Is This News?

Kim Kardashian, who once again showed up at this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, rolled in at #7 on Forbes 100 Celebrity list. And MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinksi was none too pleased about it on this morning’s “Morning Joe.”

“What’s the impact of Kim Kardashian?” asked an incensed Brzezinksi. “What is the impact…what does she do? What is her influence?”

Co-host Joe Scarborough quickly moved things along. But the topic kept resurfacing throughout the morning. At one point guest Jon Meacham of Random House, called Mika the Ambassador to the Topic of the Kardashians.

Mika wondered what her father, former U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinksi, might say about America if he knew about Kim Kardashian. “My father wouldn’t even know who Kim Kardashian was,” she said. “And if I pointed out that she made this list he would find that fascinating and troubling about America.”

Love her or hate her, Kardashian came up on ABC’s “The View” last week when, in a trivia test,  co-host Joy Behar asked President Obama which Kardashian had been married for only 72 days. He replied, “That would be Kim.” Publications reported the President was embarrassed about his knowledge of the Kardashian.

 

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Monday night was the premier of Jeopardy’s “Power Players” Edition. Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs won the opening round, beating CNN’s Lizzie O’Leary and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews. Matthews put up a pathetic performance and didn’t exactly convince anyone of his brain power. O’Leary took the opportunity to live-tweet her own appearance on the show and let us know just what was going on behind the scenes. She tweeted, “It’s all about the buzzer, people.” Later, as the show was going to a break, O’Leary tweeted, “You guys: in the commercial breaks I totally trash-talked Gibbs.” We’re not sure if we believe that. Crazy Lizzie tweeted 24 times last night referencing her appearance. She jabbed at herself online when she gave an incorrect answer about New York Yankee baseball player, Derek Jeter, saying, “Look, New York, it’s Jeter. I KNOW. #pressure.” When Matthews bombed a question about Francis Gary Powers and just called him “Gary Powers”, O’Leary shit-talked him by tweeting, “Francis. Gary. Powers. #seventhgrade”

O’Leary came in second place and raised $10,000 for her charity, 826DC, a non-profit that tutors children in creative writing.

CBS Radio White House Correspondent Mark Knoller has become legendary for his rants on Twitter. Today, he is having a hard time with his local Starbucks. On his way into the White House, Knoller stopped off for breakfast and tried to use a 50 dollar bill (must be nice) to pay for his breakfast, which was less than 10 dollars. When they explained they don’t take bills as large as $50, he took to Twitter and did what any normal person would do — he wrote the Secretary of Treasury.

Memo to Tim Geithner: money signed by you as Secy of Treasury rejected at Starbucks nearest the WH.

— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 1, 2012

We’re sure Tim Geithner is going to get RIGHT on this, Mark. Knoller continues,

The Federal Reserve Note, 2009 series, states it is “legal tender for all debts public and private.” But not at Starbucks. — Mark Knoller (@markknoller) May 1, 2012

Lucky for Knoller, he had ten singles in his pocket and was able to pay the bill with that. We’re guessing he didn’t tip.

We asked Knoller for comment on how he resolved his breakfast crisis, but he grew sheepish about responding. “I don’t want to make more of this than a few tweets,” he wrote FBDC. “But thanks.” (Really? You don’t want to make more out of this, but you do what any self-respecting White House reporter would and you write the Treasury Secretary about it? Just a little late for backtracking now.)

First, Eddie Scarry would like to congratulate Mediaite‘s Tommy Christopher for writing a column about race and politics that caught the attention of the hosts at FNC’s “The Five” on Friday, if for nothing else, the wrong reasons.

Second, Scarry would like to know why in self-referential-hell Christopher talks about himself in third person on a follow-up column he wrote about his mention on “The Five.”

Some examples:

On the heels of a column by Mediaite‘s Tommy Christopher questioning the racial sensitivity of a Mitt Romney campaign banner which read “Obama Isn’t Working,” a Fox News personality named Greg Gutfeld accused Mr. Christopher of being a racist…

When reached for comment on Gutfeld’s accusation, Mr. Christopher said…

Christopher also pointed out that his column didn’t “presume to know” what was in anyone’s head…

He added that…

…singling Christopher out…

For example, Christopher called…

Christopher says, with a laconic shrug…

I’d call this a type of dark “comedy” but then Christopher, who is the whitest man in D.C., would interpret that to mean I hate black comedians.

