“News helicopters being told to back off because HWY Patrol can’t hear people crying for help #tornado #oklahoma” — Robin Marsh, news anchor in Oklahoma City.

Fallout: Bring Up Politics at Your Own Risk 

“I’m a douche low-life scumbag jackhole ghoul for noting Coburn already wants offsets to fed aid and Inhofe is climate change denier.” – Politico‘s Glenn Thrush, who got bombarded when he wrote this: “It’s striking that OK’s sens are 1) a federal spending skeptic and 2) global warming denier.” In response to the above, Kristina Ribali, director of new media at Freedom Works remarked: “@GlennThrush I didn’t say you were slamming them, I said you were being an ass. Have some class.” Labor reporter F. Bill McMorris wrote simply, “#douche.”

Did someone speak too soon? 

“Thank God tragedies like this one in OK bring out the highest and best in everyone – politicians, first responders, government, media.” — CNBC and NYT‘s John Harwood.

More media in-fighting…

The Nation‘s Katrina vanden Heuvel: “If GOP going to use IRS ‘scandal’ to demolish government,they may wish to look at need for very same government in Oklahoma tornado disaster.”

National Review Online‘s Jonah Goldberg: “.@KatrinaNation what’s really in poor taste how your point is so pedestrian and lame. Why bother? Jeez.”

The Day After: “It is always the next day when the sun comes up that we learn the extent of the horror.” — Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren.

And a few confessionals…

“Sometimes the disaster voyeurism on Twitter makes me uncomfortable.” — Blake Hounshel, managing editor of Foreign Policy mag.

“I lost some family that meant a lot to me in the AL tornadoes. Think I’ll clock out of coverage for the evening and pick it up in the AM.” — FBDC Contributor and Bill Press‘ producer Peter Ogburn.

“The partisanship in the wake of tragedy stuns me.” — WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza.

The Preacher

“When you turn your TV off and stop tweeting tonight — stop. Sit in peace. Too many people don’t have that tonight.” — WaPo producer Jeff Simon.

Emotions on high: A Variety of Calls for Prayer

• “Terrifying photo of tornado damage nyti.ms/10R5Ly2 May the dead rest in peace. May survivors get help to heal and rebuild.” – Conor Friedersdorf, staff writer for The Atlantic.

“Worst part about Oklahoma news is you know it’s going to get worse. And that’s just heartbreaking. #PrayForOklahoma” — Rory Cooper, communications director to House Maj. Leader Eric Cantor.

• “The sad news from Oklahoma keeps rolling in. Everyone at TheDC is thinking of the folks affected, & will keep you in our thoughts & prayers.” — The Daily Caller.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Oklahoma tonight. #okc” — Newt Gingrich.

Uh oh.

“CIA source says Fox News scandal the ’4th Shoe’; says it goes much deeper; says WH also sitting on “something” that has top aides terrified.” — Drudge Report and TWT Columnist Joseph Curl.

GOP Spox Prediction: 60 Minutes to land first Obama interview

“White House/Obama scandal tsunami is growing. Odds that the White House offers Steve Kroft the first POTUS interview?” — NRSC Strategist/Spokesman Brad Dayspring in an unfortunate display of using a weather analogy on the wrong day.

Rubin Vs. Shuster

“Watching lefty media meltdown re Obama media spying is like a kid finding out Babe Ruth was a drunk. Sorry to disillusion but long overdue.” — WaPo‘s
“Right Turn” blogger Jennifer Rubin.

Shuster guts Rubin like a fish…“When it comes to RWNJ’s, including @JRubinBlogger, who are mentally ill + psychotic, best to ignore them.” — Lefty radio host David Shuster. “[Jennifer Rubin] proves again she is a habitual liar. And, asking @CNN to cut the mic of somebody responding to her lies? Psychotic.”

Bureau Chief takes firm stance on exposed pits

“Phew, getting people blind drunk in bars in order to get them to tell you things isn’t in DOJ’s list of treasonous acts that reporters do.” — BuzzFeed Washington Bureau Chief John Stanton. And this from a few days ago, but we couldn’t resist it: “I’m a firm believer that sleeves are mandatory for dudes in a restaurant situation. Nobody wants your pits exposed near their food.”

