(A Sprinkling of What we Think you Ought to Know…)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Does Tom Hanks Look Like Bill Murray? – According to The Atlantic’s John Hudson, some people can’t tell the two actors apart. We’ve never had that problem, but Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has. Hudson reports that when Attorney General Eric Holder appeared in front of a Congressional hearing on the Fast and Furious program, Kucinich said Holder must feel “like Tom Hanks in Groundhog Day.” While Kucinich quickly amended the record to reflect that it was Murray in the movie, Hudson explains that it’s a common mistake. Director of the movie, Harold Ramis, actually admitted that he went after Hanks for Murray’s role, but decided against it since Hanks appeared “too nice.” As an added bonus, YouTube has put up the entire movie for free. You can watch it here.

Hillary as a Bond Villian - The Daily Mail has a story on the wardrobe of U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton. It shows her latest outfit and says that she is beginning to dress like an “old-School Bond villain.” This once again highlights the difficulties that professional Washington women face when they are in a position of power. Former Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice faced down criticism whenever her coiffe changed over the years. As does FLOTUS over her dress choice or her bare arms. But, the whole thing did get us thinking of a good Bond villain name for Clinton. Maybe Secretary of Hate?

Politico Profiles Political Prankster – Politico‘s Patrick Gavin writes on comedian Joe Mande riling up the Twitterverse in an early morning story. Mande has been making waves on his Twitter account by cracking on various politicos. Favorite targets include MSNBC’s Meghan McCain, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), Fmr. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin among MANY others. We follow Mande, and our personal favorites involve his quiet retweeting of obnoxious celebrities and politicos like this one:

I met @TheScienceGuy this morning while at @foxandfriends! twitter.com/THEHermanCain/…

— Herman Cain (@THEHermanCain) February 1, 2012

While many politicos have blocked Mande, including Vitter, others have joined in the pranking. As Mande explains, “Andrew Breitbart, I used to give him shit, but what he would just do is retweet what I wrote to him, and his psycho followers would attack me for hours and hours. So I say: ‘Touché, Andrew Breitbart.”

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Michael Brito (Edelman Digital), and Tim Devane (bitly). Register now.

This morning we’re pairing WaPo‘s Mike DeBonis, who covers the District of Columbia, with Jason Furman, Principal Deputy Director of the National Economic Council.

CQ Roll Call has hired Gautham Nagesh from The Hill, where he has worked for the last 20 months as a tech blogger. Before that, he worked at The Daily Caller. Nagesh will be editor of the forthcoming Executive Briefing on Technology, a new specialty publication.

He begins on Feb. 21.

See the internal memo…

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Politico introduces readers to the weekend political talk shows this week as they usually do, with a video overview with the hosts. This week Editor-in-Chief John Harris is at the helm as they welcome ABC “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos into the fold along with Washington’s other familiar faces such as Candy, David, Bob and Chris.

This week’s NJ Magazine features “The Odd Couple”: With his big win in Florida behind him, Mitt Romney hopes to impose order on the unruly GOP presidential race. But Newt Gingrich‘s vow to go “all the way” to the convention ensures that the drama isn’t over. In this week’s cover story, Beth Reinhard looks at the odd couple of GOP politics—Romney and Gingrich—and how they’re stuck with each other for awhile. Read here.

Inside…

Basketball Junkie: Not the typical Washington influence-seeker, Chris Herren nonetheless spent two days working the Hill last month, meeting with senators, representatives, and trade-association leaders. Herren is a former NBA player and, by his own admission, a recovering addict who spent roughly 18 years bouncing from alcohol to cocaine to painkillers to heroin. A Q&A with Jim O’Sullivan. Read here.

A Democratic aide on Capitol Hill writes into FishbowlDC, “It’s amazing what you can learn about media outlets from the placement of their story on today’s jobs report.”

Check out the screenshots below.

View more after the jump…

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Forget Propofol. As one might imagine, reading a Q & A interview with CNN’s John King could easily serve as a sleep aide for the perfect afternoon snooze. But before you slumber, one brief part of the interview caught our eye: What led King into journalism? The interviewer is Joseph Basco, who met the CNNer behind the broadcast tent at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, the site of the recent GOP presidential debate. Basco, the News Editor of student-run Spinnaker blog, said King made himself entirely available and didn’t turn away any question.

Why did you get into journalism? “Curiosity. I’m just a curious person, and I was at school, and I just wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I had a Shakespeare professor who said: ‘You know, you really like to write. You should go try some journalism.’ So I said OK. I took a few courses, and I had a smart enough professor who said: ‘I can only teach you so much in class. If you really want to do this, try an internship.’ I got an internship with the Associated Press. I got to cover trials, fires, cops and robbers, the state legislature and the governor. And I said: ‘Wow, they pay people to do this?’”

