Wonkette

How did one jerkoff with a goofy nickname kill an American Institution? Well, waiting until it had been thoroughly debased didn’t hurt. And he had help: Tim Russert, Judy Miller, and a whole ragtag gang of media whores successfully defanged the first amendment with him. The New York Times today quotes about a dozen media experts and journalism professors saying variations on “the Libby trial is over — begun the clone wars have,” then trashing the journos who got us into this mess: MORE »

Just in case you accidentally had some remaining interest in the Scooter Libby trial, the defense has decided to ensure that it stops here: Neither Scooter nor Dick Cheney will be testifying. MORE »

Is there any evil shit that doesn’t feature a performance by Judith Miller?

Anthrax attacks that coincide with her book release, jailhouse visits from Scooter Libby, advance knowledge of 9/11, giving Chalabi a running front-page space in the NYT … is she old enough to blame for Pearl Harbor, too? (Close enough –Ed.)

There was another pathetic defeat in the American War On Terror last week, when Patrick Fitzgerald’s convictions of a former Harvard professor and a Chicago grocer were overturned by a federal jury. The men could’ve been sentenced to life in prison for collecting money for Palestinian charities (you know, terrorism!) but will likely avoid jail altogether. Learn how Judy Miller testified on behalf of … Mossad, after the jump.

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Here was another fun tidbit from the end of the yesterday episode of Scooter Libbypalooza: MORE »

America’s Sweetheart Judy Miller testified today in the Scooter Libby trial, which is apparently still going on. She became the 10 millionth witness to claim that Scooter was chatting everyone up about Valerie Plame a couple weeks before he claims Tim Russert told him the magical story of the CIA operative wife. We’re sure Scooter’s really pleased with his decision to release her from her totally imaginary vow of confidentiality. MORE »

People seem to be having a good time these days. This week in Wonk’d brings us Judy Miller, savoring her freedom; Chief Justice John Roberts, taking in the cherry blossoms; and James Carville, enjoying a springtime run. Also spotted: Hillary Clinton, hopping into her pimped-out town car; Rep. James Sensenbrenner, buying a small fortune in lottery tickets; and Cynthia McKinney pal Danny Glover, asking for directions. You can check them out, along with several other celebrity sightings, after the jump.

Please continue to keep us well-stocked in sightings, via email, with “Wonk’d” or “Sighting” in the subject line (along with the name of the spotted celeb). Thanks!

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* The fellow behind the “suspicious package” incident at the White House today is a French guy. Figures. [WP] MORE »

We’ve liberated The Washingtonian’s “50 Best and Most Influential Journalists” list from Nexis, taking for granted that no one cares about the 500 words explaining criteria and* We’ve extracted the names from the Washingtonian’s list of D.C.’s “50 Best and Most Influential Journalists” and its sidebars, assuming that those of you who need two-sentence bios of each person can still run out and buy a copy (hey, THE STICK is on the cover) and the rest of you would just rather skip the context and carp and whine about who’s on the list. And, more interestingly, who’s not. The list skews heavily male (with only seven chicks, unless you count Dana Milbank), heavily white and heavily heavy (Tim Russert, Chris Matthews, Tom Shales) . No bloggers, except in the sidebars, where AMERICABLOGGER (! Stars, stripes, cue music!) John Avarosis gets a shout out.

More lacunae: Matt Cooper escapes mention, tho his colleague Mike Allen and co-martyr Judy Miller are both on it. Snarky WP ex-WHC Milbank gets a nod over the Post’s current White House reporters. And while we heartily approve of not considering bloggers journalists (though we don’t consider Maureen Dowd one either, and she’s on there), tossing out the entire internet seems, well, obtuse: Jack Shafer’s meth addiction is, apparently, for naught. Pretty much the entire list could have been put together five years ago, actually. Perhaps it was.

List and sidebars after the jump.
*Of COURSE no one asked us to take this list down. We’re this nice just all on our own. Really.

Washingtonian

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• Andrew Sullivan to blog for Time. Welcome to 2003, Time! [NY Post]
• Jon Klein continues to explain how he will drive CNN into the ground then dance on its handsome, tiny grave. [TVNewser]
• Men: perhaps unnecessary. Friends? Totally: “my witty friend Frank Bruni, the New York Times restaurant critic”; “my friend Leon Wieseltier”; “the current Cosmo editor, my friend Kate White”; “my late friend Art Cooper, the editor of GQ for 20 years”; “my pal Craig Bierko”… [NYTBR]
• WH bitchslaps WP. You know when you’re in trouble? When you’re on the defensive. [FishbowlDC]
• NYT public editor just lies back and takes it from Judy Miller. [Gawker]
• Radosh plays a tiny violin for Mary Mapes: “Mapes [has a] concern about people staking out her house to take pictures of her, digging up information about her from public documents, and interviewing her former colleagues. Have I mentioned that Mapes worked for 60 Minutes?” [Radosh.net]

Does the New York Times have a secret crush on blogs? Over at the Blogometer, William Beutler says Judy Miller