Watch out, ladies, your purses are germier than you think

“Not the dinner hour yet so if you carry a purse tune in at 4. Report shows more germs on your purse than a toilet. News4 @nbcwashington.” — Jim Handly, anchor, NBC Washington.

See more Morning Chatter…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

RAINING IN THE ROSE GARDEN: “Overheard: ‘Melt the Press.’ @MarkLandler of NYT pops out a Georgetown umbrella.” — NPR White House Correspondent Ari Shapiro with the accompanying photograph. And NBC’s Luke Russert: “The #Marines holding the umbrellas at this presser are unbelievably cool, had no idea there’s military protocol for umbrella holding.”

Umbrella memories

“In my first job as a sports reporter, my editor had me hold the umbrella over him & his camera on the sidelines. Good times.” — HotAir’s Mary Katharine Ham.

Politico Playbook Publish Time: 5:48 a.m.

From the Dept. of Bragiculture…

“So much happening-impt stuff must be slipping by for bandwidth lack. Just in my niche, turned in 7 stories in past 4 days & 8th mostly done.” — NYT‘s Charlie Savage.

ABC “Scandal” finale fallout

“So Fitz is porking a black woman to bring diversity to the Republican Party? Wow. #StartedFromATwerkNowWereHere” — Javonni Brustow, Washington editor of The DC Pundit.

“Oh damn Fitz just went rogue! And quotes Dillon Thomas to boot!” — Essence and theGrio.com‘s Sophia Nelson.

“Damn, Fitz just went Bulworth on Mellie! @ScandalABC #Gladiators” — Washington Watch and Tom Joyner Show regular Roland Martin.

“When @tonygoldwyn saw this two page monologue for the first time at the table read, he gasped. Then he dove in.” — Scandal creator and writer Shonda Rhimes.

“Mellie is going to fuck everybody. #Scandal” — @emokidsloveme.

“Liv. #shutitdown and call a locksmith.” — Avid “Scandal” watcher Shawna Thomas of NBC News as Olivia Pope nearly gets killed. And later, after Fitz sees a video in which Olivia, his mistress, has sex with another man, she writes, “OK Fitz. She is not a virgin nor your wife and she didn’t know that guy was charged w/ bedding/protecting her. STOP BEING A CHILD.”

“Can’t even type. This ending kills me! #scandalfinale” — Actress Kerry Washington, who plays Olivia Pope.

“Lemme get this straight, the season finale of Scandal is on during #ScandalWeek? THIS TOWN” — TPM Assistant Editor Igor Bobic.

Brian’s Stelter’s walk on the moon

“I vividly remember my first time watching ‘The Office.’ It was May 2005, on my laptop, on a train from Baltimore to NY.” — NYT‘s Brian Stelter. And were you simultaneously monitoring your Tumblr account, Facebooking, and checking your MySpace?

The power of ass kissing

“The power of @carr2n: He tweets your story and you get 126 clicks in 15 minutes.” — Slate‘s Jack Shafer in reference to NYT‘s David Carr.

Journo annoyed by mouth breather

“This kid who is mouth breathing next to me really needs to get off the train. Can’t deal. #imsoannoying” — Roll Call‘s Emily Cahn.

Unnecessary Tweet of the Day

“Intrigued by Cool Ranch tacos tho I’m normally not a Taco Bell fan & hearing cool ranch flavor gets overwhelmed by filling. Anybody tried?” — Washington Examiner‘s Philip Klein.

See more exciting Morning Chatter… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Reflection on WHCD’s past

“You know you are old if you can remember when the White House Correspondents Dinner was just a dinner in a hotel basement.” — WaPo‘s Karen Tumulty.

A polite and impolite view of Politico‘s Leibo piece

“Not a reflexive @politico hater by any means but the Allen/Vandehei piece on @MarkLeibovich sure bears out his thesis of DC’s awfulness.” — The Hill‘s Associate Editor Niall Stanage. Then there’s Michael Cohen, a columnist for The Guardian, who wasn’t so kind. He wrote, “Dear Washington DC: This article is kind of the reason people don’t like you.” Read the Politico piece here.

