The year 2011 was the year the 7-second TV delay failed miserably, that members of Congress behaved badly and Weiner headlines became something of an art form. Today we’ve pooled our wisdom into another annoying year-end list, although we hope ours will hold your interest. We’ve picked the moments that stood out most in our minds and the journalists who made them happen. Here’s to you CNN’s Wolf Blitzer for gracefully using the word “underwear” on television and to you, TIME‘s Mark Halperin, for being baited into calling the President “a dick” live on “Morning Joe.” Ed Schultz also gets points (at least for the purposes of this list) for calling conservative Laura Ingraham a “slut.” And to CBS’s Lara Logan, there are not adequate words to describe her courage.

10. Bret Baier’s journalistic jihad on GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.

In November, Fox News anchor Bret Baier sat down with GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. It was a hard-hitting interview that saw Romney bristle at several of the questions. When Baier brought up Romney’s penchant for flip-flopping, Romney scolds Baier like a mommy with a 5-year-old and says, “We’re going to have to be better informed about my views on issues.” To Baier’s credit, he continued pounding Romney who kept twisting and turning in his seat. The interview certainly didn’t help Romney. That marked the beginning of a surge for second-tier candidates to make runs at Romney’s frontrunner status. Baier went on The O’Reilly Factor the following day and boasted that after the interview, Romney approached him and called some of the questions “uncalled for” and “overly aggressive.” Calling Bret Baier, a “boy scout” according to Mike Allen, “overly aggressive” is like calling Andrew Breitbart a “serious journalist.” For Baier, let’s stop at fair and mostly balanced and call it a day. — Peter Ogburn

9. The Talented Mr. Nelson Lewis

Nobody is ever going to accuse Washington of being an honest place to work, but Nelson Lewis took things to a whole new level. For starters, Lewis, a former producer for Laura Ingraham‘s radio show, tried to pull off impersonating Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA), an old family friend. Police arrested him for “illegal possession of a congressional lapel pin.” If that’s not humiliating enough, NYP‘s Page Six reported that Lewis claimed to be related to former Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis. He even went as far as creating a fake email account from Lewis to vouch for him. It didn’t take long for the fake world to come tumbling down around him and he was left with no other option but to admit he had a lying problem. According to Page Six, Lewis checked himself into a treatment center at the beginning of this year to address his problem, which he blamed almost entirely on his former employer, Ingraham! He was led to all this lying because, according to Nelson, “she emasculated me.” Psst….there are whisperings that Lewis is working on a weekly TV program here in Washington. Stay tuned. – Peter Ogburn

8. Politico Reporter Kendra Marr Forced to Resign for Plagiarism

This year saw highs and lows for former Politico Pro transportation reporter Kendra Marr. On one hand, she got engaged in April. On the other, she was essentially fired for insufficiently attributing information to the NYT and other publications in her stories. FishbowlDC broke the story of Marr’s misdeeds in October. At the time, her colleagues said newsroom culture was in large part to blame for Marr’s sloppiness. Politico founders John Harris and Jim VandeHei referred to Marr as “a valued colleague and friend” in a memo explaining what happened. WaPo media reporter Erik Wemple empathized with Marr, writing, “When you combine Politico Pro’s pressure for originality with Politico Regular’s factory conditions, you get a force powerful enough to corrupt an otherwise good journalist.” In a recent follow-up, Wemple broke news of a new mentoring program at Politico meant to cultivate young reporters; a system that would have likely benefited Marr. Marr has essentially disappeared. Her Twitter account is still active, but she hasn’t tweeted to her 2,600 followers since the day the story of her indiscretions broke on Oct. 13. We couldn’t find a Facebook account under her name. Her LinkedIn page says she still works at Politico. Her former colleagues aren’t talking. And, perhaps most biting, the initial Google suggestion you get when searching her name is “Kendra Marr plagiarism.” — Eddie Scarry

