• Heard on the Hill: Rick Santorum’s mailing out bootleg LIVESTRONG bracelets that say “Santorum”… “Actress Mary Tyler Moore is coming to Capitol Hill today to promote a new magazine published by the National Institutes of Health.” She wrote a poem about Diabetes. [Roll Call]
• Yeas and Nays: P. Diddy on the 2004 election: “People didn’t vote and people died…” Patrick and Jeff print the lyrics to Jill Sobule’s theme song for Arianna Huffington. [Examiner]
• Reliable Source: Al Gore has an army of brainwashed slaves heading to Nashville to teach people how to give a powerpoint presentation. [WP]
• Lowdown: Sam Seder trashes Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein plays Captain Save-a-Hack. [NYDN]

• Heard on the Hill: Rep. Kartherine Harris was seen barefoot outside of her house, screaming into her mail slot, “Let me in”. . . Does Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) support the KKK?. . . “Lots of would-be Cabinet and high-level White House officials in a Gore administration” attended the reception for his film. [Roll Call]
• Washington Whispers: Democrats will scare voters about Republican plans for Social Security. . . Rumsfeld found “United 93″ to be “really tough to watch”. . . Democrats are concerned about a Speaker Pelosi. . . Harry Reid loves his iPod. . . Bill Frist’s wife is releasing a book about fathers and daughters. [USN&WR]
• Inside the Beltway: Dick Cheney: “I will consider a book when that time comes.” [WT]
• Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Clarence Thomas thinks Bush is in “real trouble.” [NYDN]
• Names & Faces: Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks on Bush: “I don’t feel he is owed any respect whatsoever.”. . . Arianna Huffington: “You can smell the fear in Hillary Clinton. What happened to that fearless woman? Everything she does is poll-tested.” [WP]

* Happy anniversary, Arianna! We hope HuffPo lives longer than Dick Cheney. [HuffPo] MORE »

* The big news of the week: according to a new court filing in the Scooter Libby prosecution, Libby testified that he leaked information about a National Intelligence Estimate with the specific permission of President Bush. MORE »

A well-placed fern adds a touch of nature to your giant, panel-dwarfing doric columns.

Busy week so far for Wonkette. Last night saw us at some sort of weird auditorium/ballroom thing attached to the EPA (no one knew what purpose the space served, except for hosting panel discussions in a fancier-than-usual setting) for The Week Opinion Awards (in Partnership with The Aspen Institute). It was a blast, of course, though we admit that we don’t remember the awards bit, or the round-table bit, or the speeches, as we were having way too much fun schmoozing and drinking. We’re sure the winners were very deserving, though. Despite our not winning.

And boy, what a star-studded occasion it was. Froomkin! Arianna Huffington! Sid Blumenthal! Froomkin! Our full (hazily-reconstructed, actually) report, complete with exclusive photos from Liz Gorman, Intrepid Girl Reporter, after the jump.

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• Today The Week announced the slate of nominees for their third annual Opinion Awards. Let’s have an eating contest between Arianna Huffington and Michelle Malkin for Blogger of the Year. [FishBowlDC]

• Franklin Foer’s pet peeves: outsiders ranking on D.C., and projectile panties. [DCist]
• Kelly Ann Collins, formerly of Washington Socialites, has returned to the blogosphere (again). [Ask KAC via Big Head Rob]

The word “blog” is sketchy enough as it is. Does it really need to be placed inside scare-quotes? MORE »

MORE »

So, let’s try to reconstruct this: At the post-Good Night and Good Luck cocktail party, Arianna makes friendly with George, and they’re both very charming, so they hit it off, Arianna asks George to “write a blog” for her, and George says, “of course, Arianna, anything for you,” and they arrange for her seconds to call on his seconds, or whatever rich people do instead of writing numbers on cocktail napkins. MORE »

Editors’ note: Don’t miss Ana Marie Cox’s Washington Post live chat, starting today at 11:30 AM. You can access it here, where you can also find a link for submitting questions to the Original Wonkette about BlackBerry disaster averted. Happy chatting!

Chatology this week slightly enlivened by the appearance of Stephen Colbert, though it was offset by Chairman of Joint Chiefs Peter Pace doing a half-Ginsburg; he has the kind of whispery monotone that made us fall asleep during filmstrips in health class. Most notable segment: Bill Kristol channeling Arianna Huffington in his disappointment in the administration, causing massive freakout on the Fox set and Chris Wallace to utter the Quote of the Week: “My whole universe has been rocked.”

Top topics: Potential (or ongoing?) civil war in Iraq; Katrina tapes; Dubai port deal.

One hit wonders: Two hits for the criminal investigation into Pat Tillman’s death (MTP and FNS); Oscar talk on “This Week”

Quotes to live by:
• Stephen Colbert on his Oscar expectation: “a lot of jokes [about] abortion… it’s a funny word, like guacamole.”
• Peter Pace moderates his view on Iraq: “I wouldn’t put a great big smiley face on it.”
• Juan Williams on DHS/FEMA infighting: “I’m going to put that off to two big boys having something in the back yard.” Well, someone saw “Brokeback Mountain.”

Full coverage continues after the jump.

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* Cindy Adams: Helen Thomas: “I think Iraqis were better off under Saddam than they are now. More importantly, the Israelis think so, too.”. . . Chelsea Clinton spotted with “too blond” hair and a “too plunging” neckline. [NYP]
* Rush & Molloy: Arianna Huffington thinks Mary Matalin was “incredibly nasty” to Tim Russert. [NYDN]

MORE »

* Reliable Source: Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) to Rolling Stone: “You look at the social impact of the countries that have engaged in homosexual marriage. You’ll know [Sweden] by their fruits.”. . . CNN throws farewell party for Robert Novak at the Palmer steakhouse; Pat Buchanan, Donna Brazile, Kate O’Beirne attended. [WP]
* Inside Politics: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have “floor spat” over Alito. [WT]
* Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Arianna Huffington: “Inviting Tim Russert to keynote a conference on journalistic ethics is like having Jack Abramoff keynote a conference on lobbying reform.” [NYDN] MORE »