Riddle Me This

If you’re female and your heartthrob is actor Kirk Cameron, you better check your hormones at the door because he won’t take one of those goofy “Here I am with a strange female I’ve never met before” photographs.

While at CPAC yesterday, Cameron was quite the standout star. But like many actors, he has demands. In his case, it’s more like a hard and fast rule. At one point the Washington Examiner‘s gossip scribe Nikki Schwab was interviewing him. TWT‘s Senior Opinion Editor Emily Miller approached to take a picture of Cameron and Schwab and his people physically pushed her and blocked the shot (above is the blurry shot she wound up getting). “I said, people he’s not that important,” Miller vented back in Blogger’s Row at the Wardman Park Hotel. And they told her, “He can’t be photographed alone with a woman.”

Later on, a woman came into Blogger’s Row and shouted that any reporter wishing to interview Cameron in the next 24 hours needs to set it up in advance. Miller remarked wryly, “There was less ado when Rick Perry walked in here.”

Though Cameron’s handlers wouldn’t offer specifics, here’s what we know. Cameron, a Christian evangelist, operates a ministry called The Way of the Master. He created The Firefly with his wife, Chelsea Noble, who is an obvious exception to the no photographs with random females rule. Once an atheist, midway through TV’s “Growing Pains” he became a born again Christian and refused story lines he considered too racy.

 

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A bake sale to raise awareness for childhood tumors. OK.
A car wash to raise awareness for childhood tumors. Also OK.
A nearly naked undie run to raise awareness for childhood tumors? Um, REALLY?

But it’s happening. This Saturday friends and family will strip down to their skivvies to raise awareness and funds for the Children’s Tumor Foundation. This year’s Cupid’s Undies Run will take place on Feb. 11 at 2 p.m. when scantily clad runners will jog down Pennsylvania Ave right in front of the Capitol. Representatives and the Children’s Tumor Foundation and families affected by the disease will all be on hand to join in the festivities.

Wait a second. Representatives? As in members of Congress? No, that would be faux George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt. No, real politicians wouldn’t be caught dead doing this, would they? “They would be scared after the whole Weiner scandal,” said founder Bobby Gill by phone this morning.

Gill insists the underwear-themed event works because “first and foremost it is a charity run for an amazing cause.” What’s more, it raises real money. The first year they raised $8,000, the second, $52,000. This year they’re on track to raise $200,000. “I would be surprised if anyone would be against it,” Gill said. “We had to get permission from all the police jurisdictions. We need to provide a little levity to showcase our cause. Apparently it’s effective, and it’s one chance you can run around Congress in your underwear and not get arrested.”

History of the event…

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Want to be the Web Editor at Washingtonian these days? Fine. But it’s a risky career move. In the last 24 months, they’ve had three — most recently Kyle Gustafson, who lasted about five and a half months, before that Sommer Mathis, who fled to The Atlantic after just four months and Alyssa Rosenberg, who is now at Think Progress. Gustafson recently told TBD, “They’re all wonderful people and I wish them well,” he says. “It wasn’t working out for either party.”

We reached out to Editor Garrett Graff on the matter. Surely the Editor of the magazine might be able to shed some light? Oh, but not so fast. He apparently doesn’t comment on matters pertaining to the magazine. This is the second issue that Graff has refused to comment on this week — the first was why a sentence involving where Rob Lowe‘s son, Matthew, resided while in Washington (psst… with a lobbyist) was mysteriously stricken from Carol Joynt‘s Capital Comment blog this week.

But Reason Mag’s Associate Editor Mike Riggs had an interesting take on what’s happening there. It involves Meth and foil.

Washingtonian goes through web editors like a meth head goes through rolls of tinfoil: is.gd/ta0G5a

— Mike Riggs (@MikeRiggs) January 31, 2012

If your pub cycles three really smart editors through the same post in two years, your pub has problems.

— Mike Riggs (@MikeRiggs) January 31, 2012

In HuffPost’s latest attempt at taking over global media, today they launch Le Huffington Post, the first foreign language version of the online news site. Ooh la la! Even reporters’ names like Grég have accent marks. This is going to be spectacular. This marks a partnership with The Le Monde Group and Les Nouvelles Editions Indépendantes to provide HuffPost’s brand of reporting to a new audience. The press release describes it as “politics, entertainment, living, style, world news, technology, and more.” Anne Sinclair will be Editorial Director and Paul Ackermann will be Editor-in-Chief. This is such a big deal that HuffPost felt the need to splash it as their top news item Monday morning.

In a statement, Arianna Huffington says, “I’ve loved France ever since I was 11 and my father took me and my sister to Paris – our first trip outside Greece. So I’m delighted to be launching Le Huffington Post at this crucial time in France’s and Europe’s history, bringing HuffPost’s platform and emphasis on journalism, social media, and community to a country with its own unique sensibility, rich culture and diversity of voices.”

My parents took me to the Kennedy Space Center when I was 11, but we’re not writing Fishbowl Uranus… Unless you count the work we’ve been doing on Gene Weingarten.

Clearly, they are looking to go global brand but have they somehow gone overboard? We’ve already seen launches of HuffPost UK and HuffPost Canada. Still to come this year is Le Huffington Post Quebec, El Huffington Post Spain and L’Huffington Post Italia.

Which makes us wonder. What other markets could Arianna be looking to conquer next? Huffington Gone Postal? An internet newspaper devoted to the happenings of psychotic mail rooms across America. HuffPaint Post? A hazy look at inhalants and the people who abuse them. Maybe just the HuffPo Po-Po? Where they look at happenings inside police precincts around the country.

Any other ideas? Tell us about it at FishbowlDC@mediabistro.com or write me personally at FishbowlPeter@gmail.com.