7. Al Sharpton Lands His Own Show

If the “thrill” running up the leg of Chris Matthews ever had a child, it would be this. Never before in the history of the English language has the line, “Resist we much” been uttered, and we were all the better for it. But with that butchered line, the Reverend Al Sharpton became a television icon. “PoliticsNation,” as it is now called, was in its infancy on MSNBC, replacing the unnamed Cenk Uygur show in the 6 p.m. slot. Uygur never found an audience, it just wasn’t good, it was boring. Off he drifted into obscurity and in stepped the Reverend. Sharpton’s early shows were rough but spirited. It was as though he was allergic to words on the teleprompter. But no flub went viral, they were just laughed at by politicos. Until, that is, on August 9, 2011 when he uttered the now famous line “Resist we much.” The lines are worth reading, but it won’t help you understand what he was trying to say any more than watching the video. Here it is: “Tonight is the measure of whether the country begins in the state of Wisconsin, a national drive to push back or whether we have more to go to build a movement of resistance… BUT RESIST WE MUCH, WE MUST, AND WE WILL MUCH, ABOUT THAT, BE COMMITTED…” Sharpton, who has somehow escaped his incendiary and race-baiting past, eventually found his on-air footing…sort of. He still has a strange relationship with the teleprompter like someone from southern California has with walking on ice, but he’s getting there. His guests adore him in a deeply entertained way few other cable TV hosts can claim. He’s even scored better ratings than the unnamed Uygur show he replaced, but he has a ways to go. Sharpton, who dropped 100 pounds, has vowed never to criticize President Obama, isn’t exactly interested in conveying news as much as advancing an agenda. That makes his show more of a pep rally for progressives than a news program, but at least it has relegated the bloopers (mostly) to facts and not delivery. Still, Al’s attitude and activism fit nicely into MSNBC’s line-up. Take that for what it’s worth. — Piranhamous

6. Bad Boys: Ed Schultz, Mark Halperin, David Shuster all do Dumb Things

Among MSNBC’s Ed Schultz, TIME‘s Mark Halperin and Current TV’s David Shuster, it’s tough to proclaim who behaved like the biggest idiot this year. While Schultz called conservative radio personality Laura Ingraham “a slut” and got suspended for it, Halperin called the President “kind of a dick” on live TV and Shuster tried to crash an MSNBC party during White House Correspondents’ Assoc. Dinner weekend.  Shuster might have once been invited to such a soirée, but the former MSNBCer was suspended and ultimately let go after saying then-Sen. Hillary Clinton had pimped out her daughter, Chelsea, during her presidential campaign. The network also frowned on his sending a demo tape to CNN for a potential job. Schultz had to perform a humbling and awkward on-air mea culpa. Halperin, it turns out, was goaded into saying the slight by Mika and Joe, who practically drowned viewers in mindless apologies after it happened. When you watch the footage, it’s clear that nerdy Halperin was dying to be part of the in crowd, which perhaps makes his the dumbest act of all. At least Schultz’s insult was as genuine as it was crass and inappropriate. Shuster? One can almost chuckle at his failed party crashing. He’s clearly no Salahi. But he swore up and down that he’d been invited. Somehow party organizers missed that detail such as the one overheard on her walkie talkie saying, “Make sure he doesn’t get in here.” – Betsy Rothstein

5. Wolf Grills a Weiner

This past summer, in the days before former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) was forced to admit that he had carried on several online relationships of a sexual nature, D.C. journos were having a field day trying to make sense of the Weiner Caper. You’ll remember that Weiner accidentally tweeted a picture of (ahem) enlarged boxer shorts. But, who was it? Weiner initially claimed that it was nothing more than a “prank.” He then spent the next several days flailing wildly trying to explain away the offending picture. Which brings us to this exquisite moment from CNN Wolf Blitzer.