Number of Weiner jokes made National Journal‘s Political Pursuit game last night at the Newseum: At least 2. One was made by an unknown member of the audience; the other by WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza, who was on the winning team of journliasts that included WaPo‘s Paul Kane, NYT‘s Carl Hulse, Roll Call‘s Shira Toeplitz and The Cook Report’s Amy Walter. More on the event later…

And now a note from our Spiritual Counselor Sophia Nelson, of theGrio.com and Essence: “We are spiritual beings having an earthly experience. Protect your spirit. Feed your spirit. Guard your spirit. Bless your spirit.”

If you can’t beat ‘em, leave the country

“Out of the city and country for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Totally unplanned. Tears of unbridled joy. Alhamdullilah.” — Washington freelancer Sam Knight, who writes for Salon and Washington Monthly.

NPR has rep to uphold

“*sigh* If I had a nickel for every time I’ve thought this… ” –NPR’s Audie Cornish, host of “All Things Considered” in response to this: “@GeeDee215: okay. i’mma stop. This is NPR, etc.”

Yeah, riiiight: “It’s definitely smaller this year.” — SKDknickerbocker’s Doug Thornell on this year’s Garden Brunch hosted by Tammy Haddad, SKD’s Hilary Rosen and others.

AnonymASS Tipster of the Week: “Hey Peter Ogburn. While you humiliate some person who no one knows, same question can be asked of you: who the hell are you? Or who should care about the mostly puerile things you write? Advice? Find something else to do with your life.” Dear ASS: He is Peter Ogburn, THAT’s who. Who are you? Oh, right, the person who is too cowardly to attach your name to your note.

Journo Love

“Follow by the far the funniest @politico: @LucyConstance.” — Politico‘s Alexander Burns.

And finally, a morning Bible lesson from FNC’s Brit Hume‘s wife, Kim Hume: “A sound heart is life to the body, But envy is rottenness to the bones. Proverbs 14:30 (NKJV)”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

BREAKFAST AT ABC’s THIS WEEK: HuffPost-AOL Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington: “French toast, home fried potatoes, sausage patties and bacon in the ABC green room. Seriously?” Host George Stephanopoulos replied, “Sorry, Arianna, I ate all the Greek yogurt.”

On Margaret Thatcher’s passing

“Margaret Thatcher was the first politician I ever met. She was a wonderful person and a great leader.” — FNC Contributor and RedState Editor Erik Erickson.

“Obviously, everyone should relate Thatcher’s death to something in American politics, and then tweet it, because that is a Good Thing to Do.” — Politico‘s Tony Romm.

“Over-under on # of people who will write interesting columns about what Thatcher meant to them: 4″ — Politico‘s Alexander Burns.

Music editor ties the knot

“En route to the church to marry my best friend, @mabinty. #weddingday.” — WCP‘s Marcus Moore, who married Mabinty Koroma.

Violent dream talk.

“I’m killing people off in my dreams right and left this week. Sorry, everyone. I don’t like it either.” — Photographer and blogger Laurie White.

Weekend TV Watching

“This episode of Cops takes place in Portland. The squad car pulls over a naked man on a bike who is ‘protesting global warming.’” — Politico’s Byron Tau.

“Watching ‘Point Break’ with Alex Pappas. It’s his favorite movie.” — The Daily Caller’s Will Rahn regarding he and his colleague, Alex Pappas.

Tschida’s exotic vacation to southeast Asia

“Long airport layover, so sign up for ‘foot massage.’ 90-year-old man comes in says please take off trouser but please leave underwear on.” — ABC7′s Stephen Tschida. And unfortunately, upon returning home, Tschida falls ill: “Back from the jungle and all day long I go from chills to sweat. Sure hope it’s the D.C. weather and not dengue fever. But with my luck?”

Editor throws caution to wind

“Went to the P St. Whole Foods after 2pm because YOLO” — Foreign Policy magazine Managing Editor Blake Hounshell.

TV anchor admits culinary weakness and a reader panics that Politico Playbook has been nixed today. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In his most recent story on Politico, Calderone reported that two people have been let go in recent days — Photo Editor Jay Westcott, who opted to go public with the news on Facebook and Twitter and Jess Kamen, a technology reporter. These things are usually quiet matters. But there’s nothing quiet about Westcott, who also went public last September about his split from his fiancé, Madeline Marshall, also a Politico employee, and told his Facebook pals about his heartbreak. After she changed her status to “single”, Westcott snapped, “I took that picture. Take it down.” Eventually he seemed to come to his senses when he wrote, “I am devastated. I have to get off Facebook.”