Washingtonian clearly has its finger on the pulse of this town. And who can be thanked for that, but Editor Garrett Graff, who cut his teeth on FishbowlDC and ABC News’ Political Unit and graduated from the elite Harvard.

On Thursday Graff and the gang brought us this story, and I must say, Peter, Eddie and I are all adjusting well to our new gluten-free diets. In less than 24 hours our complexions are glowing and we have only Washingtonian (and Harvard) to thank for it and for warning us that you can actually gain weight on a gluten-free diet if you don’t watch out.

Miley Cyrus credited her gluten-free diet for her recent slimdown—but can it do the same for you? What you should know: bit.ly/HAL5p5

— The Washingtonian (@washingtonian) April 12, 2012

Miley has denied anorexia rumors, so we’re glad to see it’s all about the gluten and not starvation. Of course, Washingtonian steers clear of all that.

The right slams PBS anchor Gwen Ifill. The left takes a chunk out of FNC Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry. And a new feature is born: “Journo Bashing.”

Let’s take a look.

Both Newsbusters and Big Hollywood, well-known right-wing sites, blast Ifill for referring to Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman as “white” on her Monday night broadcast. On Newsbusters, Tim Graham, Director of Media Analysis for the Media Research Center, writes that Ifill “mangled” the story by calling Zimmerman white when Zimmerman has a white father and a Latino mother. He writes, “By that one-white-parent standard, you could call President Obama ‘white.’”

WTF?! Over at Breitbart.com, Tony Lee (recently terminated from Human Events) writes, “The mainstream media just will not give up in their efforts to fabricate racial motivations in the Trayvon Martin case, even when none likely existed.” Really? Quite a declaration considering the story has consumed the nation for racial reasons for the past month. Lee goes a notch beyond Newsbusters and insults Ifill, calling her work “dishonest.” He writes, “On Monday’s broadcast of PBS’s ‘Newshour,’ Gwen Ifill simply–and dishonestly–referred to Zimmerman as ‘white,’ trying to impose the false media narrative that Zimmerman was a ‘white’ guy who racially profiled and shot an innocent black teenager in cold blood.” Lee went on to bash Ifill for saying that Trayvon’s killing has sparked a national discussion on race, justice and self-defense. Lee declares that “Ifill is wrong,” and blames journalists like her for “forcing” a discussion that he says wouldn’t have otherwise existed. We’re calling major bullsh&t on this one. Read the story here.

Ouch! Firedoglake, meanwhile, rips on Henry for allegedly not understanding home loans. In a story bearing the headline, “More Terrible Media Stories About Housing,” David Dayen writes, “When Ed Henry shows that he doesn’t know how home loans work, it means more than just a commentary about the ignorance of one media personality. It means that more complex issues about housing policy have no chance of moving past the demagoguery stage.” He’s referencing this exchange between Henry and HUD Sec. Shaun Donovan from early February.

(A Sprinkling of Things We Thought You Ought to Know…)

Oh no they didn’t — Expect backlash from this one. The Root wants to know why conservatives in the media are focused on “black-on-black” violence as opposed to, say, “white-on-white” crime.  They call this a “false media narrative” and point to a statistic recently shared by conservative columnist George Will on ABC’s “This Week” program. He said that every week 150 black men are killed — 94 percent by other black men. The headline of the piece: “Don’t White People Kill Each Other, Too?” The author, an author, columnist and MSNBC Political Analyst, says the term “black-on-black” is destructive and cites a stat from the Justice Department that says that 84 percent of white people killed each year are by other whites: “The half-truth he spoke went curiously unchallenged by the panel — including former White House adviser Van Jones — largely because the meta-narrative of black-on-black violence is widely accepted in journalistic and political circles.” The author’s conclusion: “It seems that the media in general and white American society in particular prefer to focus on crime perpetrated by African Americans because it serves as a way to absolve them from the violence, prejudice and institutionalized discrimination engendered for generations against blacks.” Read here.