There it is. Blitzer flashing a money shot to a U.S. congressman asking him, “You would know if these were your underpants?” Worse than that, Weiner acted as though he didn’t KNOW if those were his undies. There is not a man alive that wouldn’t recognize his own member. It was only days later that Weiner admitted the picture was of him. (And yes, those were his underpants.) — Peter Ogburn

Luke Grills a Weiner of His Own

An Honorable Mention goes to NBC Congressional Reporter Luke Russert. In the haze of the Weiner scandal, Russert proved that he could pull his own weiner weight at the network. He also obtained a bizarre sit down with Rep. Weiner to chat about the picture of someone’s “below the waist area.” Russert appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to recap his interview and — oops — MSNBC played the wrong package about Weiner’s package and left out the actual interview portion. When they corrected the mistake, we were treated to the first moment that Weiner admitted that he “could not say with certitude” that the picture wasn’t of him.We were also treated to one of those rare relatively unscripted moments when Luke burst out laughing at the absurdity of it all. — Peter Ogburn

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

4. Power blogger Ben Smith resigns from Politico

In early November, Politico canned its On Media blog and relaunched Ben Smith’s blog, refocusing it on the intersection of politics and media. A new reporter, Dylan Byers, was even hired to help with Ben Smith‘s new-ish project.One month later, Smith announced he’s leaving Politico to be the editor of BuzzFeed. The move caught everyone by surprise for sure. After all, Smith made his name the last seven years reporting on political news, not BuzzFeed material like dogs dressed as pigs and “Shit Girls Say.” But, as he wrote in the announcement on his blog, “…I won’t stop writing or thinking about politics. In fact I’ll continue to write once weekly for POLITICO…” And he told Howard Kurtz on CNN’s Reliable Sources, “In politics, as in other areas, we’re going to hire some great reporters and turn them loose.” We shot Smith several questions. He wouldn’t answer all of them (like whether anyone was pissed that he’s leaving Politico just after his blog was relaunched), but he did tell us his official start date at BuzzFeed is Jan. 1. He said it’ll be the first time he’s back to working in an actual office in a while (“I currently work in a shared office space in Brooklyn, which I love, but also always enjoyed working out of the newsroom when I was in Washington or, pre-Politico, in New York.”) And he’s thinking of switching out his current Twitter profile picture — the official Politico cartoon of him — for “one of those Ben from BuzzFeed memes.” We’ve picked one for him. See here. Congratulations to Smith — we wish him well in his transition. — Eddie Scarry

3. Andrew Breitbart’s “Balls of Steel”

Remember “Abs of Steel”? The workout tape most famous for setting the Guinness World Record for VHS tape with the most dust collected without ever having been played? Well forget it, we have a new “of steel” winner this year – Andrew Breitbart and his “Balls of Steel.” Breitbart shell-shocked the media by hijacking the Manhattan press conference at which now former Rep. Weiner was set to resign. Every news junkie waited patiently for Weiner to show up to the presser he called, but he was running late. Breitbart, who coincidentally was in the neighborhood, heard about it and went to the hotel. Reporters mobbed him, as he was the man who broke the original “sexting” story. When WCBS reporter Marcia Kramer told him he should go to the still unoccupied podium, what happened next was among the most surreal moments in politics of the year. The cherry on top was when Weiner eventually showed up and apologized to Breitbart for implying Andrew had “hacked” his Twitter account. It was something Salon’s Joan Walsh and too many TV personalities have yet to do for insinuating the same thing. In the end, Weiner was out, Breitbart was in and most of the media, who had ignored the story for as long as they could, had egg on their collective face. Breitbart “crashing” Weiner’s press conference was one of the ballsiest, unforgettable moments of the year. While the world probably could have lived without Opie & Anthony leaking the “money-shot” picture from Breitbart’s cell phone, more than those images were seared into our memories from that story. Bravo, Breitbart. — Piranhamous

