As it has recently been reported, Conservative Political Commentator Bay Buchanan is a real estate agent.

That’s right. Her LinkedIn pals have received the official update that the 64-year-old political media surrogate for Mitt Romney‘s presidential campaign is now an agent with McEnearney Associates. She works out of the company’s McLean, Va. office.

But what they may not know is why she has left her broader career of political commentating. “No, I won’t be doing commentating for awhile,” Buchanan told FishbowlDC today by phone from her new office. “I’m not opposed to coming back at some stage.”

But she’s not anticipating a return anytime soon. After being a surrogate and advisor to Romney’s presidential campaign, she says she’s done with it. It, being the media. “It’s gotten to the point where I think it’s meaner and nastier than its ever been,” she says with a bit of disgust in her voice. “It goes to personal attacks very quickly. Just decided it doesn’t promote the common good if you like. When I am there on behalf of someone or a cause, I will do it. But I’m not interested in doing it for the sake of having my face on television. I don’t want to wake up angry every morning. It’s no way to live.”

To be sure, Buchanan’s life and career has taken interesting twists and turns. Read more

As well-known as Bay Buchanan is in political circles, she’s not nearly famous enough to be prohibited from answering a few questions from media. She’s small potatoes, if you will.

Buchanan, sister of conservative commentator Pat Buchanan and a Mitt Romney campaign strategist, attended a fundraiser last night at the Hotel Monaco. It was hosted by and for the gay Republican group GOProud, which charged $50 per ticket to attend.

(One attendee was spotted wearing two buttons: one supporting Romney, the other Ron Paul. The attendee pointed to his Paul button. “It’s going to take his people,” he said, before pointing to the Romney button, “to get him elected.” The torn supporter may have missed the interview Paul did with Fox News last week. In it, Paul suggested he could vote for Gary Johnson.)

Because other news media — including Metro Weekly, Washington Blade and a random European publication — showed up to cover the small event (it was a cash bar, if that tells you anything), we were under the impression that the headliner would be taking questions. One other reporter in attendance said the same. And we were right. But Jimmy LaSalvia, GOProud’s co-founder, wouldn’t let Buchanan talk to media.

“We’re not doing questions,” LaSalvia said as Buchanan walked in. But after meeting Buchanan, FishbowlDC asked if she’d do a quick interview anyway. “Well, we’ll have to clear it with [LaSalvia],” she said gracefully. LaSalvia chimed in: “I’ll take care of the questions later.”

It was a kind gesture but we just weren’t sure Jimmy could tell us how he felt about his brother being canned from MSNBC; largely because LaSalvia’s brother, as it turns out, isn’t Pat Buchanan. We passed on the offer but hope he removes the stick from his ass.

Notables: Think tank E21′s Lisa De Pasquale, GOProud Co-Founder Chris Barron, Metro Weekly‘s Justin Snow and Washington Blade‘s Chris Johnson.

Quotable: “I just dripped all over my hand.”– LaSalvia, as he frantically wiped food from his hands with a napkin.

As Washington journalists waded through the muck of self-righteousness last week, you’d have thought Hilary Rosen was a pariah for saying that “Ann Romney has never worked a day in her life.” WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza declared that she had the “Worst Week in Washington” after the White House and even President Obama denounced her remarks. And likely that’s true. But another undeniable truth is that, but for CNN, many from both sides of the aisle came rushing to the CNN Contributor’s defense.

The network never ordered or asked her to apologize — she did that on her own. But we had to sit through Wolf Blitzer scolding her like she was a stay at home child. Isn’t there something she’d like to say to the camera to Ann Romney? We also had to witness the inevitable online degenerates who took to skanky commenting on both Hilary and Ann’s physical appearance, including how Hilary smells and her sexual orientation. (Anything that goes viral typically enters a sick phase of ugliness.) Rosen, who also works for SKDKnickerbocker, ultimately declined an invitation to appear on NBC’s “Meet the Press” this past Sunday. Host David Gregory said she had planned to be on the panel, but backed out because she didn’t want to ignite another firestorm. It appears abundantly clear they will have her back. We also had to endure Breitbart.com’s Dana Loesch praising presumed GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney for the “handling” of his wife, because what woman doesn’t want to be shown the ultimate respect by being handled by her husband? Now if only he could learn how to handle the media, she also jabbed. Take that, Bret Baier.

Let’s look at the rundown of those who came to Rosen’s defense:

1. WaPo‘s Ruth Marcus called her a friend and defended her remarks while Kathleen Parker, in what was perhaps the strongest condemnation of Rosen being turned into an outcast, wrote, “Women and men should be angry, all right, but not at Ann Romney or Hilary Rosen, who are entitled to both their opinions and their choices without fear of censure or condemnation.” 2. The Daily Caller‘s Tucker Carlson personally sung her praises on a conservative radio show. 3. FNC’s Greta Van Susteren argued with former top Bush aide Karl Rove about her, saying she is “a friend” and not anti-stay at home moms. 4. HBO’s Bill Maher defended her in a sarcastic rant about how this obviously means the Democrats are anti-stay at home moms. 5. Bay Buchanan defends Rosen, calling her “savvy” and “passionate” and “loyal” to the Obama administration. “She has been too good to them for them to treat her this way,” she said on CNN. 6. TIME‘s Judith Warner who wrote, “Hilary Rosen Was Right: Ann Romney Is Out of Touch with Most Women.” 7. The Nation‘s Jessica Valenti, who wrote, “Why Hilary Rosen is Right.” 8. A variety of journos explained that Rosengate is a “manufactured controversy” including WaPo‘s left-wing blogger Greg Sargent, who wrote an essay entitled, “The Hilary Rosen Controversy is Absurd.”

Imagine our delight when we opened up the mailbox here at the Fishbowl to find an advance copy of conservative pundit Bay Buchanan‘s upcoming book, “Bay and Her Boys.” It’s a book all about Buchanan’s struggles to raise her three boys by herself. While we couldn’t be bothered to read the thing in its entirety, we did flip through the pages scouring for tidbits. Which led us to this completely accurate excerpt from the book.

“I recounted Billy’s wild and crazy adventures as a male pimp. I described his drug habits and how he went from using to dealing. I explained that it was a gradual decline, a slippery slope that led him to his current lifestyle.”

This is HARDLY the prose we expected when we cracked open a Bay Buchanan book. In context, she was recounting a story about when one of her sons, Stuart, pranked his brother, Billy. Stuart filled out a college application form for Billy with the anecdote listed above. We can only hope that the rest of the book is filled with such entertaining stories. What, you don’t expect us to read the whole thing for you, do you?

Good morning Washington.