• Names & Faces: Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451: "Michael Moore is a dumb [expletive], that's what I think. He stole my title and changed the numbers without ever asking my permission.". . . Seymour Hersh's ninth book, Chain of Command, about Abu Ghraib, out this fall. [WP]
• Inside the Beltway: EPA seeks chiefs of "sexual orientation" with "intimate knowledge". . . Kissenger gossiped during recorded conversations. . . WWII Memorial cuts "so help us God." [WT]
• Page Six: McAuliffe not replaced, just provided with Kerry-loyalist John Sasso. [NYP]
• Liz Smith: Sally Bedell Smith book on the Clintons due in 2007. [NYP]
• Cindy Adams: Clinton's memoir is in small type to reduce page count. [NYP]
• Bush, Pope meet at Vatican: "We appreciate the strong symbol of freedom that you have stood for and we recognize the power of freedom to change societies and to change the world." [NYT and WP]
• Bush, in Europe, seeks support for Iraq. [NYT and WSJ]
• Tenet resigns. [WP and NYT and LAT]
• Tenet's legacy is uneven. [WP and WP and NYT and WT]
• Democrats call for reform beyond Tenet. [WP and NYT and WSJ]
• Senate Intelligence Committee report faults CIA for Iraq information. [NYT]
• Enter John McLaughlin. [NYT]
• Bush vows to "fully cooperate" with Plame investigation. [WP]
The Hit Parade ranks stories other people tuned into. Chart placement is determined by the Hardball Briefing, Henry Seltzer and our whim. Arrows indicate movement since last week.
1. ↑ Bush leaves country. Vacation with friends.
2. ↔ Bush consults attorney, press trips over Tenet's resignation on the way to the story.
3. ↓ World War II Memorial fills space. Allows for another Brokaw, Dole reunion.
4. ↑ Bush-McCain speculation. Fearing apocalypse, liberal media wails.
5. ↓ Sharpton joins CNBC. Economic indicators go haywire.
6. ↑ Scott Peterson's trial begins and somehow Martha made an appearance. Scientists search for tear in celebrity-justice continuum.
7. ↑ Chalabi this, Chalbi that. Back to Peterson already.
8. ↓ Representatives reject amendment for emergency congressional replacements, call for post-doomsday democracy. Iraq volunteers to serve as provisional authority.
9. ↑ Dan Rather to interview Clinton for book promotion. Like Walters and Hillary, preaching to the choir.
10. ↑ Federal judge strikes down Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act; Bush and Kerry campaigns begin the process of converting issue into votes.
Sightings of obscure TV news dreamboats, war criminals, and other famous-for-D.C. types are sent in by readers. Send yours to . In this issue: Totenberg, Russert, Donvan, Rumsfeld, Gephardt, Clancy, Zinni.
(5/21) saw nina totenberg in terminal A of national airport getting yogurt from the crappy coffee place. she would be completely unrecognizable sans sensible navy blue suit and hair helmet, should she ever want to go incognito. apparently she wants to bask in her famous-for-dc self for an audience of airtran riders. (5/26) Saw David Gergen in front of the Willard hotel. A big week for pasty nerd sightings.
[more...]I hate you and I hate. . . your ass face!
Save America from President Dickhead [Black Star Blog]
Sen. John F. Kerry accused President Bush today of implementing a "back door draft" by extending soldiers' tours of duty and overburdening a military that is already stretched thin by the war in Iraq.
A back door draft? Stretching our soldiers thin, you say? Insert don't ask don't tell joke here. . . and I do mean insert.
Catch us next week at the Ha-Ha Hole, thankyouverymuch.
The official Kerry trucker hat is bad enough.
But this. . .
You cannot convince me that anyone who wears these hats would actually vote. . . I mean, they still think it's 2001, right?
Embroidered Mesh Hat [KerryGear.com]
Trucker Hats [One Horse Shy]
RELATED: And With That, the Gawker Media Empire Disappeared, Never to Be Heard From Again [Wonkette]
Sadly, we here at Wonkette can't depend on slutty Hill staffers to generate revenue. We have to go out and whore ourselves. But with sponsors like these, it doesn't feel like prostitution, it feels like. . . like love. We want to love you, too. Info here.
• Cooking with Grease by Donna Brazile: Stirring the Pots in American Politics
• Banana Republicans: How the Right Wing is turning American into a One Party State
• Americans for Healthcare Bridge the Health Care Gap on June 19
• Representative Jim Moran: Breakfast with Howard Dean June 4 -- You're Invited!