2. Greta Goes Apesh&t on Tucker

When a longtime friendship goes sour online, it’s something to watch. When it happens on live TV, you’re on pins and needles. If you’ve ever spent time with Daily Caller Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson, you know he’s first to laugh, crack jokes and understand another person’s point of view even if he abhors it. After The Daily Caller published a story in the fall reporting lewd comments Mike Tyson had made on a radio show — he referred to a sex act with the former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as “a womb shifter” — FNC’s Greta Van Susteren went ballistic and called Carlson “a pig.” Wait a second — wasn’t Tyson the pig? To be sure, Greta is nuts for Palin. The former Gov. attended the White House Correspondents’ Assoc. Dinner parties as her guest and has appeared on her show multiple times. On her Gretawire blog, the host blathered on about Carlson’s sexism. She put a dent in their friendship by attacking him personally. She questioned how he ran the story with a wife and daughters. She said his female employees must be upset. She insisted that his publication must be doing so poorly for him to publish the story. Ultimately she invited him on her program, and he accepted. This is when a seriously pissed off Carlson showed up and coolly put Greta in her place. But not without a showdown. There were no smiles. No jokes. The friendship is not in enemy territory, but it’s certainly not as warm as it once was. – Betsy Rothstein

1. Lara Logan Offers an Interview to 60 Minutes

Of all the moments of 2011, by far the bravest came when CBS’s Lara Logan gave an on-air interview to CBS’s Scott Pelley of “60 Minutes.” She boldly went on TV in early May and spoke of the attack and rape that happened to her in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. “It looks like a party,” she said, slowly describing the scene for Pelley. …”It was impossible to not get caught up in the moment.” But soon there was a savage mob scene and things spiraled out of control. “For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands,” she said. “Suddenly, before I even know what’s happening, I feel hands grabbing my breasts, grabbing my crotch, grabbing me from behind.” Logan didn’t think she’d survive it. Eventually she was saved by Egyptian women in the square who closed ranks around her until she reached safety. Watch a clip of the “60 Minutes” segment with Logan here. But get the tissues. You’re going to need them. — Betsy Rothstein

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

On Wednesday The Hill ran a story by Josiah Ryan regard House Democrat Rush Holt (N.J.) and federal spending levels. All pretty standard fare for a Capitol Hill publication. But the initial commentary that came after from readers? That was all about President Obama having gay sex and snorting Coke.

RedState.com Editor-in-Chief Erick Erickson noticed and said The Hill may want to take those comments down. “Note to The Hill, you might want to get rid of the spammy first comment here, but it made me really laugh,” he wrote Thursday.

Alas, they didn’t entirely take his advice. The lewd commenter who claims to be “100 percent true” is still there. But “Honest Abe’s” comments on Obama’s alleged cocaine use have been pulled.

The Hill is in the process of changing it’s commenting system. Editor-in-chief Hugo Gurdon tells FishbowlDC, “We have been testing a new comment system for a few weeks on the Washington Scene and we’ll be introducing it to our main site in the next couple of weeks. Up until now, comment boards have been entirely open access and this has led to some problems. We sometimes do feel the need to take down comments that are offensive and the new system will alert us to those more efficiently. We want our comment boards to be open forums for debate, but obviously there need to be limits.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Say hello to DCist’s new Associate Editor Benjamin Freed. He makes a point to tell me his byline is “Benjamin R. Freed.” Like we care? He says he has a good imitation of NBC’s Tom Brokaw. But then again he says a lot of things. We’re only kidding. Formerly an arts and entertainment writer for Washington City Paper, Freed, who hails from just outside Albany, N.Y., has been known to turn mouthy, get in the occasional Twitter fight and thinks death when it comes to the Kardashian sisters. His dirty little secret involves watching MSNBC’s Al Sharpton‘s show. This is his mug shot photograph on DCist — we’re far from photography experts, but we’d like to suggest that they snap his picture during the daytime or else turn on the flash button. For the past two years he has been a contributing writer to Washington City Paper. He has also been moonlighting as a copy editor for Congressional Quarterly — who knew?

If you were a carbonated beverage, which would you be? DIY Coke, wherein you have to mix cola concentrate with carbonated water.