So two people were shown the door. As Politico’s Editor-in-Chief John Harris eventually told Calderone for his story, Publisher Robert Allbritton has given them the green light to expand and bring on 30 new hires in 2013 — does this sound like a season of layoffs? To be sure, the word “layoff” is a loaded one and HuffPost, a Politico competitor, was sure to use it in their headline. The word, like it or not, denotes a company that’s struggling. On Sunday, WaPo media writer Erik Wemple also questioned Calderone’s use of the word. “Here’s one instance in which terminology matters a great deal,’ he wrote. “‘Layoffs,’ after all, sends a signal that the organization is shrinking, unable to meet its budgets with current staffing levels. If that’s the case here, it’s a giant story…” If not, he added, it’s a “far less consequential story.”

But Politico, struggling? WaPo recently made big offers to Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman. Both rejected them to stay.

In Wemple’s story we learn that Politicos such as Harris, Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen, Haberman, Danielle Jones and Kim Kingsley have all signed multi-year contracts, crushing any impression that an exodus is underway. “He got played by bad sources because a few junior people left,” a media observer explained. “Politico has people come and go every week, so some variation of his dumb and naïve story could run most months.”

Asked to comment on whether he holds any ill will against his former employer and whether “layoffs” was a proper word to use, Calderone remarked to FishbowlDC… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Is this war?

“The Breitbart crew’s terrible reporting on Boehner makes a great case for the value of the traditional media that the site hates.” — Politico‘s Alexander Burns.

Howard Fineman’s rant against ESPN, Luke Russert

HuffPost and MSNBC’s Howard Fineman, usually a mild-mannered Washington journalist, went on quite a tirade last night against what he believes to be the shoddy reporting of ESPN and the apparent stupidity of NBC’s Luke Russert. 1. 9:25 p.m. “Luke Russert u have no idea what you are talking about.” 2. 9:43 p.m. “Luke Russert nobody cares about ice hockey, and I say that as an alum of hockey-mad Colgate. Frozen Four gets two back page columns in NYT.” 3. 9:45 p.m. “ESPN announcers continuing to make excuses for lame Florida and trash Louisville. Also they keep misusing the word ‘disinterested.’” His rant went on after midnight. 4. 12:16 a.m. “I’m sorry. The lackadaisical, grudging ESPN coverage of Louisville’s dismantling of Florida was infuriating, at least to me.”

NYT Bureau Chief praises D.C. area Sichuan

“I remain pleasantly surprised by Sichuan quality in DC burbs.” — David Leonhardt, Washington Bureau Chief for the NYT.  Last night Leonhardt was discussing the Asian cuisine with Reuters finance blogger Felix Salmon, who wrote, “Sushi Yasuda. And NY’s Szechuan chefs move around a lot.” And added, “I went to Lan Sheng today, spectacular. And Hot Kitchen is still amazing too. Not sure if GS is a chain.” (By the way, both Sichuan and Szechuan are acceptable spellings of the word, so neither journalist got it wrong.)

Peter Ogburn contributed to this report.

Frustrated reporter after the jump…

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(Pssst…anyone know what they were really doing there? Write us at fishbowldc@mediabistro.com or Betsy@mediabistro.com.)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

BIRTHDAY GIRL: “Bom dia Rio. Thanks sun for coming out today on my birthday eve.” — USA Today travel writer Nancy Trejos.

Ouch!

“Maybe if Holly Petraeus spent a little less time at the CPFB…….” — Free Beacon‘s Michael Goldfarb.

Right-wing writer concedes one nice thing about Obama

“The one — ONE — thing I agree with Barack Obama on is that Homeland is the best show on TV.” — TWT senior ppinion writer Emily Miller.

From a very nerdy Dept. of Bragiculture…

“Cool moment. Ran into Sen. Leahy just now at DCA. We talked about Phish. He said his son knows Trey. He’s a Dead guy but loves Phish, too.” — National Review Online‘s Robert Costa.

Reporter makes desperate plea for coffee

“One million preteen kids just boarded my metro car. Save me. #havenothadenufcoffeeforthis” — WSJ bank reg reporter Victoria McGrane.

