Now let’s proceed to the really important stuff.

If you were a carbonated beverage which would you be? Cherry Coke Zero

How often do you Google yourself? Once or twice a year.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor (or vice versa)? My old boss, Jim Farley, who hired me twice – first at NBC years ago and later at WTOP – taught me WGAS: “Who gives a shit?” It has universal applications today and I’ve used it to great effect in various times and places. WGAS is also text-friendly.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? Anyone who understands it’s not about them. Anyone who eschews the limelight and simply focuses on finding things out, communicating about it well and not pretending to be an expert or feeling compelled to have an opinion on everything.

Who is your favorite White House reporter and why? The wire service folks are usually the best. Not flashy, just solid, nose-to-the-grindstone types day in and day out. I really admire them.

Do you have a favorite word? “Dada.” Uttered by a certain 17-month old little girl.

What word or phrase do you overuse? “Dumb ass.” Use it a lot.

Who would you rather have dinner with – CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, CNN’s John King or CNN’s Piers Morgan. Tell us why. I think John King is an honest, hard-working, straight shooter guy. You know what I like about him? He made a mistake during the Boston coverage and dealt with it in a transparent, humble and honest way. People err – and it’s how they deal with it – for better or worse – that I remember. I tend to get along well with people like that.

What is the most interesting conversation you’ve had in awhile in the course of your work and who was it with? If I hadn’t hung up on Ronald Reagan in 1990, it might have been the time when, on a dare, I called him at home in 1990. This was a year after he left the White House. The Reagans were living in Bel Air and I never thought he would answer the phone himself. But I heard that famous voice: “Hello?” on the other end, freaked out and hung up. To use my favorite word, I was such a dumb ass. So I guess the answer would be the time I downed vodka shots with Boris Yeltsin at a Fourth of July party at Spaso House, the home of the U.S. Ambassador to Russia. I was lurking by the bar when he came over and we wound up downing a few and chatting. That’s what you do in Russia. Drink. Talk. Drink some more.

Tell us a funny story from the White House Briefing Room. Can be long or short. There used to be a guy named Lester Kinsolving, who used to show up in the briefing every day. Haven’t seen him in many months. He used to ask the most bizarre, completely out of left field questions imaginable on completely obscure, irrelevant matters. Bush’s flacks and now Obama’s used to call on him as a diversion. And, in this digital age, he used to carry a giant cassette recorder around with him like it was 1983 or something. Not picking on Lester, he is a nice guy. Hope he’s OK.

Without naming names, tell us some shitty thing that happened in the course of you covering the White House… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was a blur this year as stars, journalists, nerdy political types — and Psy — rubbed elbows. Well, not Psy, he was busy smoking. But the rest of ‘em fawned and frolicked around the Washington Hilton oohing and ahhing at one another’s evening wear. People watching was admittedly pretty phenomenal. As evidenced by the shrieks coming from young, female bystanders salivating at the mere sight of a star. Each time an actor or well-known journalist walked by, they screamed and barked things out at them like faux paparazzi. In a moment of hilarity, one journalist, who shall remain nameless, was heard biting a security employee’s head off as they kept constantly trying to herd and push a small smattering of people waiting by the door from one end to the other. “I have two tickets, I have a right to be here and I’m not moving,” the person snapped in a display of spectacular irritation. Security immediately backed right down and eased away. And the lesson is? Yelling wins! (By the way, pictured above: actress Kate Walsh.)

4:35 p.m. Betsy tells Eddie she need 15 more minutes. He replies, “Are you trying to squeeze in a size 8 dress again?”

5:42 p.m. Eddie is running slightly behind because he has no idea how to tie a bow-tie and he couldn’t get the Tucker Carlson consult. As usual, Carlson skipped out of town for the WHCD. We learned later in the evening that he’s in New Orleans riding Go Karts with Daily Caller Publisher Neil Patel.

6:13 p.m. Settling in at the lobby of the Washington Hilton for some major people watching. MC Hammer sighting. Girls screaming, “WOO HOO! WOO HOO!”