How often do you Google yourself? Somewhere between obviously introverted and borderline self-obsessive.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)? I can’t believe I took this stupid assignment.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? In my age group, Amanda Hess. I can’t think of anyone who writes about personal identity or relationships in a more intelligent or engaging fashion. I’m also a big fan of C.J. Chivers. Read The Gun and you’ll understand why.

What is your dream job? I’d love to do just about anything at Wired.

How did you land the DCist gig? It was either me or Monkeyrotica.

Why journalism? Thought it would be fun to write for the paper at Brandeis, where I went to college. Then one day Tom Brokaw visited campus. He told me to “raise hell.” true story. Too bad this interview isn’t in person, my Brokaw voice is pretty good.

Do you have a favorite word? I used “cadaverous” in a pretty clever context a couple weeks ago.

Who would you rather have dinner with – WaPo’s Ezra Klein, Slate’s Dave Weigel or TPM’s Brian Beutler? Tell us why. Eh, I’d rather get a drink with Kriston Capps, who’s introduced me to all three of them at various points. Besides, I think I owe him a beer.

What swear word do you use most often? Fuck.

You’ve just been told the big news: You get to have your own Sunday morning talk show. Who will be on your roundtable? (Pick four journalists or pundits types.) God, what an awful question. OK, Jonathan L. Fischer, Ally Schweitzer, Aaron Leitko and Andrew Beaujon. We’re just going to talk about Fan Death and Future Times and we’ll be canceled in a week.

To borrow from Politico’s “Answer This” (with a FishbowlDC twist): Picture someone in Washington who you’d like to strangle (if such a thing were legal). Without naming him or her, please describe them in the nude. Just kidding. Tell us what you think of them. He recently topped an ignominious list at Salon, and Joe Scarborough thinks everything he says is pure gold. He also wouldn’t know how to use “ignominious” in a sentence. Not Willie Geist.

What TV show do you watch that you’d be embarrassed to admit to – and yes, we’re asking you to admit it. Politics Nation With Al Sharpton. Have you seen his MSNBC promo with the pie? I watch in hopes that he just spends an hour talking about pie.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

This falls somewhere in the category of “holiday cheer” and third grade giggles. Not that we mind either.

Last week, New Media Strategies employee and American Spectator blogger J.P. Freire got a surprise when he went into work and found his desk and his things all wrapped up for Christmas. Was he going somewhere? Had he gotten promoted? “Upon arriving at the office I discover @mattdeluca and others at @nmsosphere giftwrapped my entire desk. Everything,” he wrote on Twitter.

So how’d they pull it off? “JP was out on vacation at the end of last week and it was a great opportunity to use the most awkward and tacky wrapping paper available from the downstairs CVS. Thing is, he’s actually working around the gift wrap now,” boasted Matt DeLuca, J.P.’s coworker at NMS. “I did all the wrapping and JP’s fellow podmates provided moral support and gift-wrapping advice (I’m terrible at wrapping).”

J.P. apparently handled the prank gracefully. “I think he was stunned and surprised – not mad or anything,” said DeLuca. “He unwrapped his phone and computer and left everything else wrapped for now. I am now prepared for retribution.”

As well he should be. We asked J.P. for comment on the incident and he replied, “I loved it. In fact, I kept it wrapped save for the items I needed to use. (He had wrapped the phone, the keyboard, the mouse, the monitor, all individually.) It’s wonderfully festive. And I don’t know if I’d call what I am going to do ‘revenge.’”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Sara Libby, Politico’s deputy politics editor, tweeted, “Rick Santorum, on Wolf Blitzer now, is affirming our earlier groundbreaking report” with a link to a Politico story on Republican Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum’s so-called love of vests and turtlenecks. Groundbreaking indeed.

Now, it doesn’t matter how Libby promoted the story, she has to shill whatever Politico produces, no matter how bland. The real question is why Politico would bother writing the story in the first place.

