Mara Liasson

Achoo! In the Briefing Room - Posted November 2, 2009
No wonder there's so many speculated cases of swine flu among the White House press corps... Today during press secretary Robert Gibbs' daily briefing, a reporter sneezed-- but not into her elbow, as the press corps had previously been advised by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to do so. "You're screwed Ann, just... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted September 24, 2009
• NBC's Meet the Press: Former President Bill Clinton, NY Governor David Paterson (D), Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) • CBS' Face the Nation: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) • ABC's This Week: Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted September 18, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: President Barack Obama, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), WaPo's Eugene Robinson and Politico's Roger Simon CBS' Face the Nation: President Barack Obama, RNC Chairman Michael Steele ABC's This Week: President Barack Obama and a roundtable with Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile, Republican strategist and former Bush... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted September 17, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: President Barack Obama, Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) CBS' Face the Nation: President Barack Obama ABC's This Week: President Barack Obama and a roundtable with Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile, WSJ's Peggy Noonan, former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich and ABC contibutor columnist George Will Fox... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted September 11, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), former DNC Chairman Howard Dean, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) and a roundtable with CNBC's Erin Burnett, author Joshua Cooper Ramo and NBC's Chuck Todd CBS' Face the Nation: Senior White House advisor David Axelrod, Sen. Olympia Snowe... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted September 3, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: White House senior advisor David Axelrod, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN), NBC's Tom Brokaw and NYT's Tom Friedman CBS' Face the Nation: ABC's This Week: White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, former Republican... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted August 29, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Bob Shrum, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and Maria Shriver CBS' Face the Nation: Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Georgetown University sociologist Michael Eric Dyson ABC's... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted August 28, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Senator John Kerry (D-MA), Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), Bob Shrum, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin CBS' Face the Nation: Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Georgetown University sociologist Michael Eric Dyson ABC's This Week:... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted August 7, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: National Security Advisor James Jones, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker and a roundtable with NYT's David Brooks, CNBC's Erin Burnett and Newsweek's Jon Meacham CBS' Face the Nation: National Security Advisor James Jones, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) ABC's This... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted August 6, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: National Security Advisor James Jones, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker and a roundtable with NYT's David Brooks, CNBC's Erin Burnett and Newsweek's Jon Meacham CBS' Face the Nation: ABC's This Week: Fox News Sunday: CNN's State of the Union: Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL),... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted July 30, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: National Economic Council Director Larry Summers, "The Battle for America 2008" authors Haynes Johnson and Dan Balz, former Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN) and former Rep. J.C. Watts (R-OK) CBS' Face the Nation: ABC's This Week: Fox News Sunday: Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Rep.... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted July 24, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton CBS' Face the Nation: White House senior advisor David Axelrod, Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN), Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) and historian Douglas Brinkley ABC's This Week: Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and a roundtable with NYT's David Brooks, Arianna Huffington, 2008 Nobel... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted July 24, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton CBS' Face the Nation: White House senior advisor David Axelrod, Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN), Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) and historian Douglas Brinkley ABC's This Week: Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and a roundtable with NYT's David Brooks, Arianna Huffington, 2008 Nobel... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted July 23, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton CBS' Face the Nation: ABC's This Week: Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and a roundtable with NYT's David Brooks, Republican strategust and former Bush advisor Ed Gillespie, Arianna Huffington, 2008 Nobel Prize Winning Economist Paul Krugman and George Will Fox News... [FishBowlDC]

Who Will Get Called On Tonight? A Look Back At Obama's Pressers - Posted July 22, 2009
Tonight is President Obama's fourth prime-time press conference, fifth overall. Each presser has lasted about an hour and averages 13 reporters' questions. Fox did not air Obama's 100th day press conference, the third, on the network and will not tonight either. In his first prime-time press conference Feb. 9th, the President called... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted July 17, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Secretary of Health & Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and a panel with WSJ's Paul Gigot, CNBC's John Harwood, NPR's Michele Norris and author Richard Wolffe CBS' Face the Nation: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele ABC's... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted July 10, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and a roundtable with former adviser to Pres. George W. Bush, Karen Hughes, NBC's Andrea Mitchell, Democratic Strategist Bob Shrum and Politico's Roger Simon CBS' Face the Nation: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and a... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted June 19, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, Fmr. Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) and Nuclear Threat Initiative Co-Chairman and CEO, Fmr. Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) and Fmr. Chair, State Dept.'s International Security Advisory Board, Fortune's Nina Easton and NBC's Chuck Todd CBS' Face the Nation: Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) ABC's This... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted June 5, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Programming note: Due to NBC's coverage of the French Open, Meet the Press will not air Sunday, June 7. We will return at our regular time on June 14. CBS' Face the Nation: White House Senior Advisor David Axelrod and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich ABC's This Week: Secretary... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted June 4, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Programming note: Due to NBC's coverage of the French Open, Meet the Press will not air Sunday, June 7. We will return at our regular time on June 14. CBS' Face the Nation: ABC's This Week: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a roundtable with ABC's George Will... [FishBowlDC]