6:14 p.m. TIME‘s Zeke Miller enters in a wrinkly blazer.

6:15 p.m. DJ at Atlantic party may have Tourette’s. Ticking and chirping, etc…

6:16 p.m. Fox News Correspondent Peter Doocy sighting. This guy is too tall and everywhere this weekend.

6:17 p.m. Washington Examiner Nikki Schwab sighting. Her hair is in curls this evening. Very pleasant interaction.

6:18 p.m. Woman walks into the Hilton wearing a kimono.

6:19 p.m. It’s Kathleen Turner. The gaggle of girls in the lobby: “Kathleen we love you!!!”

6:20 p.m. Amy Poehler walks by. “Ahh ahh we love you Amy!”

6:21 p.m. CBS’ Gayle King has entered the hotel in a stunner of a kelly green gown by Vicky Tiel.

6:22 p.m. A rando woman who won’t stop yapping is saying to her friends, “I’m walking around the house going, does this match?”

6:23  p.m. The NPR greeter awaiting NPR party guests in the front of the hotel looks like he should be at the airport. He’s a vision of nerdy perfection.

6:24 p.m. Washington Examiner‘s Byron York walks into the hotel and promptly walks down the wrong set of stairs.

6: 25 p.m. It’s Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera! He’s all smiles for anyone who approaches. Up close his mustache is nothing short of thick and amazing.

6:27 p.m. A Jon Huntsman sighting. He walks in with a lovely blonde (presumably his wife) on his arm.

6:28 p.m. We get reprimanded for the second time for standing in the “wrong” place. Is there a right place? Who knows?

6:30 p.m. Holy shit. It’s Nicole Kidman. Bradley Cooper follows shortly thereafter.

6: 32 p.m. House Maj. Leader Eric Cantor is hanging out by the entrance.

6:35 p.m. Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis drawing major stares in the lobby. Wilde’s flowing chocolate brown dress is unbelievable beautiful.

6:37 p.m. A young woman walking with CBS “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley has ample cleavage.

6:40 p.m. Sightings: White House Press Sec. Jay Carney. Chicago Sun Times‘ Clarence Page. Kathleen Sebelius. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

6:41 p.m. Dave Weigel, a big FishbowlDC fan, has been spotted. Later he’ll watch us like a hawk even though we’re not snapping his picture tonight or bothering him whatsoever.

6:45 p.m. The kid from Glee! is here. Wasn’t he at Tammy’s?

6:50 p.m. Publicist and Hollywood on the Potomac blogger Janet Donovan spotted in the bar line at the Atlantic, CBS, NJ pre-party. Janet insists this is her last year doing this. “I’ve been doing this since 1971,” she says wearily. “Enough is enough.”

6:55 p.m. Bob Schieffer holding court at the CBS party. Worlds colliding. Glee! kid spotted talking to Mother Jones Bureau Chief David Corn. WTF?

6:59 p.m. CBS news anchor and producer Julie Chen stands out in bright pink dress that may have been the second best frock of the evening. Olivia Wilde’s gown was hard to beat.

7 p.m. Andy Cohen from Bravo is here. He has some schmutz on his blazer.

7: 05 p.m. Overheard: “He’s very brave here coming with his ugly wife.”

7:06 p.m. Reince Priebus sighting. Later he’ll be a dumb joke in Conan’s monologue.

7:16 p.m. Ed Helms telling his girlfriend that people come here “for the food.”

7:17 p.m. Psy‘s handlers are a bunch of asses. “No, we did red carpet interviews. We’re not doing any more.” Regarding Psy and pictures, guest says, “This isn’t Korea. This is America.”

7:18 p.m. Peter cuts U.S. Treasury Sec. Jack Lew in a line. Way to go Peter!