Is WaPo “She the People” blogger just asking for trouble? — In a new post by Bonnie Goldstein, she skirts around a topic sure to rile some readers — namely, the issue of whether the Santorums should have had Bella in the first place. She never comes out and boldly says it. If she was going there, why not just go there? Instead she writes, “The little girl’s parents knew when she was still in utero that she would have serious developmental and physical disabilities. They nevertheless welcomed her joyfully despite having many other children to raise and not unlimited resources.” She also insinuates that Santorum hitting the campaign trail has affected the girl’s health. Again, gingerly broaching what could be dangerous territory without really fully going there. Read the rest here.

New book to hit the shelves… PBS’ and PRI’s Tavis Smiley and Professor Cornel West are out with their first co-authored book together, The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto out in stores, Tuesday, April 17. They will appear in Washington on April 17 as part of their 10-city book tour.  On April 22, West will also speak at Howard University. On April 16, Google will host a special The Rich and the Rest of Us online chat LIVE from Google Headquarters, 12 p.m.–1 p.m. PT.  To watch, visit: www.youtube.com/live.

President Obama makes funny monster faces…See BuzzFeed’s picture spread here.

The Washington Examiner’s Nikki Schwab and Jenny Rogers must really love the 90′s. If you take a look at some of their stories for Yeas & Nays this week, they seem to have a one track mind.

First, Rogers lays this story on us about the comedian Sinbad. It’s been YEARS since anyone said that name “Sinbad” without asking the question, “Whatever happened to Sinbad?” Yeas & Nays has the answer for you. The answer is that he — gasp! — went to the Leukemia Ball in D.C. this past weekend and was under-dressed. Just how under-dressed was he? The headline: “Sinbad wears sneakers to Leukemia Ball.” This somehow passes for gossip in Washington.

Keeping with the “I Love the 90′s” theme of Yeas and Nays, Schwab drops two stories on us about rapper Coolio. First, she tells us about a Coolio sighting at the club, Eden. Apparently, they were hosting a “Saved by the 90′s” rave.

But, Schwab, so awed by the rapper, brings us yet ANOTHER Coolio story. This one to tell us that his rider involved top shelf liquor and Kentucky Fried Chicken. We, too, have found ourselves full of Grey Goose and McRibs on more than one occasion. But really, who cares?

In case you were wondering the latest happenings in a news story that contains the barest hint of news, Howeesha is here to help. Howeesha (aka The Hill’s Judy Kurtz) decided to bring us up to speed on a dead story. In this piece, she visits former Rep. Anthony Weiner‘s Twitter page to report to us this SHOCKING headline: It’s still there. Sweet feathery Christ, Judy! Have you told anyone else about this scoop? You need to blow the lid off this thing! Even the headline, “A year after scandal, Anthony Weiner’s Twitter page still up”, is wrong. It hasn’t been “a year”, it’s been 10 months. The whole story is silly, but, she just couldn’t sit on something THIS GOOD for another two months? At least then she could actually say she wrote the piece around the anniversary!

But, she didn’t. And that’s Why Washington D.C. Gossip Sucks.

Today’s AnonymASS Tipster writes in about our coverage on the unusual ensembles worn by Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) last week. Her constituent, Trayvon Martin, lived in Wilson’s district. She made a variety of TV appearances in questionable attire that included an array of cowboy hats and what looked to be a giant peach octopus. A reader took issue with our coverage:

“hey betsy – um, 2010 called, they want their stories about frederica wilson back. not sure why you just discovered her, but everyone else (ahem, including the wapo’s reliable source) covered her “crazy hats” about two years ago. what’s next – jim ‘beam me up!’ traficant?? please, please please try harder! thanks.”

Note to AnonymASS: Hey ASS, I appreciate you making this personal. As long as Wilson is currently in the news, we will cover her outlandish attire. And guess what, if she comes back in the news next month or next year and continues to dress like she’s trying out for “Toddlers and Tiaras” we will cover her. If ex-Rep. Jim Traficant comes back into the news, we will cover him, too.  As for “trying harder” — advice you kindly send us a few times a week –  you might want to listen to your own wise counsel.