Read the full interview here and enjoy your nap!

HuffPost‘s Social Media Editor Mandy Jenkins is calling it quits to assume a new career path. “I’ve been hired by Digital First Media to convert their many small, local newspapers into digital/social media mini-powerhouses,” she writes in a goodbye letter to colleagues. She plans on writing another, sappier, goodbye note later.

Psst…Huffpost‘s on the hunt to replace her.

See the letter…

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Say hello to Shahien Nasiripour. He writes about how the government shapes regulation for the Financial Times and is based out of the Washington bureau. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first. Because of Shahien, FishbowlDC is cracking down on the “Who is your favorite journalist” question. That would be singular — not obscenely plural. An enthused Shahien gave us 11. That is unacceptable and hereon out you have him to thank for a more hardcore policy. Moving on, before FT, he worked in New York as HuffPost‘s first business reporter. Born in Oklahoma City, Shahien moved to San Jose, Calif. when he was 5. While in junior high, right around the time he got arrested (wink! wink!), the family relocated to Cupertino. He spent a summer in college interning for Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and the DSCC. He gravitated toward the senator’s press office, where he noticed that press aides didn’t necessarily want to answer questions they were asked. He thought life might be more fun on the other side. Shahien is an appealing character for a number of reasons: 1. He once got fired from Old Navy. 2. He loves Sour Patch Kids to an extent that may not be normal. 3. He has a temper. 4. He loves to cuss. “What is that fucking noise?” he asked during our conference call this morning. Having just moved here in December, he’s still getting acquainted to the ways of Washington. “I miss New York,” he confided. “I think the Metro here is fucking awful. The food is not that good. I do like the neighborhoody feel. The food isn’t as good as New York and the weather is not as good as California. I could go back there and have fun, or I could be here, which is fucking D.C.” Enjoy!

If you were a carbonated beverage which would you be?

Diet Coke with Lime. So addictive.

How often do you Google yourself?

Every time I’m looking for stories I’ve written in the past.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor (or vice versa)?

I can’t think of a worst, though I can remember lots of times editors have told me to stop being an asshole. I guess I can be a bit aggressive and passionate at times.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why?

That’s tough to answer. Excluding my FT mates and HuffPost buddies (because they’re the best) I’ve got a few favorites: Jesse Eisinger of Propublica, Binya Appelbaum of the NYT, Jody Shenn of Bloomberg, Jeff Horwitz of American Banker, David Reilly of WSJ, Scott Glover and Matt Lait of the LA Times, Jonathan Weil of Bloomberg, Gretchen Morgenson of NYT, Bob Ivry of Bloomberg and Yalman Onaran of Bloomberg. I like these folks not just because I’ve learned about my beat from reading their articles, but also because they call things like they see them. Most reporters aren’t like that.

Do you have a favorite word?

Gobsmacked

What word or phrase do you overuse?

I curse a lot, so it’s safe to say I overuse all the words (and the creative combinations that can be formed using them) one really shouldn’t use.

What swear word do you use most often?

See above.

Who would you rather have dinner with – ABC’s Diane Sawyer, CNN’s Candy Crowley or CBS’s Gayle King. Tell us why.

I can’t choose. I don’t know any of them, but I’ve heard they’re all great.

What is the most interesting conversation you’ve had in the course of your journalism career?

Every conversation I’ve had when normally reserved people start cussin’, drinking, and telling you exactly what they think counts as the most interesting conversation I’ve had as a reporter.

The Earth’s human population is dying out and you must save it. You will spend a romantic evening with either Sec. Janet Napolitano or former AG Janet Reno? Who will it be? (Neither is not an option.)

I’ve got a beautiful, brilliant girlfriend I intend to marry. You really can’t ask me to answer this question.

Tell us a funny story from the road. Can be long or short.

I once was at a presser where a fellow reporter asked me of the person behind the mic, “Who the FUCK is this guy?” For some reason I always smile when I think of that story. It was just a perfect combination of incredulousness, anger and ignorance.

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This morning NJ announces that Jim Oliphant is joining the publication as a deputy magazine editor. Oliphant is a presently a political reporter for LAT and the Chicago Tribune. Before journalism, he practiced law.

He begins on Feb. 13.

See the internal memo from Editor-in-Chief Ron Fournier, who remarks that the issue of which “pods” Oliphant will be working with will be sorted out in the near future.

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