Wonkette

• Bill Moyers and his son William Cope Moyers want to talk to you about something serious tonight: crack. It happens to wealthy white people, too. It happened to them. Fortunately, there is a book to help us understand how the child of a mildly influential journalist came to use a whole lotta drugs. Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption by William “Cope” Moyers reminds us that you are never too old to ride pop’s coattails. Smithsonian. $25 at 7PM. [Smithsonian]
• Helen Thomas signs The Watchdogs of Democracy? The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed the Public. 6:30PM at the American News Women’s Club. $25 includes dinner buffet. [American News Women's Club]
• Yo La Tengo w/ why? at the 9:30 Club. $20 at 8:45PM. [9:30 Club]

Intern Nick is on vacation this week (along with the rest of DC), so your dedicated editors had to compile this edition of Washington’s favorite unverified stalking guide all by themselves. Pity us, and learn where Helen Thomas eats, and the places Robert Novak has been known to walk by. Also: did you know that C-Span anchors are celebrities? Brian Lamb sure didn’t! That was the week that was, after the jump.

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Politics is 99% image, the other half is kissing babies. Jim Ramstad knows that and his top-down-screaming-out, “money ain’t a thing” lifestyle is letting you know he’s skipping the 8th step — no apologies. Michael Hayden isn’t apologizing either, he likes the European futbol and doesn’t give a damn if it’s the 4th of July. Mike Piazza’s not running for anything but he knows the voters love the Magnum P.I. style, and Bill Bennett’s not running either, but he probably should start, for his health.

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* “OMG! Helen Thomas, I love you so much! You have to tell me — what’s it like to work with Stephen Colbert?” [Monstrosity] MORE »

Spotted this week were some damn fine Americans, with a whole lot of shiny metal at home on their mantels. Mia Hamm has her World Cup trophies, Anderson Cooper has his Emmy, Michael Hayden has all that weird military stuff on his shirt, and Jimmy Carter has that thing they call a Nobel. Not everyone can be number one, though, so just enjoy what you can — like Donald Rumsfeld and his juicy steaks, or Antonin Scalia and his fancy car. Feed your need for life envy; there are lots more people richer than you. Check out the sightings, after the jump.

Oh, and intern season is here! It sure is great that just as soon as the laminate dries on their cute little “109th Congress Intern” badges, they’re off and sending us tips. Act like an intern and send in your own via email, with “Wonk’d” or “Sighting” in the subject line, and the name of the fancy pants you spotted. We won’t pay you anything, just like real interns!

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• Reliable Source: Tony Snow takes Helen Thomas’s apple. [WP]

• Heard on the Hill: Star of “My Super Sweet 16″ now interns with Sen. Harry Reid. . . Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.) gets manicures. [Roll Call]
• Rush & Molloy: Laura Bush spotted on a Delta shuttle. [NYDN]
• Page Six: Euan Blair gets full scholarship to Yale. . . Bill and Chelsea Clinton receive standing ovations while attending the show “Jersey Boys”. . . A Fran Drescher political campaign? [NYP]

We like the Raw Story crew, and we link to their stuff often. But today we must quibble with their editorial judgment. MORE »

You came through again, everyone. This week’s sightings are all over both the map and the stratified Washington hierarchy. Helen Thomas apparently likes to eat with the kewl kids, even if she’s just gumming it. Kevin Nealon, Newt Gingrich, and Marion Barry pull some nice trim. Ted Koppelhas a death wish. Morgan Spurlock keeps trying to supersize his career and Tom Friedman’s mustache of wisdom has nothing to do with Napoleon.

A whole rack more, as standard, after the jump.

Please don’t forget that Wonk’d is entirely tipster driven. So when you spot someone famous out there, make a note in your PDA, ’cause you’ll have other hazy memories to sort through in the morning. Once you feel that reminder buzzing you, email us here, with “Wonk’d” or “Sighting” in the subject line (along with the name of the celeb that you saw). Thanks!

And speaking of sights to see: YES, we are aware of the frightening photos of Katherine Harris “getting her cougar on” with a cute young college journalist. We will be blogging about them shortly.

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* We are apparently, to our embarassment, way behind with this FEMA Rap thing. And dammit, he was underpaid. [RidingSun]
* Here’s Helen Thomas with a shitload of roses. Because she finally goaded Bush into admitting that his entire administation has been a failure and that he’s personally responsible for a number of war crimes. Or because she finally got a chance to actually ask him a question, which he easily dodged. We don’t remember which, tell you the truth. [DemUnderground]
* Yesterday was the anniversary of the day John Hinkley shot an old guy. We didn’t write anything about it because we, unlike VH1, hate the ’80s. But here you go, here’s a thing about it. [whitehouse.org]
* Look, Media Matters — we do like you. We think this piece is hysterical! And very important for the discourse or something. [MMFA]

At a press conference earlier today, President Bush called upon the grande dame of the White House press corps — Helen Thomas — for the first time in three years. He tried to butter up Thomas, one of his most vociferous critics, by complimenting her performance at the Gridiron Dinner. MORE »

We were going to go to the Gridiron Dinner, but it was such a nice night out, we decided to give it a miss and drink on a rooftop instead. Oh, and it turns out bloggers aren’t invited. But we don’t feel too slighted to have missed the dinner, a glorified office Christmas party in which every year they rouse the surviving members of Carson’s writing staff and put them to work retrofitting hundred-year-old punchlines with torn-from-the-headlines topical references. MORE »