7:19 p.m. CNBC’s Jim Cramer is yelling. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

One recent example was when Marty asked Buzzfeed’s DC Bureau Chief, John Stanton, “Hello John, Describe what it’s like Being the DC Bureau Chief at Buzzfeed.com? I’m a Political News Junkie Online!” Stanton took the time to reply that it was “loads of fun,” even when he has to edit Evan McMorris-Santoro.

But it was a recent conversation with a Fishbowl Favorite that really caught our attention.  continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

But today, Daily Download founder, CNN “Reliable Sources” regular and Daily Beast Contributor Lauren Ashburn goes to the well of mistakes 10 times in a story timestamped April 8 on cable’s gender wars and the snarl between FNC’s Bill O’Reilly and conservative radio host Laura Ingraham last week.

One. Two. Even three errors? Fine, forgivable. A terrible given at times in a world where copy editors are scarce. But 10 looks like you took too much Ambien and wrote the story while driving to 7-Eleven after consuming a midnight snack you can’t remember eating. Let’s be honest. Ten looks like Denzel Washington in Flight in which he gets obliterated, wakes up to lines of coke, downs one or five screwdrivers and turns the plane upside down.

Does someone need a few days at the beach?

Also curious, at the bottom is a note explaining that the story first appeared in The Daily Beast, which, in fact, it did on April 5 under Ashburn’s byline and this headline:

Bill O’Reilly’s Macho Moment in On-Air Confrontation With Laura Ingraham

Compare this to Daily Download‘s headline:

Cable’s Gender Wars: Bill O’Reilly Vs. Laura Ingraham

The explanatory note reads: “This piece brought to you through our content partnership with The Daily Beast, where it first appeared.”

As many know, Howard Kurtz, on the board of The Daily Download, also writes for Daily Beast-Newsweek and hosts CNN’s “Reliable Sources.” And Ashburn herself is a Daily Beast contributor, as stated above. But strangely enough, only a fraction of the errors turned up in The Daily Beast‘s story — just one, the incorrect spelling of “smoothe.” Which means something went incredibly awry when they transferred the story. Maybe try cut and pasting?

We requested comment from Ashburn on the “content partnership” between The Daily Download and The Daily Beast and what exactly that means. We also mentioned the 10 errors in case she has a comment on those.

See the parade of errors in the Daily Download story…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

When WaPo‘s Bob Woodward, a guy who has figured out how to bring out the toddler in Democrats and Republicans, claimed on Wednesday that he was threatened by the White House, a media debate started over what exactly constitutes a “threat.”

After Woodward said this week that it was the Obama administration which came up with the sequester idea, a White House official (Gene Sperling, Director of the White House Economic Council) emailed Woodward to say he’d “regret staking out that claim.”

In a subsequent interview with Politico, Woodward maintained that it was indeed a threat. “Come on,” he said. “I think if Obama himself saw the way they’re dealing with some of this, he would say, ‘Whoa, we don’t tell any reporter ‘you’re going to regret challenging us.’”

Some sided with Woodward. Others said the “regret” line was nothing, similar to telling someone he’d be proven wrong in time… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

On his Fox News program last night Bill O’Reilly called out Howard Kurtz of CNN and The Daily Beast for allegedly misrepresenting O’Reilly’s recent criticism of NBC News.

In a segment with Fox News liberal contributor Bob Beckel last week, O’Reilly said NBC News wasn’t being critical in its coverage of the Obama administration and its drone program. This, even though it was NBC News that broke the story about the administration deeming it legal to target and kill Americans that appear to be terrorists. Kurtz pointed out the seeming contradiction on his Sunday CNN show Reliable Sources.

Referring to Kurtz as “my pal,” O’Reilly called him out for having “echoed the distortion” that he was unfairly critical of NBC News. “Are you kidding me, Howard?,” O’Reilly said. He went on to say that though NBC broke the story, none of the network’s news correspondents offered any negative analysis.

