Wonkette

Last night Fox celebrated the birth, ten years ago, of “Fox News Sunday,” with a star-choked alcohol-soaked party at Cafe Milano. And Wonkette Emerita Ana Marie Cox was there. Her exclusive party report, replete with celebrity encounters, the booze-aided dispensation of social niceties, and a subtly threatening Karl Rove (who “knows” us, if you know what he means), all provided free of charge, after the jump.

(Picture by Patrick Gavin/FishbowlDC)

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These things can change quickly, but the latest word on the street is that Tony Snow of Fox News is the most likely replacement for Scott McClellan as White House press secretary. Rumor has it that Snow has essentially been offered the job and is negotiating the fine points with the White House. MORE »

So who’s going to replace Scott McClellan? Truth be told, there’s not much new on that front. Executive summary: Any Republican who has ever been on TV is under consideration. MORE »

* Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will cost $94B in 2006, up from $48B in 2003, and higher than comparable costs of the Vietnam War; Senate will debate another round of emergency spending next week. [WP]
* Bolten “hopes to demonstrate to the public and the Republican-led Congress that it will no longer be business as usual in a White House afflicted by political defeats, an overseas war and shrinking public support”; Tony Snow and Dan Senor top the list of likely successors to McClellan. [WP, USAT, W$J]
* Bolten faces the challenge of finding “ways to open up the Oval Office to new ideas and to the opinions of people who are not longtime Bush confidants.” [WP]
* Rove will focus on November’s midterm elections: “The president and the new chief of staff said they wanted me focused on the big strategic issues facing the administration.” [NYT]
* Bush will urge Chinese President Hu Jintao to “take a more aggressive stance against governments that U.S. officials believe could potentially threaten U.S. interests and, more broadly, the international system.” [WP, W$J]

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Last month, we predicted that Scott McClellan would be gone as White House press secretary by the summer. That prediction has now come to pass. MORE »

* Reliable Source: Rep. Patrick Kennedy receives six stitches in his lip after being accidentally struck in the head with a hammer. [WP]
* Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Teresa Heinz Kerry was reportedly restrained by a staffer so Edwards could reach Kerry first after his convention acceptance speech. [NYDN]
* Liz Smith: Fred Barnes wants Rice to replace Cheney, Senor to replace McClellan, and Rove to jump to the RNC. [NYP]
* Cindy Adams: Stylist Patricia Field does up Ari Fleischer. [NYP]

* 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 »

On Tuesday, we revealed the terrifying truth about Campbell Brown’s imaginary mobster brother. Today, another emailer who can’t wrap his mind around the idea of an attractive media figure marrying an attractive political insider for non-conspiratorial reasons. This crazy email, alas, is run-of-the-mill IJC Zionist Plot theorizing, and not full-on lunatic rambling: MORE »

There’s nothing we love more than reprinting your unsubstantiated rumor and innuendo — seriously, we love that stuff, and we’re always looking for more of it. But sometimes, even we have to draw the line. A pretty good illustration of that line arrived in our inboxes earlier today. Here, for your edification: The Campbell Brown Rumor Too Hot Even For Wonkette:

Is this why we spotted several hard-core mafia-types passing through the Denver, Colorado area just a week or two ago? Seems that Campbell Brown (not her original birth name) [we're pretty sure it is --ed] and her sister Kyle Dwyer (not her original birth name) [actual name: Kyle Dyer --ed] [oh yeah, not Campbell Brown's sister, we're pretty sure --ed] at the NBC news affiliate Kusa in Denver, Colorado share a brother who is mafia hit man [ha ha ha ha ha --ed]. Ms. Dwyer [sic] bragged that her family is from the DC area and thererfore she, Ms. Dwyer [sic] is expert about government and law and knows everything that goes on there as did her co-worker Ms. Christiansen [check out the hair on Ms. Christiansen! --ed] who also bragged the same. Campbell Brown, while at that religious university in Denver, Colorado said that she supported trafficking in human beings, illegal weapons, and illegal drugs [uh.... --ed]. It appears that her new husband is in a marriage of convenience for himself in that he probably hopes to get lots of finder’s fees from attorneys and such by contacts with Campbell Brown’s family and friends and referral for litigation of her family and friends. As he is not related to Campbell Brown, he is not her family [first correct assertion so far? --ed]. The two entered a stranger marriage–marriages between strangers rather than the marriages common among at least 40% of the population on earth who wed from within their kinship group, and especially wed cousins or uncles or aunts) [uh..... --ed]

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Congratulations to Campbell Brown and Dan Senor on their wedding! Hey Dan — let’s hope the transition to married life goes a little smoother than the transition to sovereignty, are we right? Ha! MORE »

What the heck is going on? Are famous people abandoning our fair city — or are you, our readers, just not sending in enough sightings to us?

After the jump, a handful of desultory Wonk’d items. We were so hard up for sightings that most of our items involve D.C. types spotted hundreds of miles away from the District.

We know that you can do better for next week. Please email us your sightings, with “Wonk’d” or “Sighting” in the subject line. Much thanks!

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Another successful woman who is not as smart as Maureen Dowd! We hear that NBC anchorlady Campbell Brown is hanging up her goodtime-girl spurs and getting coalitional with one-time government spokeshunk Dan Senor, currently a Fox New contributor and Jeff Zeleny impersonator. We have been told, repeatedly, that Brown is a girl after our own liver and other body parts (though hers are prettier) so though we are very tempted to make a knocking boots joke, we’ll just advise her: Being married means always having someone to hold your hair back. — WONKETTE MORE »