FishPoolDC: Our Insider's Notes from Today's Briefing - Posted June 2, 2009
Crawling Toward Trip Time: With many WH press corps heavies busy packing their bags for the POTUS trip to the Middle East and Europe, the Brady briefing room saw a lot of B-team faces today. General pace was slow, a good indicator being that Press Secretary Robert Gibbs used the "won't... [FishBowlDC]

FishPoolDC: Our Insider's Notes from Today's Briefing - Posted June 2, 2009
Crawling Toward Trip Time: With many WH press corps heavies busy packing their bags for the POTUS trip to the Middle East and Europe, the Brady briefing room saw a lot of B-team faces today. General pace was slow, a good indicator being that Press Secretary Robert Gibbs used the "won't... [FishBowlDC]

FishPoolDC: Our Insider's Notes from Yesterday's Press Briefing - Posted May 27, 2009
YouTube, ITube, WeAllTube: On the heels of Obama's Supreme Court nominee announcement this morning, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fielded questions on a controversial YouTube video in which Sonia Sotomayor says the "Court of Appeals is where policy is made." A visibly irritated RG charged that the comment was out of context,... [FishBowlDC]

FishPoolDC: Our Insider's Notes from Yesterday's Press Briefing - Posted May 27, 2009
YouTube, ITube, WeAllTube: On the heels of Obama's Supreme Court nominee announcement this morning, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs fielded questions on a controversial YouTube video in which Sonia Sotomayor says the "Court of Appeals is where policy is made." A visibly irritated RG charged that the comment was out of context,... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted May 8, 2009
NBC's Meet the Press: Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari CBS' Face the Nation: Former Vice President Dick Cheney ABC's This Week: National Security advisor General James Jones and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and a roundtable with ABC's Sam Donaldson, Cokie Roberts and George Will and former Clinton... [FishBowlDC]

FishPoolDC: Our Insider's Notes from Today's Press Briefing - Posted May 4, 2009
SCOTUS Idol: Supreme Court Justice David Souter's retirement announcement still hangs over the news cycle as anticipation of his replacement pick has heated up. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, fending off speculation that POTUS will prioritize race and gender, outlined a veritably bi-partisan list of traits for the ideal candidate, "whether it's... [FishBowlDC]

FishPoolDC: Our Insider's Notes from Today's Press Briefing - Posted April 15, 2009
"The Tea Party People": While Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has avoided directly addressing the tea parties currently sweeping the nation in protest of taxes and big government, hundreds gathered across the street in Lafayette Park this Tax Day helped put the issue back in the briefing room. As Gibbs repeated that... [FishBowlDC]

FishPoolDC: Our Insider's Notes from Today's Press Briefing - Posted April 15, 2009
"The Tea Party People": While Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has avoided directly addressing the tea parties currently sweeping the nation in protest of taxes and big government, hundreds gathered across the street in Lafayette Park this Tax Day helped put the issue back in the briefing room. As Gibbs repeated that... [FishBowlDC]

What's In a Name! NPR Wants Off O'Reilly Factor - Posted February 12, 2009
How much does NPR not want anything to do with Fox's O'Reilly Factor? They have apparently asked NPR correspondent Juan Williams to request that Fox remove his NPR identification whenever he appears on the show. Hard to be clearer than that! Seems that NPR is tired of dealing... [FishBowlNY]

Obama Calls On Helen & HuffPost In First Primetime Press Conference - Posted February 9, 2009
President Obama's first primetime press conference ran about an hour long and he took 13 questions from reporters. Who got questions? In order: AP's Jennifer Loven, Reuters' Caren Bohan, CBS' Chip Reid, NBC's Chuck Todd, Bloomberg's Julianna Goldman, ABC's Jake Tapper, CNN's Ed Henry, NYTimes' Helene Cooper, Fox News' Major Garrett, WaPo's... [FishBowlDC]