In a later segment, media critic Bernard Goldberg said he spoke with Kurtz via email and that Kurtz’s critique was… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Say hello to WTOP’s National Security Correspondent JJ Green, who has worked at the station since 2004. Asked for his thoughts on new versus old media, he replied, “I’ve always been sort of forward leading when it comes to technology. The title for my senior thesis for broadcast journalism was ‘Selected Implications of Satellite Electronic Surveillance.’” Mr. Smartypants graduated from Hampton University, near Virgina Beach. “I had no idea, no understanding that led me to believe I’d be involved in covering national security now. I had no clue, no interest and look where I ended up.” Green praises new media, but stresses that you still have to go that extra step of verification. “We’re so breathless now, with so many other avenues and sources for people to get their news that there is pressure individually to want to keep up and be recognized,” he said. “We have to be really careful when using social media.” Green covers global intelligence and terrorism. His career history is extensive, but we’ll give you highlights. He came to Washington in 1989 to work as a reporter for WMAL radio. After working as a weekend reporter on FOX-5 WTTG in the early 90s, he worked on air as a correspondent-in-training on ABC News NIGHTLINE. He covered various elements of the O.J. Simpson trial and race relations. Asked if he thinks O.J. was guilty, he said, “No, I did not and I do not now have an opinion on that. As a journalist, I don’t think that my opinion really counts when it comes to covering the news.” Green’s resume includes working at CNN, where he covered The Million Man March and The Balkan Peace Talks as a general assignment reporter in Washington. In the late 90s he began working for the Voice of America Television and as host and correspondent of Africa Journal while traveling extensively. Don’t try trash talking him in another language. He’s fluent in Spanish, speaks working level French and is studying Korean and Arabic. Among the problems he faces with government public affairs is they have lumped radio into one pool, so that it all appears to be talk radio. “WTOP is a news radio station not a talk radio station,” Green said fervently. “We have people who do opinion for us. It’s not designed to be a talk radio station.”  In 1996, Green landed what he looks at now as “the” job: host of C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal.” Asked if he kept a straight face with callers, he said, “I think I laughed once while I was at C-SPAN. A caller phoned in and said ‘Dude, you dress almost as nicely as Brian Lamb.’ I cleared by throat and regained my seriousness.” Lamb is purportedly a great dresser. And Green? “I like nice clothes.”

If you were a carbonated beverage, which would you be? One that is finished.

How often do you Google yourself? Whenever someone says “hey have you googled yourself lately?”

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)? “No” is the worst I’ve ever said. Thoughts are another matter.

Have you ever goofed up on air? What happened? Yes, a colleague at a radio station, who shall not be named, sneaked into the radio studio years ago and lit my news copy on fire and I huffed and puffed my way through it.  True story.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? Tavis Smiley, because one day when I used to host C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” and I was getting hammered by some guy on the phone for being political, which I was clearly not, Tavis, who was my guest, immediately pivoted from the cool intelligent scholar he is and verbally assaulted this guy on live television to get him off my back.

Do you have a favorite word? Yes… is my favorite word. No is such a waste of effort.

Who are you named after and what are people’s general reaction to your name? I’m named after JJ Green Sr. So Jessie James Green Jr. is my full name and our middle name, James, came from his mom’s maiden name. She was not inspired to name her son after a gunslinger.

Who would you rather have dinner with – NBC’s Brian Williams, CNN’s Roland Martin, ABC’s Sherri Shepherd or Fox News’ Megyn Kelly? Tell us why. I’d choose NBC’s Brian Williams, because I tell him how Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube are always cutting up at the Pentagon gaggle. No actually, I’d ask him if he wanted to switch jobs for about 10 years. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

What was the highlight of Inauguration for you? The highlight for me was standing int he press line during the red carpet and seeing Jesse Jackson Sr. standing right next to us. He’s just one of those people who has an aura about him when he walks in a room. Also, doing the show. That’s why we came to town. That was really exciting. It was a real honor to be asked to be part of that celebration because they do a lot of great work on behalf of the arts.

