Archives: November 2009

Michaele and Tareq Salahi, the couple who crashed the Obama administration’s first state dinner will talk to Matt Lauer live on NBC News’ “Today,” tomorrow, Tuesday, December 1. The interview will be done via satellite from the network’s Washington bureau.

Hmm…NBC’s Today over CNN’s Larry King Live? Note that Bravo is owned by NBC Universal which leads us to believe that her Housewives contract is signed and sealed.

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Each day, Ashley Estill surfs your sites for the most popular stories of the day. Here are the top headlines for November 30, 2009:

Washington Post: PBS, changing ‘NewsHour’ to preserve it

Washington Times: Health bills fail to block illegals from coverage

Washington Examiner: SCOTUS throws out ruling ordering release of detainee abuse photos

USA Today: Tiger Woods speaks out, but accident questions remain

CQ Politics: Ensign Hits Airwaves, Refuses to Resign

The Hill: Democratic war tax proponent Obey calls expected troop surge a ‘fool’s errand’

Politico: 7 stories Barack Obama doesn’t want told

ABC News: Huckabee Helped Set Rapist Free Who Later Killed Missouri Woman

CBS News: Poll: Rush Most Influential Conservative

Fox News: Seattle Police: Cop-Killing Suspect on The Loose

MSNBC News: ‘Cyber Monday’ sales rise 20 percent over 2008

CNN: Toobin: Why Tiger Woods may not be talking to police

Wall Street Journal: The Arabs Have Stopped Applauding Obama

NPR: 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Senate Health Bill

Roll Call: Ensign Hits Airwaves, Refuses to Resign

National Journal: Obama And The Lobbyists

Bloomberg News: Dubai World to Restructure $26 Billion of Debt

Gallup.Com: Americans Still Leaning Against Healthcare Legislation

Talking Points Memo: How Clemmons Went From Prisoner To Alleged Cop Killer–And Why It Matters For Mike Huckabee

Politics Daily: Will Sarah Palin Ever Be President? A Guide to the Predictions

Reuters: Dubai says not responsible for Dubai World debt

Oh my Goff! WUSA channel 9 traffic reporter Angie Goff, a friend of Tareq and Michaele Salahi, appeared on CNN in “The Situation Room” just a little while ago.

Goff told Wolf Blitzer that the Salahis told her by phone today that they “did not crash the White House.” They would not comment to her as to whether or not they had an invitation.

>>RELATED… Politico: Salahis’ Friends Fill In

President Obama will address the nation from West Point 8pmET tomorrow on his Afghanistan plans. TVNewser reports that all networks will carry Obama’s primetime address. And we’re beginning to hear just how the nets and cable will cover…

• CBS: Katie Couric will anchor CBS’ live broadcast at 8pmET.

• ABC: Charlie Gibson will anchor ABC’s live coverage. He will be joined by George Stephanopoulos, Jake Tapper, Martha Raddatz, senior foreign correspondent Jim Sciutto in Kabul and ABC News consultant Ret. General Jack Keane. Terry Moran will anchor “Nightline” from West Point beginning at 11:35pmET. Also at 8pmET, political director David Chalian and senior political reporter Rick Klein will anchor ABC News NOW’s live coverage on abcnews.com. Aaron Katersky, Ann Compton and Steve Roberts will cover it on radio.

• CNN: Wolf Blitzer, joined by CNN’s Campbell Brown, Anderson Cooper, John King, Christiane Amanpour, Fareed Zakaria and senior political analysts Gloria Borger and David Gergen, will anchor the cabler’s live coverage beginning at 8pmET. “360″ will air live at 10pmET and “Larry King Live” will air live at midnight.

• C-SPAN: Live coverage begins at 8pmET, likely on C-SPAN2 (if Senate is done for the day), plus coverage on C-SPAN Radio and live-streaming on C-SPAN.org.

We’ll continue to update.

