitals and grunting.
Just so you know, we're quoting here:
President George W. Bush talks with the press during an Oval Office meeting with several Iraqis who receive medical care in the United States Tuesday, May 25, 2004. "I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein," said the President.President Meets with Iraqis Who Received Medical Care in the US [WhiteHouse.gov via WP]
UPDATE: We're received quite a bit of mail from people who claim not to "get" the joke here or even that they are "offended" by it. "What's funny about this?" they ask. Well, duh: Cripples are hilarious! Haven't you people ever seen a pirate movie?
[more...]
• Bush, Kerry honor Vets. [WP and NYT and NYT and LAT]
• Bush camp to "play up" ideological differences. Mehlman: "This election will represent a clear choice, an ideological choice on the issues. And this campaign is totally committed to grass roots." [WT]
• With support slipping, Bush may need more than grass-roots. [BG]
• Kerry to speak of need to secure weapons material from terrorists, increase support for first responders. [LAT]
• Kerry's lead in New Jersey is surprisingly small. [WP]
• Swing states include few Senate battlegrounds. [WP]
The second last in an occasional series of updates from the woman who put the "ass" in "staff assistant":
Item![more...]One of the men from my blog is pursuing a book deal of his own! [No idea who she's talking about, sorry. Also, not sure I care. -- Ed.] Not worried: He only knew me for, like, five minutes, and has nothing to write about me that the world doesn't already know. Jesus, what douche.
I always wanted to write a novel, too. Problem was, I didn't have anything to write about either. I lost my job by keeping an internet sex diary, and problem solved. (Strangers may hate me, but problem solved.)
[AP Photo/Ron Edmonds via Electablog]
"Just tell her you used to be president. . . and if she asks, you served two terms."
AIM: tipwonk
"Profanity-laced and sex-obsessed...[a] vain, young, trash-mouthed skank." [Michelle Malkin]
"Gossipy, raunchy, potty-mouthed." [New York Times]
"A foulmouthed, inaccurate, opinionated little vixen."
[Richard Leiby]
"Plying gossip above all, eschewing serious debates about politics and policy."
[The Nation]
"The newest, funnest blogger on the block" [Andrew Sullivan]
"Wonkette's arrival on the steps of the Capitol is a quiet victory for creeping National Enquirer values." [Christian Science Monitor]
"[H]er enthusiasm for penis jokes cannot be as great as her blog suggests"
[Jack Shafer]
"A pre-menopausal Lucianne Goldberg"
[Reason]
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