Are you an Obama supporter? I definitely supported him in the last election. I couldn’t get behind the Republicans’ views on women’s issues and marriage equality. I don’t know, I just felt like they are really out of touch with what is going on in America. Just like Joe the cabdriver, it’s the same thing. Joe the cabdriver gets to have a political opinion, so I’m entitled to mine.

What do you like and hate about Washington? I love the Smithsonian. I’m a real dork for that kind of stuff. I love Georgetown, I love all the row houses, I love the feel and energy of this city. The only thing I hate is the traffic and I live in LA. It’s a beautiful city and it’s got so much character and it’s old and I like it.

Who are your favorite members of the media? I enjoy watching Chris Matthews a lot. He reminds me of a throwback to the older school kind of pundits like Tim Russert. I like George Will, I don’t agree with him particularly, but he’s probably the smartest conservative out there. I refuse to listen to Rush Limbaugh. I listen to a lot of conservative radio when I drive around in my car. I refuse to listen to him because he’s just ridiculous, just a clown. I love Rachel Maddow obviously. Jon Stewart. I know it’s a comedy show, but its probably one of the most informative shows out there. Stephanie Miller! I love her! Like ughhh, she’s the best. I agree with her views on issues, I think they check her facts pretty carefully. She’s got an insane sense of humor. It’s nice to see Tim Russert’s son [Luke Russert] in there and doing well too. I was brought up in a very blue collar, Democratic, pro-union house and that’s soaked into your DNA.

Do you have an opinion about Beyoncé lip syncing America the Beautiful? There’s no question in my mind that even if it was a computer playing it back because it was 20 degrees outside, she actually sang whatever on the page. She is brilliant. When you’re in situations like that and the whole world is watching on television, no one plays live on the Super Bowl. There’s no time for a mistake. Could she have sang that live? Absolutely. It was freezing out there. Unless you know how incredibly hard it is to sing when it’s 25 degrees out there, your opinion means nothing.

Have you ever been burned by the media? No. Not really. Maybe a nasty review of my work in a magazine, but who cares?

Does TMZ follow you around? I’m not dating an actress or a supermodel. Nobody is throwing me out of Hyde.

What networks or cable shows do you prefer? I do watch Fox. Sometimes I really enjoy watching Bill O’Reilly. It’s interesting because the older he gets, the more moderate he seems to get. Sort of like watching the end of how the Grinch stole Christmas. I still have hope for him. I can’t discount that everyone I’ve mentioned is part of an agenda. There is no fairness doctrine with the media and you spend time watching everyone and give them equal time.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“Remember, there are no standards in cyberspace,” O’Reilly said, cautioning viewers to be skeptical of what they see online.

He used a post by Sarlin as an example –  a writeup on Sen. Marco Rubio‘s (R-Fla.) recent appearance on the show. It referenced a well-known exchange on illegal immigrants and drunk driving between O’Reilly and his FNC colleague Geraldo Rivera. Sarlin described O’Reilly as “a host who once got into an on-air screaming match with Geraldo Rivera over whether to blame drunk driving deaths on illegal immigration.”

According to O’Reilly, it was an unfair characterization. “This is a complete lie,” he said. “Everybody’s seen that chat I had with Rivera. It was about illegal-alien crime. violent crime. That’s what it was about.” He continued, “So, Benjy knows that. But he’s lying.”

At least they put up a nice photo of Sarlin while shoving a boot up his ass.

O’Reilly went on to say… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“It’s by no means universal,” Sherman told FishbowlDC. “It’s more nuanced. They’re just taking a low-key approach.”

Sherman’s initial story said FNC’s weekend producer David Clark had instructed lower producers not to broach gun control, given the current sensitivity of the subject. Despite the email, gun control was discussed several different times that weekend (13 times, by Jeff Poor‘s count at The Daily Caller). Stories in both The Hollywood Reporter and The Daily Caller pointed these instances out, though Sherman’s story did as well.

Since then, a few seemingly contradictory events have taken place in the FNC world… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

1. Which journo would you most want to spend the holidays with?

Dear God, do I have to? I’m fairly certain Hell would be filled with more cheer. But since I’m obligated to answer, I’ll put it to you this way – depends on the holiday.