• Barbara Boxer: Progressive Champion & United States Senator
• Act for Love: Personals for Activists
Wonkette's weekly service to our readers: Translating Tina Brown's Thursday column in the Washington Post. We understand it so that you don't have to.
| Tina says | Tina means |
| In her Sunday column in the New York Times, Maureen Dowd spoke wistfully of the "moral clarity" of World War II. | I guess it's safe to admit I read her by now. |
| In the Hamptons on Memorial Day weekend, most of the pundit class spent evenings arguing about exit strategies in Iraq and then beating a nostalgic retreat to watch "The Longest Day," "Patton" and "Saving Private Ryan." | That's what it sounded like through the window, anyway. The surf is so damn noisy. |
| Of course, the blinding moral clarity about entering World War II is a lot more blinding in retrospect than it was at the time of entry. | I believe you can be blinded more than once. Also: They still aren't editing me. |
| All it means is that when we turn on the TV and see the smiling photo ops of the new Iraqi government looking as tidy and well-organized as the Swiss, it's hard to buy into it. | The Tivo recorded "The Sound of Music" instead of "Aaron Brown" again. |
| In New York, what's souring the psyches of baby boomers is the sullen sense that they did have a whiff of their own Greatest Generation moment, after 9/11 -- and then, too soon, were cheated out of it. | It is, in fact, possible for New Yorkers to become more self-centered. |
Would you buy a used yellowcake rumor from this man?
A Special Flash Tribute to George Tenet [Right Side Redux]
If we had known how much hilarity could come out of tossing out accusations that Bill Bennett visited a dominatrix, we totally would have run with the torrent of anonymous emails we got on the subject. Sadly, the Gawker Media Empire Legal Adviser (a.k.a. this guy in Denton's building who's watched a lot of "Law and Order") told us we should probably lay off, unless we wanted "call Bill Bennett for comment" . . . whatever that means. (Seriously: "Call Bill Bennett for comment"! We're dying.)
In any case, Calico Cat has been beating the Bennett "scoop" like it was a hypocritical morals czar. Or something.
[more...]WH spokesman Scott McClellan responds to press questioning: What part of "unchallenged" don't you understand?
Q. Okay. Since the White House Press Office has undoubtedly learned what Al Gore said and shouted at length in New York, you may also be aware that columnist John Podhoretz has written and the New York Post has published the statement, and I quote, "It is now clear that Al Gore is insane." (Laughter.)And my question, does the White House, with a lofty "no comment," want to let that statement stand unchallenged, or how can you disagree with Podhoretz?
MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I've already addressed this issue of his speech the other night and I'll leave it where I said it.
Blogger Mr. Sun aims to be the Donald Rumsfeld of the National Spelling Bee, and poor young Marshall Winchester has been called up from the North Carolina spelling bee national guard. . .
Good morning, Marshall.[more...]I trust you slept well. Let me go over your appointments for today. Today, you have one, and only one appointment . . . with destiny. You didn't start this war. Scripps Howard did. But, by God, you shall end it. . .
Karl Rove's evil genius has been called into question lately, but with this Tenet thing, we think he's getting his game back on. The tossed-off announcement? Brilliant. Timing the announcement so that the all the varsity league White House correspondents are already in Rome? A risky move, but we think it'll pay off: They could come racing back, but unless Tenet has a semen-stained dress lying around somewhere, we doubt it.
Of course, you don't always need to rig things so that you're playing the B team. Sometimes the B team is already playing. A Wonkette correspondent writes with this addition to the pantheon of Great Moments in Cable News Coverage:
[The MSNBC] bubble-headed daytime anchor mentioned the news [about Tenet] and turned to the analyst and said, "This comes out of the blue." Well, sure, maybe if you haven't been reading the papers for the last 3 years. . .[more...]
On his way into Marine One, Bush thought of something he forgot to mention at the press conference with the Australian PM: CIA director George Tenet has resigned for "personal reasons."
No biggie. Not like it has to do with anything. Nope. Bush then turned back around and shouted over his shoulder, "Oh, and I totally knew about 9/11! Later."
Bush: CIA Director George Tenet Resigns [AP/Yahoo]
• Heard on the Hill: Oklahoma Republican Rep. John Sullivan has staff call with soft questions during radio interviews. . . Wanda Baucus avoids prosecution; to attend anger-management. . . Mike Myers visits the Hill. [Roll Call]
• Inside the Beltway: White House to provide female reporters with veils for Pope visit. . . Bush hears man's support of medical marijuana. . . [WT]
• Inside Politics: Biden's commencement goes way of Russert's. . . Roger Ailes replies to LAT editor John Carroll's criticism: "He treated Fox News Channel worse in his newspaper than he treated the terrorists who recently beheaded an American. But of course, he sees Fox News as more dangerous." [WT]
• Bush consults attorney to possibly represent him in CIA leak investigation. [WP and BG]
• South Dakota win sparks Democratic optimism about gaining majority in House. [WP and WSJ and WT and NYT]
• Bush asks for patience, compares war on terror with WWII, explains challenge as "the storm in which we fly." [WP and NYT]
• BC04 invites congregations to engage in outreach operations; critics say it violates church and state separation; churchgoing closely connected with voting, according to study. [NYT and BG and USAT]
AIM: tipwonk
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"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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