 

 

 

 

Gingrich, Molinari and Paxon in happier times. The infant is Susan Ruby, the couple’s child.

Earlier today the Miami Herald reported on an anti-Gingrich conference call set to transpire today between GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, former Rep. Susan Molinari and former Sen. Jim Talent. They describe the relationship between GOP Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich and Romney backer Molinari as complex. The story by Marc Caputo reports that Molinari’s “hatred” for Gingrich dates back more than a decade. He brings up the longtime rumors of Molinari’s husband, former Rep. Bill Paxon, having an affair with FNC Brit Hume‘s son Sandy, who committed suicide in February 1998. At the time, he was a star reporter for The Hill. Hume had written that Paxon was believed to be a threat to Gingrich.

Gawker picked up where the Florida publication left off, questioning whether Gingrich had spilled the beans on the supposed affair — hence Paxon’s sudden disappearance from Congress and Hume’s death. An excerpt:

“The rumor, in brief, is as follows: In the summer of 1997, the Hill’s Sandy Hume—the then-28-year-old son of Fox News’ Brit Hume—broke a blockbuster story about four GOP congressman who plotted, and failed, to overthrow Newt Gingrich as Speaker. One of those men was Bill Paxon, a New York Republican who was married to fellow Congresswoman Susan Molinari. Another of the plotters, Majority Leader Dick Armey, scuttled the coup when he learned that Paxon, and not he, would replace Gingrich. Armey later disavowed the whole attempt and claimed not to have been involved.”

It’s the Washington mystery few dare to discuss in public.

As nice as it was to have a day off yesterday for MLK Jr. Day, we should have expected that the AnonymASS tipsters would be out for blood. Today’s ASS writes in:

“Why do you guys hate Politico so much? It’s kinda weird. did they turn you all down for jobs or something? That’s definitely the way it sounds from your writing.”

Dear ASS – While we appreciate the concern for the poor workers of Politico, we can assure you that none of us have applied for jobs at the fine organization. It’s just in our natural fiber not to kiss ANY media outlet’s ass as we cover them or when we are caught up in the middle of a tormenting Mike Allen MINDMELD. One more thing, ASS, being media critics means that sometimes, we are, critical. Deal with it.

WaPo had an interesting take on WTOP  in Paul Farhi‘s Jan. 10 obituary on longtime radio personality Bill Trumbull. The obit said Chris Core, Trumbull’s former on-air partner on WMAL for 20 years, is now on WTOP…1050AM. Which would be fine if that were true.

The station, 1050 AM, is La Mera Mera, a regional Mexican music station. WTOP is on 103.5 FM, 103.9 FM and 107.7 FM.  WTOP hasn’t been on the AM dial IN YEARS.

Congrats WaPo, or something like that.

As we always like to say, if it’s Wednesday, it’s Wendy Wednesday.

Today we have Washington publicist Wendy Gordon. We’re calling this one simply, “Super Wendy.” We hope this was for Halloween, but one can never be too sure.

 

 

It happens to the best of us. Sometimes we forget who we are, we forget what’s important to us or what our principles are — both figuratively or literally. In Politico Mike Allen‘s case, he’s starting to think he’s Fishbowl. Is there a sanitarium with an open bed to address such a malady?

For the past three days we’ve noticed Allen has incorporated a “Fishbowl Des Moines” into his morning Playbook routine. We like the name, too, Mike, that’s why it’s the name of our site. I mean, it’s not as if Politico threatens legal action any time anyone dares to let Politico fumes escape from their nostrils into the airstream. And it’s not as if they ever went after a college kid in September 2009 for daring to use the word “politico” in a site name.

But we love sharing. We learned how to do it in Kindergarten with blocks and glue. Which is why we are going to start incorporating Playbook items into OUR daily routine — granted, they’ll have a wildly different Fishbowlesque twist to them, but they’ll use real Playbook feature titles — that is, since we’re all now sharing. Because what’s good for Allen is good for everyone, right?

We reached out and asked about his newfound “Fishbowl” use. But he’s busy in the Des Moines Fishbowl trying to remember who he is, scrounging for his next feeding of Fish Food and deciding where he’s swimming to next.

We don’t use the word schmuck lightly.

But in the office of Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) there are a couple of them — like the fabulously named Laurel Schmuck, a former legislative aide who took heat for some underage drinking that went down at an office party last summer. The news was reported early this morning by Global Rhetoric‘s Joe Steffen and then by Jeff Quinton on the Inside Charm City blog.

Here’s the lowdown: Harris’ COS Kevin Reigurt allegedly bought booze for a going away party for an office intern. The underage intern got trashed and was thrown out of her internship program when she arrived back to her dorm after curfew. Harris’ aide, the Schmuck, got canned. Meanwhile, the congressman is one of those big social conservative family values types. Which is always a recipe for disaster. When will lawmakers learn not to be proponents of social or family values?

A weird detail worthy of noting: When Harris was first elected to the Maryland Senate, he defeated F. Vernon Boozer in the 1998 primary. He’s no Schmuck, but yes, he really is a Boozer.

But it gets even weirder. Turns out Peter Schmuck (father of Laurel) is a columnist for the Baltimore Sun and gave Reigurt a piece of his mind.

An excerpt from Steffen’s piece:

“To begin with, what the Hell was Kevin Reigurt thinking? Buying alcohol for a party to be held in Andy Harris’ office, a party celebrating the impending departure of an 18 year old? The very party which led to said underager getting smashed and thus making her impending departure immediate? And, Mr. Reigurt, isn’t a part of the job of the Chief of Staff to take – as opposed to deflect onto someone else – the hits (which, in this case, seems to be YOUR fault anyway?)”

We’ve emailed the congressman’s spokesman Ryan Nawrocki for comment. So far, no one from the office is talking. See the email I sent him after the jump.

Developing…

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