The Ass Kisser

“Very interesting piece here by @DylanBiers.” — Commentary‘s John Podhoretz. (Last week the pair was bickering until PodWhore realized Byers wasn’t actually insulting him. Now they’re in love. )

Scribe says other woman’s hubby is alleged douchebag

“You’re a pretentious douchebag if Dear Abby isn’t good enough for your problems and you have to seek out the NY Times ‘Ethicist’ columnist.” — The Daily Caller TV writer Jeff Poor. (The Ethicist received a letter frighteningly similar to the situation swirling around Paula Broadwell, alleged mistress to General David Petraeus.)

And this from a facetious Politico reporter… “Dear Ethicist: I work in an information security-related field but am considering writing explicit and career-destroying emails. Help me?” — Politico‘s Alexander Burns.

The Complimenter

“The 2013 Calendar sent out to all its print subscribers reminds me of what an amazing photographer team @washingtonpost has on its rolls.” — WSJ‘s Raju Narisetti, formerly of WaPo.

NPR’s Andy Carvin works on final edit of his book in Istanbul, a publicist weighs in on latest sex scandal to rock D.C., a CNN Contributor has a problem with his hip flexor and two straight journos have a gay convo… continued…

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But on Monday night comedian and actor Pauly Shore attended the presidential debate Monday night in Boca Raton, Fla. with a credential issued by Politico. Everyone gets a credential. It has your photo, name and organization. His said Paul Shore, POLITICO.

Spies tell us…

UPDATE: Politico‘s Sara Olson writes, “Hey Betsy – Pauly Shore was not and is not working for POLITICO. Thanks! Sara” So we asked her what we did her boss: So then why was he credentialed as though he is working there?

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They include Alexander Burns, Edward-Isaac Dovere, Reid Epstein, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Martin (let’s hope JMart’s teenage tweeting style improves), Lois Romano, Roger Simon and Glenn Thrush.

Live from the newsroom in Roslyn hosting Politico LIVE at 8 p.m. will be always dynamic duo of fast-talking Executive Editor Jim VandeHei and cheerful Mike Allen. Viewers will be able to watch on C-SPAN 2 and in Washington on News Channel 8.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A Look Ahead…On Thursday morning blogging duo Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman, will host Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland and the Commission on Presidential Debates’ Frank Fahrenkopf and Mike McCurry for an in-depth conversation on what’s expected from Joe Biden and Paul Ryan that evening and how it will affect Election Day.

Doors will open at 8 a.m. ET at 401 West Main St. in Danville, Ky.

Politico Live begins at 8 p.m. with the dynamic Jim VandeHei and rarely blinking Mike Allen. They’ll be joined by reporters in Danville, plus Jonathan Allen, Editor-in-Chief John Harris and Lois Romano and “other POLITICOs joining from the POLITICO newsroom.”

They’re promising  it all — stories showcased on Politico, live blogging with Haberman and Burns, and video features from Danville. A release states the debate will be covered by VandeHei, Allen, Burns, Jennifer Epstein, Reid Epstein, Haberman, Jonathan Martin, Juana Summers, and Glenn Thrush on the ground in Danville.

NewsChannel8 will carry Politico Live starting at 8:30 p.m. C-SPAN will air Politico Live starting at 10:30 p.m.

No. of times the word “POLITICO” was used in all caps in the release: 15.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Say hello to Politico‘s Ben White, who writes the “Morning Money” column covering the nexus of finance and public policy. Before Politico, he covered Wall Street for the NYT. Other publications he has worked for include WaPo and the Financial Times. He lives in New York City. As some of you may have noticed, Ben has something of a temper problem. Of course not remotely to the degree of Politico Pro Editor Tim Grieve, who was recently voted FishbowlDC’s “Worst Temper in Washington” in our Summer Superlatives. But Ben has his moments, like a recent rash of irritation he felt during a trip to Washington at the Madison Hotel where he had made a reservation. When he arrived, they wouldn’t honor his reservation. Suffice it to say, Ben wasn’t pleased and felt Twitter shaming might do the trick. One other important thing about him? He appears to have a man crush on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer as you’ll see below. In all sincerity, the finance reporter has a self-deprecating wit we’ve grown to appreciate in recent weeks, so we wanted to find out a little more about what makes him tick, or rather, what ticks him off.

Have a look.