Hanukkah – Chris Hayes, Ezra Klein, Dave Weigel and the rest of the Boy Banders. Some are Jewish, some aren’t, but that doesn’t matter because I’d imagine it would be an 8-day bender. Come to think of it, any 8-day stretch with them is probably a bender, and it would be a lot like hanging out at a hipster bar after all the hipsters moved on because the wannabes started outnumbering them. And I value my IQ points too much to emerge myself in that much MSNBC so I’ll just limit it to one MSNBCer and revise my remarks to Al Sharpton. This may seem like an odd choice but I think picking up all the remarks he mutters under his breath each of the 8-days would be amusing.

Christmas – Bill O’Reilly. Aside from the embarrassing gang on Fox & Friends, no one has done more to defend Christmas from idiots who seem only to engage in their “War on Christmas” to get publicity for their fringe group no one has ever heard of before or will hear from again than Bill. And I imagine the whole day will be spent tackling anyone who tries to TP a pine tree since he never stops.

Kwanza – Lawrence O’Donnell and Ed Schultz. Why would I pick the two whitest men on the planet next to Sean Hannity to spend a little-known, radical separatist black holiday with?  Because I think they’d try to celebrate it to prove they’re multi-cultural and would have no idea how to do it. Can you imagine anything more amusing than watching them trying on Dashikis and trying to mean it? I can’t.

Boxing Day – Howie Kurtz: For no particular reason.

Or course this is all moot, or at least most of it, since the world is ending on Dec. 21^st. So I’d just like to say thank you to the Mayans for saving me from this Hell.

2. Do you have high hopes that Jeff Zucker will really shake things up at CNN? 

Am I supposed to? I don’t have high hopes that the guy who sucked up NBC and re-unleashed Katie Couric on the world will be able to patch the hole in that Titanic. He’d have a better shot, and I’d probably actually care, if he were one of the Zuckers who brought us the movie “Airplane!” But he’s not, so I don’t.

Read about reporters sleeping with their sources… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Spoken like a true gentleman with bad hair

“Pervert alert. Rep. Weiner is back on twitter. All girls under the age of 18, block him immediately.” — former possible thought about it for 20 minutes GOP Presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

A fitting ending

“Back row by toilet on last shuttle out of Boston to DC – election 2012 version of last helicopter out of Saigon.” — The Daily Mail‘s Toby Harnden.

Important Q to Ponder: “Whats the going rate that the tooth fairy gives for a baby tooth these days?” — ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper.

Compliments from Manhattan

“BuzzFeed DC killing it today, which is good bc some of us are barely functional up here today.” — BuzzFeed Political Editor Ben Smith.

Moving on (sort of, not really)

“State Dept press corps cracking jokes today about how many Congressional hearings on Benghazi we’ll have to cover, fueled by GOP vengeance.” — McClatchy foreign policy reporter Hannah Allam.

And now for the more important things in life…

“Garrett’s Caramel Corn. If you’ve had it, I need not say more. Just raise a hand and smack your lips. Yum!” — NPR’s Michele Norris.

“A fun evening out at @washingtonian‘s Whiskey Fest. Finally got to taste Vermont’s own, Whistlepig Whiskey.” — Washingtonian Editor Garrett Graff.

The Movie Critic?

“OVERRATED 007! Caught show in London last week, Marble Arch. Low budget comes thru on screen, no gadgets, locations by Priceline.com.” — Matt Drudge.

GOP’s eat their own

“Bill O’Reilly is totally full of crap in his analysis.” — Conservative blogger and former TWTer Robert Stacy McCain on the FNC host.

