Letter From the Editors: Don’t Cry For Me, Anacostia

Greetings. It’s David Lat, one of your two editors here at Wonkette. And just like Star Jones, another ex-prosecutor-turned-sassy-personality, I’m using this week to say good-bye — at least for now.

As is usually the case, the gossip is true. I’m leaving the wild ‘n wacky world of politics, which I’ve enjoyed blogging about for the past five months, to return to my first love: the law. Not the practice of it, but writing about it; I’m going back to the legal blogosphere, from whence I came. Having spent a truckload of dough earnin’ a fancy law school degree, as well as several years in legal practice, I figure I might as well put it all to some productive use (with “productive” loosely defined).

The full details, plus teary farewells, after the jump (or just click here, then scroll down).

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Chatology: Digesting the Sunday Spew

Citizens of Wonketteville, fear not. As we promised, your beloved Wonkette Emerita, Ana Marie Cox, will be making regular appearances in these pages. Last week, she liveblogged the SOTU. This week, she drops the science of “Chatology: Digesting the Sunday Spew,” a weekly round-up of the Sunday shows that will typically appear each Monday. (This week’s installment was held up for various technical reasons that we won’t bore you with — oh, and the Super Bowl had something to do with it too.)

And now, without further ado, Ana Marie Cox.

AMC: We worried that this was too late in the day for a recap of the Sunday shows, but, hell, you’re still watching that GoDaddy.com ad, anyway, aren’t you? [Ed. note: This was drafted on Super Bowl Sunday, in case you haven’t figured that out.]

This week’s line-up: This Week, Fox News Sunday, The Chris Matthews Show, Meet the Press and Face the Nation.

Guest Ginsburg Rating: Deputy director of national intelligence Michael Hayden gets a 2 out of 4, showing up on both “This Week” and “Fox News Sunday.” Rep. John Boehner ties, guesting on “FNS” and “Meet the Press.”

What Everyone’s Talking About:
1. NSA wiretap program. All the shows hit it except for “Chris Matthews,” but he tapes on Friday afternoon and you know, this hasn’t really been in the news and no one knew the hearings were coming and plus he’s got to have time for his self-indulgent commentary at the end, so he’’s excused.
2. John Boehner’s election as House Republican leader. Again, 4 of 5 shows and again Matthews marching to a different beat.
3. SOTU detritus was hit by everyone but NSA and Boehner got more focus, so we’re dropping its ranking to three.
4. The “cartoon controversy,” which always sounds like it should be about Bill O’Reilly but it’s not. Played on everyone but Matthews (perhaps he doesn’t want to compete with “Hardball”) and “Face the Nation.” (This is the story they all should have led with).

One hit wonders: “This Week” on girls’ self esteem (you go!), “FNS” on the surgeon general, “Chris Matthews” on “Brokeback Mountain” (apparently you can tell a lot about a country by the popular movie it produces), and “Face the Nation” on Nixon and outhouses. No shit.

Quotes to live by: Mehlman says Hillary Clinton “seems to have a lot of anger” (especially around the issue of infidelity); Hayden pleads, “I can’t tell you how much I’d like to go into the operational details of this” (he also can’’t tell us how much he’d like to kill us if he did tell us); Boehner brags, “I have 11 brothers and sisters and my father owned a bar” (and don’t forget those 11 kids can still kick your weedy anchorman ass); Andrew Sullivan pines for “big daddy government” (preferably in leather).

There were no appearances by Joe Biden. Could someone call his house?

Comprehensive, even exhaustive, summary of yesterday’s non-sports-related showboating after the jump.

READ MORE: Announcements, Kathleen Parker, Media, Personalities, abramoff, ana marie cox, andrew sullivan, arlen specter, bob schiefffer, brit hume, cartoons, chatology, chris matthews, chris wallace, chuck hagel, david brooks, david gregory, earmarks, eavesdropping, face the nation, fox news, george stephanopoulos, hillary clinton, jack abramoff, jeff sessions, joe biden, john boehner, karen tumulty, ken mehlman, lobbying, lobbyists, mara liasson, memo, michael hayden, michael norris, nsa, original wonkette, patrick leahy, richard carmona, rudy giuliani, sotu, this week, tim russert, top, wonkette

Letter From the Editors: Politics Makes Strange Blogfellows

Quick! Guess which one used to be lawyer! (Photo ? Nikola Tamindzic/AMBREL.net)

You know what we’re sick of? Bylines. That’s why as of today there won’t be any more little gray words at the ends of posts on Wonkette. We’re marking the occasion with a fancy redesign and with the hiring of some new guys (that’s right, guys) to run things around here.

I’m Alex Pareene. That’s me on the right (though please note — I’m on David’s left). It is in my contract that all mentions of me in the press be preceded by the words “20-year-old NYU dropout.” I used to be the Gawker Temp, and I cut my teeth writing a blog no one ever read called Buck Hill. I’m originally from Minnesota, home of some of the 20th century’s greatest failed presidential candidates and rock bands, I have the Gawker Media-mandated unhealthy obsession with media, and I think I may be the only person in DC who doesn’t own a suit or business cards (though the bosses promise me they’ll hook me up with the latter).

David Lat, the Cathy to my Patty, is on the left, holding the pink umbrella (not the cigarette). He’s a former federal prosecutor who penned Underneath Their Robes, the cheeky, irreverent, occasionally salacious gossip blog devoted, improbably enough, to federal judges. His nom de blog was “Article III Groupie,” a sexy, fashion-obsessed female associate at a big law firm.

Back in November, after David revealed himself as UTR’s author in an interview with the New Yorker, things got a little weird for him at his day job. David’s supervisors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office were less than pleased to learn of his alter ego as the drag queen of the legal blogosphere (“for the record,” sez David, “I was not fired or asked to resign”). At this point, David realized that he was meant for something more scandalous and tawdry (if a bit less well-compensated) than the practice of law. And since he already had experience blogging as a catty woman with an intense interest in topics that most people find soporific, what better place for him to wind up than at Wonkette?

We’re both fresh in from New York, so it could be some time before we remember which one is the Capitol and which one is the capital, stop asking people what happened to all the letters and numbers on the subway map, and learn to suppress our slack-jawed amazement when we actually see someone reading the Washington Times (in public!), but we’re quick studies. By the way, DC, we need to sit down some time and have a serious talk about how the hell taxis are supposed to work. Also, we just checked, and dudes, we totally don’t have any congressmen! What the hell?

Though things will be a bit different around here, don’t fret too much. Wonkette Emeritus Emerita (who knew?) Ana Marie Cox will be popping in regularly to deliver your fix, and Henry the Intern is still secretly running the entire show from his remote, impenetrable fortress.

All we ask is that you keep sending in tips, links, sightings, libelous rumors, self-published op-eds, and general vitriol. We look forward to getting you or someone you know indicted.

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