Wonkette

The Post today takes a look at how jury selection’s going over at the Scooter Libby trial. It ain’t easy, it seems, to find impartial jurors in Washington, DC. MORE »

Classy porn joint Nerve has their Washington Issue up. Our favorite piece is an anonymous journo describing, in painful detail, the depressing mating rituals of Washington. No bitching from us — it’s a very entertaining and accurate piece. MORE »

MORE »

From Overheard in the Office: MORE »

Despite denials from the Department of Justice, ABC News is standing by its story that House Speaker Dennis Hastert is “in the mix” of the FBI investigation into congressional corruption. ABC quotes anonymous “law enforcement sources,” including a “senior official” who told ABC, “You guys wrote the story very carefully, but they are not reading it very carefully.”

Who is ABC’s source? This person is in law enforcement, but apparently not at the DoJ proper (in which case he would probably be referred to as a “Justice Department official”).

After the jump, some ruminations from us.

MORE »

We seem to have cornered the market in blind items about misbehaving daughters of prominent politicians. First we asked you about a cokehead daughter, and then about one who had an affair with a fundraising powerhouse. And now, we bring you this little item (courtesy of a tipster): MORE »

Sure, they’re scandal-ridden, their credibility in tatters. But the Page Six people still come up with scrumptious blind items: MORE »

…mostly because the response was so unthrilling. Here’s the passage, from yet another SHAKE-UP-A-THON ‘06 story:

“It’s really weird right now,” says another senior White House official who likewise asked for anonymity. “People are worried about their jobs.”

Three of you responded. Two of you with “George W. Bush.” Here’s the more substantial guess:

The key to this is the phrase “senior White House official”. Some reporters will use this to describe the cleaning staff if they think it makes their story sound good, however, it usually applies to the President, VP, or an official who is titled as an “Assistant to the President”. Deputy Assistants and Special Assistants are usually “White House officials” or “Administration officials”.

Who is an “Assistant to the President”? … [It] can vary as the President wishes but the following is a pretty good first cut: Chief of Staff, VP’s Chief of Staff, Deputy Chiefs of Staff, National Security Advisor and his deputy, communication director, press secretary, staff secretary, head speechwriter, White House Counsel, director of personnel, and advisers for domestic policy and homeland security.

I am fairly certain Bush and Cheney are not going to fire themselves. Let’s also assume that Josh Bolten is not going to fire himself, that Joel Kaplan is not complaining about a promotion, and that no one can fire Karl Rove. The press secretary can’t be worried about getting fired since he already got the boot. Given all that, as Wonkette first postulated, Miers is a good guess. However, I’ll go with Frances Townsend, the homeland security adviser. This is in keeping with my desire to see the hot chicks in the administration get more blog exposure, not due to any actual knowledge.

And hey, we’ll drink to that. If you have another, better guess, go ahead and send it our way, though no guarantee we’ll still care tomorrow. The other two responses, cheeky though they are, after the jump.

MORE »

This week’s Newsweek Official Shake-Up-A-Thon ‘06 article’s pretty good — the first one that almost inspired that things-are-gonna-be-different-now feeling that everyone else seems desperate to convince us of — and it’s just filled with nice, juicy, paranoid, rats-in-sinking-ship anonymous quotes. Here’s the one we’re focusing on today: MORE »

We previously asked you about a blind item, from Payola Six, concerning the cocaine-using daughter “of a high-powered politician.” In your guesses, some of you suggested Chelsea Clinton. We dismissed such speculation: “Chelsea Clinton was jokingly named (jokingly, since she’s probably too much of a goody-goody to do coke).” MORE »