NBC’s “Meet the Press” had the greatest number of total viewers last week but ABC’s “This Week” was hot in pursuit with only an 80K gap between them. “This Week” won the demo (age 25-54) while CBS’ “Face the Nation” held close in the third place spot for both total and demo.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

NBC “MEET THE PRESS” 2,950,000
ABC “THIS WEEK” 2,870,000
CBS “FACE THE NATION” 2,600,000
FOX “FOX NEWS SUNDAY” 1,050,000

ABC “THIS WEEK” 940,000/.7
NBC “MEET THE PRESS” 910,000/.8
CBS “FACE THE NATION” 880,000/.7
FOX “FOX NEWS SUNDAY” 460,000/.4

Award-winning religion editor of The Washington Times, Julia Duin has released her latest book, “Days of Fire and Glory.” In the book, Duin traces the journey of Graham Pulkingham, an Episcopal priest who led Church of the Redeemer, situated in a Houston slum and for a while one of the nation’s fastest-growing and most vibrant churches. The story investigates the “dark double life” that Pulkingham allowed to twist his theology and his life.

Duin writes not only as a journalist but from firsthand experience — she was an active member of the parish when the story began, and it was her investigations as a reporter at the Houston Chronicle that brought the whole story to light.

Notes from a briefing room press insider…

For the Afghan Speech Bingo Card: While POTUS continued to work the phone tree of world leaders to outline (without specific numbers, the WH says) the new Af-Pak strategy to be unveiled tomorrow night at West Point, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs hit on several of the speech’s points in response to briefing questions from reporters. A laundry list: relationship with Pakistan, already made “stronger” through engagement and diplomacy; cost (!)–noting that this is not an “open-ended” commitment, though RG warned not to expect specific dollar numbers in tomorrow’s address; sacrifice of the troops, which will be mentioned “early” in the speech; stability and anti-corruption efforts (rather than a focus on “nation-building”); benchmarks, of which there will be “new wrinkles” from the March announcement; the al Qaeda threat that remains (“dismantle, disrupt, destroy”–and on some occasions the WH will use “defeat” as one of the three D’s); and a “renewed emphasis” on Afghan security training.

Crash Heard ‘Round the World: Overlapping the highly anticipated West Point details was the still-lingering WH/tabloid drama of the now-infamous, party-crashing Mr. and Mrs. Salahi. A rare outburst of simultaneously shouting reporters was further evidence that the week-old story won’t die easily. “None of that relay happened,” RG explained of the Secret Service’s lack of communication with the WH social office on the unlisted guests. RG continued to remind reporters that “nobody picked up the phone” to make the appropriate check, while reporters questioned whether the social office might assume some of the blame. “I will let the investigation put the onus on where the onus should be,” RG said. Impatience from the podium was evident as RG attempted to disrupt the momentum of shouted questions by calling on the next reporter in the first row. Declining to characterize the specifics of POTUS’s reaction to all this, RG did mention that his “concern goes greatly beyond ‘The Real Housewives of DC.’” He then noted the silliness of mentioning the reality show in the same line of questioning as Afghanistan….

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NYT veteran reporters Stephen Labaton and Neil Lewis in the Washington bureau are taking buyouts in the latest rounds of cuts, Politico reports today.

The Chronicle of Higher Education today announced the appointment of Harvey W. Hill, Jr., as Associate Publisher, Corporate Client Group. Harvey will lead the sales team in New York and Sacramento, as well as the display production team in Washington.

A newspaper veteran, Hill has served as a director for national, retail and classified sales for media companies such as the Baltimore Sun, Philadelphia Inquirer, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Times, USA Today, and the Washington Post.

Capitol File has been silent on the party circuit since their big WHCA fete but they’re back for the holidays. The mag will be throwing a launch party for its new Holiday issue featuring cover star and local girl (Chevy Chase born and bred) Hillary Rhoda.

The new issue bears Sarah Schaffer‘s full editorial stamp, with contributions from FishbowlDC – Christine Delargy profiles Macon Phillips and a Q&A with WH Dep. Press Secretary Jen Psaki and former McCain campaign adviser Taylor Griffin in my column “Life of the Party.”

Folks such as Jack and Susanna Quinn, CNN’s Ed Henry and Edie Emery, Ali Wentworth and George Stephanopoulos, Ted Leonsis, Nancy Brinker, Peter Fenn and Heather Podesta have been invited to join Rhoda and her mom Marianne and an intimate guest list of roughly 150 people at new restaurant/gastropub Againn.