After pointing out Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s love of pantsuits, GOP Presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman’s affinity for denim jackets and President Obama’s affection for expensive Hart Schaffner Marx suits, Politico lumped in Santorum. And yes, he wears those strange pieces of clothing sometimes worn by men known as sweater vests and turtlenecks. You can purchase them at Macy’s.

The reporter writes, “Now, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is making his fashion mark with sweater vests and turtlenecks.” To be fair, WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza, who typically covers the harder news of political reporting, also affirms that Santorum is an avid sweater vest wearer.

Did you know the President likes suits? Ever heard of them? Are you aware of who Huntsman is? Polls would suggest no. Hillary and the pantsuits…OK, everyone knows that. But who do you think will be remember that Santorum wore sweater vests and turtlenecks in three months? Or three weeks? No one, that’s who.

The only thing “groundbreaking” about this Politico story is the “thud” with which their creativity for gossip  hit the floor.

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U.S. News & World Report

Congratulations to Schlesinger.

See the internal memo…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

At the end of November, just a short month ago, Olbermann got in one of his typical crusty Twitter battles. Sure, we’ve had a few — we don’t  necessarily begrudge him for it. But at the end of it, after blocking a woman who really hadn’t done anything wrong, he proclaimed that he wasn’t going to do this anymore. Life is too short, he claimed.

But apparently not short enough. Here we are in late December, and last night he wrote something that could easily incite online feuding.

RedState.com Editor-in-Chief Erick Erickson appealed to Olbermann’s worst side last night by simply RT, “Congrats to or alienating his, what, third network? A lifetime of accomplishment.” Erickson dug the knife in further as he signed off to his followers last night saying, “OK. Time for bed. Got another 5.5 hours of radio to do tomorrow on my last day of vacation. Then off to Iowa.”

Olbermann, who presently has no idea if he is covering Iowa for Current TV — there seems to be a snafu going on in the last 24 hours in which he thinks he is covering Iowa and the NYT reports that the network doesn’t have him on the schedule for the Iowa Caucus — he wrote to Erickson: “You need to focus on your next fantastically moronic CNN appearance. Don’t get distracted.”

It appears Olbermann was on quite a roll. Other brusque commentary to a hodgepodge of followers in recent days included, “Clown, get a real name,” and “Clearly there are a lot of things you don’t know. You needn’t advertise the fact.” He seems to be in a fit of mood swings. On Dec. 28 he wrote “Trump is not The Donald. He is The Dick.” But that same day, he wrote about a beautiful sunset — “A lot going on in tonight’s sunset: moon, pink clouds, orange stripes #LuckyCharmsCereal.” (Um, someone want to find this man a straitjacket?)

Erikson, a CNN Contributor, took Olby’s snide comment in stride. He wrote, “I think it’s kind of cool @KeithOlbermann tweeted back. Made my night.”

Probably not the reaction Olbermann was hoping for.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Politico‘s Marin Cogan is joining GQ as a contributor. She’ll cover the upcoming presidential election from Washington as well as the trail. GQ‘s Editor-in-Chief Jim Nelson announced the news today.

Prior to Politico, Cogan was an assistant editor at TNR.

Cogan, a native of northwestern Pennsylvania, is a counselor at the Princeton University Summer Journalism program and a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Politico reporter in Iowa faces clock issues

“Yesterday I tweeted about the clock in my Hampton Inn Muscatine room being fast. Today I got an email from the hotel’s general mgr. #service.” — Politico national political reporter Reid Epstein.

Jealous journo

“The DeLorean from Back to the Future went for over $541K in an auction #insanelyjealousofnewowner.” — NJ “The Hotline’s” Chris Peleo-Lazar.

The sights and sounds of Washington

“Just saw a dump truck towing a Metro bus, with lots of people on it. #DC” — HuffPost‘s Jen Bendery.

And now for a brilliant question from Current TV: “What stories do you want Current to report today?” Seriously?

Burr!

“In a @Starbucks where it is basically too cold to think. (Hint: 14 & New York in DC.) Going into the office so I can feel my fingers & type.” — Metro Weekly White House Correspondent Chris Geidner.