If you were a carbonated beverage which would you be?  Soda Stream version of diet coke. I drink so much of it I have to make my own.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor (or vice versa)? Worst thing I’ve said: “Do you have any idea at all how financial markets actually work?” The answer: “No, I really don’t.”

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? I don’t have one favorite. I love tons of reporters. Right now I’m in special awe of Maggie Haberman for her tenacity and productivity. It’s astounding and frankly I think she must be on steroids.

Do you have a favorite word? I have three. Jacob and Rafi, my two boys, and Jenna, my love.

Who would you rather have dinner with – CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, FNC’s Juan Williams or NBC’s Andrea Mitchell. Tell us why. Blitzer. Because everywhere he goes is the Situation Room and that’s where I want to be. And his silvery beard mesmerizes me and has all the answers.

What is the most interesting conversation you’ve had while on the campaign trail and who was it with? My favorite was Karen from Arkansas with the huge hair and sequined blue dress who was most looking forward to her delegation’s party for Bill Clinton.

The population is dying out and you are required to save civilization as we know it. You have a romantic evening ahead of you (to save the planet) and you have three possible dates. Pick one. 1. Wolf Blitzer, Juan Williams or Candy Crowley. Just joking. Your real three options: 1. Lindsay Lohan 2. A much younger Madeleine Albright or 3. Chelsea Clinton. If I can’t have Blitzer, I’d go with Madeleine Albright because her story is so incredible and she is so breathtakingly smart.

Tell us a funny story from the road. Can be long or short. In 2000, my man job seemed to be carrying legendary Washington Post columnist Mary McGrory‘s bags around New Hampshire. I think its my best memory from the trail and probably the most useful thing I’ve done in journalism.

What’s the most revolting thing you’ve eaten in your campaign travels? And the best? I ate most of my dinners in Tampa from a vending machine. But best meal was also there, original Cuban sandwich at Colombia Restaurant in Ybor City with former Sen. Mel Martinez.

What annoys you most about campaign coverage? And what gratifies you about it? … 

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“This is how I’m keeping cool.” — NBC Washington’s Angie Goff over the weekend.

Journo encounters threesome

“Just took the dog for a walk in the woods. Happened upon a threesome. Stark naked. Clearly strung out. #dida180 #myeyes #MYEYES” — Takoma Park, Md. writer Carol Blymire.

Daily Caller‘s Michelle Fields as Mother Theresa

“Only in DC does a man walk into the metro with a broken foot and arm and no one offers him their seat.” — Michelle Fields.

Paul Wharton in mourning

“We had the memorial for our loving friend Butch Hopkins today. Just now ‘patched into’ the grief, my heart hurts literally.” — Style expert and TV host Paul Wharton.

Important Q to ponder: “When is the @einsteins finally going to open in Union Station?” — NBC Washington’s Matt Glassman.

Self-appointed media critic

“Anybody know if there’s a network where I can watch two non-subject matter experts debate policy?” — Politico‘s Alexander Burns.

The TV critic

“I mean, the premise of Newsroom is fairly interesting. But did they have to make the primary focus/main character be Sorkin’s scripting?” — C-SPAN Communications Director Howard Mortman.

Russia TV: The go-to network for hard-hitting Joe Williams’ Interviews

“Jesus Christ. Just watched three Euronews packages. Every damn one started with a wideshot of the EU flags. Is creativity that f*ing hard?!” — Russia TV Senior Producer Lucy Kafanov. Um, hey Russia TV, is asking Politico‘s Joe Williams a real, challenging question that f*ing hard?!

Better Left Unsaid

“YES! Got my tweet on #edshow! And got way too excited about it.” — Mediaite White House Correspondent Tommy Christopher.

Interesting co-byline this morning (wink! wink!): Daily Caller‘s Jamie Weinstein and Michelle Fields. Nothing like bonding over Jeremiah Wright.

Peter Ogburn contributed to this report.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good times. FBDC took a look around the scene.

At around 8 a.m there were about 200 people on site, half were activists holding up signs for or against the Affordable Care Act. The other half were broadcast news crews who appeared to have been in place for several hours to secure a good space.