Want to join Glenn Beck in jumping off a cliff? Also: The gay harassment of FBDC’s Peter Ogburn’s continues… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Secondly, what’s with the content? This whole thing gets teed up like it’s the frigging Oscars and she mentions a book party that The Daily Caller is having for it’s new book about President Obama being a lizard or something like that. That’s what she LEADS with. The followup is the story about those two little media personalities known as Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly. Good idea to bury that item. Then again, it’s not like she gives ANY new info on the event they are having. We are told when and where the event takes place, but that was news two weeks ago. Oh, but she also tells us that they plan to “debate political issues.” No shit? They’re debating politics? Those two guys? Weird. I figured they were going to have an extended banjo-picking jam session.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Say hello to Greg Sargent. He’s the guy manning WaPo‘s liberal “Plum Line” blog. Sargent joined WaPo in 2009, after having worked at Talking Points Memo, New York magazine and The Observer.

In the past, FishbowlDC has documented (at great length) the Twitter brawls between Sargent and his conservative counterpart Jennifer Rubin. He typically doesn’t respond to any of our comment requests on the battles, but luckily we got him to partake in the FishbowlDC interview.

Let’s begin…

If you were a carbonated beverage, which would you be?

Scotch and soda.

How often do you Google yourself?

Relentlessly. How else can I keep up with all that abuse?

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)?

Take your butter and shove it! (To my boss at a restaurant where I worked as a busboy in my teens — he’d criticized me for giving customers too much butter with their bread.)

Who is your favorite working journalist and why?

Pleading the Fifth.

Do you have a favorite word?

Yes!

Who would you rather have dinner with – FNC’s Bill O’Reilly, NBC’s Brian Williams or ABC’s Diane Sawyer? Tell us why.

Bill O’Reilly. I want to get a close-up view of his fascinating case of Soros paranoia.

The Earth’s human population is dying out and you must save it. You will spend a romantic evening with either CNN’s Candy Crowley or FNC’s Greta Van Susteren (significant others will understand). Who will it be?

Sorry, no can do. My significant other is not quite that understanding.

What swear word do you use most often?

Fuckshitfuckshitfuckshitfuckshit

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.)

Charles Dickens, George Orwell, Samuel Clemens, and William Lloyd Garrison.

On a serious note for a moment, if you could have dinner with a person who has died, who would it be?

Abraham Lincoln.

Who is your favorite Boybander and why? (Ezzy, Hazy, Weigel, Attackerman, Beutler)

Beutler. He gets what my son is about. And he likes chess.

When you pig out what do you eat?

Chicken tacos with coleslaw and jalapeno/cilantro salsa.

What is your absolute favorite item of clothing in your closet? We want the fabric, the brand, the store and the price if possible. If it’s a certain kind of underwear we don’t want to know about it.

My Led Zeppelin t-shirt. But I’m not sure what it’s made of at this point.

Find out what bodily function led to Sargent getting a ticket after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In the midst of the chaos, we captured shots of some of our favorite convention goers for your pleasure. Enjoy!

Radio host Geraldo Rivera was “ambushed” by a Fox News reporter and TV crew. When the crew came up behind Rivera, he squealed, “Oh my goodness, is this a real Bill O’Reilly ambush?!”

While walking around the area, we spotted this young lady wearing a sharp, black dress with awful hot pink running shoes matched with these loud argyle socks.

On our walk to the convention center, I spotted this doughy doppelgänger. We’ll just call him Abraham Lincoln, Doughnut Hunter.

What’s a political convention without freebies? Throughout the day there are food samples, literature and even massages. Here is one delegate receiving one of the complimentary rubdowns.

After a long day of freak spotting, I just wanted to go to the hotel, watch a little TV and grab a party nap. Unfortunately, this lady decided that she didn’t want to watch what I was watching and stuck her ass in my face while she looked for something else on the idiot box. Smile, lady! You’re on Fishbowl Charlotte!

The weirdness didn’t end when I got back in my rental car for the evening. As I was backing out, I spotted a pants-less man digging through his car for some clothes, a toothbrush and possibly some self-respect. Not sure if he ever found it, but here’s the grainy pic taken from the rear-view camera in my rental car. You have been warned.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.