Santorum is down on pundits

“#2012 Former Senator Santorum tells Iowans to ignore the media: ‘Pundits talk to pundits. They don’t talk to voters.’” — AFP’s Olivier Knox.

Blogger has stress dream involving Kate Middleton

“I had weird, stressful dreams last night, including one in which I was planning a dinner for Kate Middleton in DC.” — Global fashion blogger Samantha Sault who writes SamanthaonStyle, a blog intersecting fashion and politics.

Here’s an idea…

“Tell me tweeps, how can I save Andrew Breitbart‘s tweets to use in a lecture on color-blind racism?” — Rebecca Scott, a sociology professor at the University of Minnesota.

Say hello to Boybander Fan Club Prez

@MzDiva67 (a woman named “Nicole” who says you always have the option to kiss her ass): “Why this dude on @msnbc look like Charlie Sheen #bashirlive lol” (Mz Diva pictured at left).

WaPo‘s Ezra Klein: “#winning”

Slate‘s Dave Weigel (who’s doppelganger is Sheen): “I’m on a drug called… you know.”

From the Road

“Four events in a day. This is like a Fred Thompson on ludes Iowa schedule.” — Reuters‘ Sam Youngman.

“Just intvd Romney on his bus. Asked about Paul’s foreign policy Romney said, ‘Ron Paul‘s not going to be our nominee.’” — RealClearPolitics‘ Scott Conroy.

A Convo Between Fake Journo and Real One

Politico‘s Jake Sherman, something of a Phish fanatic, writes: “If you’re a political conservative in DC, and like phish, shoot me a note. working on something.” To which Fake Jim VandeHei cracked, “Oh, this is gonna be good.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Note to Readers: We’re going fishing today (ice fishing, if necessary) so we won’t be around. We will return tomorrow, so send us your items anyhow and we’ll get to them on Friday. The only way we might interrupt this day off is if Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Rear end Wis.) goes jogging or injures his rump in any way. So please, congressman, do not take up jogging today or any fat burning exercises targeting your derriere. Friday is fine.

Sincerely,

FishbowlDC Management

Office madness

“Someone in my office is playing reveille. I hope this is interview-related.” — NPRFreshair.

Number of times BigGov’s Andrew Breitbart tweeted at us on Wednesday with no response in return: 7. Seems a little desperate for you. By the way, the lunch offer still stands. Your goons are not invited.

An odd message from NYT

“If you received an email today about canceling your NYT subscription, ignore it. It’s not from us.” — @nytimes. The email included an option to stay with the pub and get an exclusive 50 percent off for 16 weeks. PBS’s Gwen Ifill chimed in, “And here I was, looking forward to that 1/2 off deal.” Oh, but it turned out that it was the NYT. They sent the email by mistake to eight million people. Read more about this debacle here. A FBDC reader sent us the email he received from the NYT with one word in the email: “Ridiculous.” The subject line: CORRECTION: Important information regarding your subscription. Dear New York Times Reader, You may have received an e-mail today from The New York Times with the subject line “Important information regarding your subscription.” This e-mail was sent by us in error. Please disregard the message. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. Sincerely, The New York Times. The only trouble? This FBDC doesn’t even subscibe to the NYT. “This morning I had received a solicitation to continue my home delivery subscription to the times,” he wrote. “Only problem: I don’t have a subscription.”

Knox finally makes it to Iowa — in one piece

“Luggage made it. Rental car was there. Hotel res’ intact. I will now set about trying to smell like something other than wombat in feet sauce.” — AFP‘s Olivier Knox. For more on Knox’s travel mishaps this week, read here.

From the Road

“The weather is so unseasonably nice in Iowa that I’m driving with my windows down.” — Politico‘s James Hohmann.

Weiner and Franks: Like Chocolate and Peanut Butter?

“Anthony Weiner & Barney Frank- what a cute couple!” — A commenter on The Blaze website in reaction to a story on a new book in which ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner allegedly says he wants to mix it up with other weiners.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is in Iowa today discussing all the things he’ll cut if he gets elected to the White House in 2012. Among them, a certain large bird from Sesame Street.