Later, another two hundred or so people showed up. We ran into The Daily Caller‘s Alex Pappas (a.k.a. Politico‘s Alexander Burns) and the Washington Examiner‘s Tim Carney mid conversation. Pappas said he had been outside the Supreme Court since 9 a.m. Carney, who told us he has noticed a recent surge in people confusing him with White House Press Sec. Jay Carney, had just arrived. Pappas and Carney had a brief chat about HBO’s new series The Newsroom. Carney is not an HBO subscriber, so he hasn’t seen it. Pappas, however, is an avid Aaron Sorkin fan and said he watched. “I hope it gets better,” he said.

Shortly thereafter we see Current TV correspondent David Shuster conducting an on-camera interview with an inattentive guest who kept checking his cell phone. Apparently there were hiccups in production. Shuster’s producer Daniel Marans told us, in the faintest of baby whispers, that the audio equipment was on the fritz (likely from all the noisy protesters around), so he couldn’t talk to us for long.

We moved on and stumbled across Yahoo! News‘ Chris Moody who, despite the heat and godawful humidity, looked perfectly cool. This was around the time that CNN botched its breaking news report which incorrectly stated that the Supreme Court had ruled against the individual mandate portion of the Affordable Care Act. Pictured to the right is Moody fulfilling his civic duty and explaining to an inquisitive passerby that the Court had actually ruled the mandate Constitutional.

Side note: While CNN did inaccurately “break” the news on the Supreme Court’s decision, others also got it wrong but somehow have escaped the media glare. They include: FNC and NYP. SCOTUSblog, meanwhile, had its own writeup on the decision before AP did. SCOTUSblog and its small team of reporters were featured in WaPo Wednesday. The blog, sponsored by Bloomberg, on average has about 1,500 visitors each day. In light of the high-profile ruling on the Affordable Care Act, it saw a surge in traffic and was preparing for possibly 250,000 on decision day.

As the news broke, reporters scattered to get reaction from activists standing nearby. We overheard one chubby brunette talking on her cell phone as she walked away from an on-camera interview: “It was a f***ing setup. They put me up against some cute little blond girl,” she said.

Notables: Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) seen driving away from the Supreme Court in a Lexus RX 400, co-anchor of ABC’s Nightline Terry Moran, FNC’s Greta Van Susteren, Griff Jenkins and Shannon Bream and former Democratic Rep. David Wu chatting up three young women. No, he wasn’t wearing a tiger costume.

More photos after the jump.

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Journo witnesses oatmeal disaster

“Old man just spilled oatmeal all over his shirt. Thought he could lazily spoon his breakfast without consequence. Now heading to restroom.” — FBDC and The Blaze’s Eddie Scarry in the EavesDropCafe.

Important Question to Ponder: “Even if you’re a hard-core partisan, is it really stimulating to watch hour after hour of TV that just repeats your view of the world?” — Politico‘s Alexander Burns.

TIPS FROM THE POOL, INTO THE DEEP END

White House Pooler Todd Gillman of the Dallas Morning News focused on movie references in a Pool Report last night in Beverly Hills: “The president appeared before 600 or so hooting, hollering supporters at an LGBT campaign fund-raiser in a ballroom at the Beverly Wilshire – the ‘Pretty Woman’ hotel. They gave him a prolonged standing ovation, chanting “Four more years!” after an introduction from a gay Army doctor. The stage was striking. Obama spoke from a lectern, no seal, with an enormous American flag draped behind him like the scene in ‘Patton,’ his head not even reaching the top of the fourth stripe.”

Self-appointed media critic

“I hear after last night MSNBC is changing its slogan from ‘Lean Forward’ to ‘Bend Over’” –  CNN Contributor and RedState.com Editor Erick Erickson.

Quote Taken out of Context

“No lisa, but I sure don’t want to eat this crappy breakfast.” — Jason Koebler, tech writer for U.S. News & World Report and music writer for Washingtonian.

Leibovich doubts chumminess of morning show teams

“As citizens, we should all strive for the warmth, rapport and genuine love that seems to pervade morning TV teams. Sarcasm, dudes, sarcasm…especially love how close the morning TV teams appear on those billboards.” — NYT‘s Mark Leibovich getting his Twitter on this morning.

Breitbartonian attacks BuzzFeed Ben

“Someone needs to tell @BuzzFeedBen that when a politician says “jump,” the followup question is “why?”, not ‘how high?’” — Breitbart.com’s Ezra Dulis (Always exciting to hear about yet another Ezzy on the planet.)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.