Obama Calls On Helen & HuffPost In First Primetime Press Conference - Posted February 9, 2009
President Obama's first primetime press conference ran about an hour long and he took 13 questions from reporters. Who got questions? In order: AP's Jennifer Loven, Reuters' Caren Bohan, CBS' Chip Reid, NBC's Chuck Todd, Bloomberg's Julianna Goldman, ABC's Jake Tapper, CNN's Ed Henry, NYTimes' Helene Cooper, Fox News' Major Garrett, WaPo's... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted January 23, 2009
Meet the Press: National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers, House Minority Leader John Boehner and a roundtable with New York Times' Thomas Friedman, NPR's Michele Norris and Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes. This Week: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and a roundtable with former CEO of Hewlett-Packard Carly Fiorina, the New... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted January 16, 2009
Meet The Press: Rahm Emanuel, Incoming White House Chief of Staff, Tom Brokaw, NBC News, David Brooks, New York Times, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Presidential Historian, Tavis Smiley, Host, PBS's Tavis Smiley, Chuck Todd, Political Director, NBC News. Face the Nation: Incoming National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers, Georgetown University Michael Eric Dyson... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted January 9, 2009
Meet the Press: Bill Cosby, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, Dr. Alvin F. Poussaint, Rep. Maxine Waters and a roundtable with former Rep. David Bonior, Wall Street Journal's Paul Gigot, CNBC's John Harwood, Vanity Fair's Bethany McLean and McCain economic adviser Mark Zandi. This Week: President-elect Barack Obama and a roundtable with former... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted January 2, 2009
Meet The Press: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and a roundtable with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, BBC World News America's Katty Kay, Al-Arabiya's Hisham Melhem, NBC's Andrea Mitchell and The New York Times' David Sanger. This Week: Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY), U.S. Senate Appointee Roland Burris (D-IL)... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted December 12, 2008
Meet The Press: IL Attorney General Lisa Madigan, MI Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D), former MA Gov. Mitt Romney (R), former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Wal-Mart Pres./CEO Lee Scott, Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and a roundtable with Chicago Sun-Times' Mary Mitchell and NBC political director Chuck Todd. Face The Nation: Sen. Sherrod Brown... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted December 5, 2008
Meet the Press: President-elect Obama. This Week: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Ron Gettelfinger, President, United Auto Workers, The Wall Street Journals' Peggy Noonan, the Brookings Institution's E.J. Dionne, and ABC News' Cokie Roberts and George Will. Face The Nation: Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Chairman, Senate Banking Committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions,... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted November 28, 2008
Meet The Press: First Lady Laura Bush, Afghanistan's Ambassador to the United States Said Jawad and Ted Turner, Author, "Call Me Ted" This Week: Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) of the Armed Services Committee and Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) of the Foreign Relations Committee. A roundtable with ABC News' Matthew Dowd, Donna Brazile,... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted November 21, 2008
Meet The Press: Former Secretary of State James Baker, former Commerce Secretary William Daley, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and a roundtable with CNBC's Erin Burnett, former Wall Street Journal Detroit bureau chief Paul Ingrassia and NBC political director Chuck Todd. Face the Nation: Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Obama economic adviser Austan Goolsbee. This... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted November 14, 2008
Meet the Press: Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), BP Capital Management founder/chair T. Boone Pickens and a roundtable with New York Times' Tom Friedman, BBC's Katty Kay, NBC's Andrea Mitchell and PBS' Tavis Smiley. Face the Nation: Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Newt Gingrich and Gov.... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted October 31, 2008
Meet the Press: Fred Thompson and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), and a roundtable with Washington Post's David Broder, NBC's David Gregory, NPR's Michele Norris and NBC political director Chuck Todd. Face the Nation: Obama strategist David Axelrod, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sen. John Ensign (R-NV) and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). This Week: Axelrod... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted October 17, 2008
Meet The Press: Former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell (Ret.), NBC's political director Chuck Todd, David Brooks of the New York Times, Jon Meacham of Newsweek magazine, Andrea Mitchell of NBC News, and Joe Scarborough of MSNBC's "Morning Joe." Face the Nation: Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted October 3, 2008
Meet the Press: Democratic strategist Paul Begala and Republican strategist Mike Murphy, and a roundtable with NBC's David Gregory, PBS' Gwen Ifill, Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, NBC political director Chuck Todd and Des Moines Register's David Yepsen. Face The Nation: Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-MI), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Rep. Roy Blunt... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted September 26, 2008
Meet the Press: Bill Clinton. Tom Brokaw will moderate a debate between Colorado Senate candidates Mark Udall (D) and Bob Schaffer (R). Face the Nation: Barack Obama. This Week: John McCain, and a roundtable with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, The Washington Post's Steve Pearlstein, The American Prospect's Robert Reich, and... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted September 26, 2008
Meet the Press: Bill Clinton. Tom Brokaw will moderate a debate between Colorado Senate candidates Mark Udall (D) and Bob Schaffer (R). Face the Nation: Barack Obama. This Week: John McCain, and a roundtable with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, The Washington Post's Steve Pearlstein, The American Prospect's Robert Reich, and... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted September 19, 2008
Meet the Press: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a roundtable with CNBC's Erin Burnett, CNBC's John Harwood, CNBC's Steve Liesman and Washington Post's Steven Pearlstein. Face The Nation: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Rep. Barney Frank, Chairman, House Financial Services Committee, Sen. Richard Shelby. Fox News Sunday: Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) and... [FishBowlDC]

Sunday Show Preview - Posted August 29, 2008
Meet the Press: Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) and a roundtable with presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, NBC's David Gregory, NBC's Andrea Mitchell, GOP strategist Mike Murphy and NBC's Kelly O'Donnell. Face The Nation: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) and former Hewlett-Packard Chairwoman Carly Fiorina and New... [FishBowlDC]

Morning Reading List, 07.30.08 - Posted July 30, 2008
Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below. We've got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump...... [FishBowlDC]