“We’re not going to kill Big Bird, but Big Bird has to have advertisers,” he said, explaining that he plans to strip PBS of government funding.

C-SPAN captured the speech here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

For many of us, Christmas is a special time of year. Gathering with family. Creating lasting memories for children. Celebrating the religious meaning of the holiday. And luckily for us, several DC journalists let us sneak peeks into their touching holiday moments this year. We’ll recap our favorites in the Top 5 “Touching” Holiday Moments.

5 - CBS Radio’s Mark Knoller spending Christmas in Hawaii. Knoller begins the day wishing us a “Merry Christmas from Honolulu. Sun rising over Waikiki.” Thanks Mark. Many of us are spending the time with insufferable in-laws or obnoxious extended family. Glad you’re having fun. Just to add insult to injury, Knoller tweeted us this picture.

4 - NPR’s Scott Simon and Fox News’s Ed Henry Christmas Bromance. Henry’s something of a whore where bromances are concerned. He had a thing for CNN’s Ali Velshi, which died when he fell hard for FNC’s Bret Baier when he switched networks. Now he apparently fancies Simon. As Christmas Day wound down, Simon tweeted that he was enjoying a dinner of “Cheerios, yogurt and a glass of wine.” So, now we know the recipe for holiday cheer. A continental breakfast and booze for dinner. Henry chimed in and you can see their exchange below.

@edhenryTV Thank you, Ed. I enjoy your work. And btw, red wine w/ Cheerios after October. Come May, white wine-

— Scott Simon (@nprscottsimon) December 26, 2011

This is clearly the true meaning of Christmas. Two journos mutually admiring each other for all the world to see.

3 – MSNBC’s Luke Russert Cares for the Troops. On Christmas Day, Russert declares “Happy birthday Jesus!” and includes this classic clip from Full Metal Jacket. He reminds us to remember the military on “this most cherished day.” Thanks, Luke. I’ll do that right after I finish watching Full Metal Jacket with the kids.

2 – The Obligatory Holiday Message. There are simply too many to list here, but you KNOW who we are talking about. The journalist who, but takes time out of a busy Christmas morning to wish all their fans a happy holiday. For example, Wolf Blitzer from CNN took time from his Christmas Holiday to say “Merry Christmas. I hope this coming year brings all of us peace, good health and happiness.” Or Jeff Sonderman, former Managing Editor for TBD, who takes time out of his holiday to say “Merry Christmas, everyone. May it be a day of peace and joy in whatever way you desire.” We get it, folks. You want us to have a happy holiday. You could always step away from Twitter and enjoy the holiday quietly, you know.

1 – Mike Allen’s Christmas Playbook. Just as we were all sitting around to open gifts, the most wonderful gift of all arrived in our inbox. Politico’s Playbook from Mike Allen. We thought that even a robot like Allen would take some down time to enjoy the holidays, but no, he reports to us from “the wilds of Wilsonville, Ore.” He is spending the holiday with his sister and her three children. Can you imagine what Mike Allen must be like on Christmas morning?? Children wildly ripping open their presents. Fire roaring in the hearth. Bing Crosby in the background. And Uncle Mike typing away on his Blackberry trying to win Christmas Day. He takes the time to run through some of the gifts that his nephews received and gives us the gift of a reading list. “7 Ideas for the E-Reader Santa Gave You.” We’ll spare you a list within a list, but the top E-Book that he mentions for us to get is Playbook 2012: The Right Fights Back. That’s right, friends, a holiday book plug. ‘Tis the season for more self promotion! And razorblades, to prepare us for more E-Book mentions in 2012.

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Americans nominated 2,228 titles this year to be included in the Library. Billington then consulted other film curators and the National Film Preservation Board before selecting the final 25.

You can nominate titles for next year’s consideration at at the NFPB’s hideous website here.

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