The government rescued insurance giant AIG from its own wretched, greedy incompetence by giving the evil company $80 billion $150 billion of your tax dollars. With this insane reward for being an epic failure, AIG was supposed to rebuild its core business — which is insurance, not gambling like a drunken fool and destroying the entire global economy in the process. Instead, AIG is burning through its bailout cash by sending absurd emails to political-comedy blogs demanding clarification on whether the $125 million of taxpayer dollars AIG is spending on English football sponsorships is simply a continuing waste of taxpayer millions or a renewed waste of taxpayer millions. MORE »

There are many terrible jobs to be had at the Democratic National Convention: the trash Nazis who patrol the garbage cans making sure recyclables don’t get tossed into the forbidden “landfill” bin; the elevator operators trapped in plywood-lined boxes eight hours a day pushing buttons for angry media people; and the pitiable youngsters stuck managing the byzantine and comically nonsensical credentials process. But today we have discovered one even more thankless job: the PR flack who has to write to bloggers on satirical Web sites and explain to them how they have gotten the “facts” wrong. Tragic email after the jump. MORE »

Yesterday, this vaguely unsettling contest campaign email from one Philippe Reines, Clinton flack and nominee for hottest media type in Washington (PR division), entertained everyone on the whole internet. Sadly, it appears we broke the poor man’s spirit. MORE »

As FishbowlDC continues its “Hottest Media People” contest, the campaigning and politicking grow more desperate. Yesterday we mocked their appearance, but today we’ll mock them personally.

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That’s basically what we get out of today’s Post story on Allen’s belated embracing of his heritage. Controlling the damage wrought each time Senator Shanda opens his mouth is not a job we’d wish on anyone, and by all accounts, Dick Wadhams (heh) is a decent sort. So, years after he was first asked and a month after the Internet learned about it, George Allen is willing to admit this much: His maternal grandfather was Jewish. This would be the one who was in a Concentration Camp for reasons that Senator Macaca, well, lied about (but it was a totally Spock kinda lie — Grampa Lumbroso was almost certainly an “Allied sympathizer,” as the Allies were the ones who didn’t want to gas him). But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. A couple more thoughts, and an excerpt from sister Jennifer Allen’s hilarious book, after the jump.

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* John Negroponte will get Bill Frist’s phone records when he pries them from his cold dead hands! [Rude Pundit] MORE »

Panic! Blogs engage in unethical practices! New York Times reporters shocked — shocked — to find that publicists influence news coverage! MORE »