Quotes of the Day

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… Read more

Quotes of the Day — the Earthquake Hits D.C. Edition

One Cool Cat: WaPo‘s Ezra Klein during the Earthquake.

The Observer

“The Capitol is now open. Walking through the Rotunda we are seeing lots of paint chips covering the floor.” — NBC News Senate Producer Libby Leist in a Tuesday tweet.

A journo’s long ride home

“Here comes hell commute on the dc metro… trains and platforms sardined as trains creep along at 15 mph.” — NYT Washington reporter Charlie Savage in a Tuesday afternoon tweet.

At 2:13 p.m. an Anonymous Tipster writes in… 5.6 Earth Quake and most of DC in the Streets

The Media Critic I

“The earthquake seems to have made CNN extra vapid.” Wired.com’s Spencer Ackerman in a Tuesday tweet. We’re just glad Ack didn’t feel any need to dress up like a banana today. That wouldn’t be vapid, but strange in its own right.

The Media Critic II

“And am I the only one who thinks Ira Glass from NPR’s This American Life sounds incredibly bored with himself?” — A self-described “political geek” named Brian Perry.

Priorities….

“Please, remember the real victims: Pundits whose TV segments were bumped for #earthquake coverage.” — Slate‘s Dave Weigel in a Tuesday tweet.

Erickson Razzes Kristol

“That was no earthquake. It was just Bill Kristol learning yet another of his pipe dream candidates is not actually running for President.” — CNN Contributor and Red State’s Erick Erickson in a Tuesday tweet.

Reporter thanks Verizon for functioning

“Verizon, thanks for not crapping out today. AT&T, so weak, so weak. #dcearthquake” — HuffPost’s White House Correspondent Jennifer Bendery in a Tuesday tweet.

And Corn’s point is?

“Okay, back to work. Send me a tweet if there’s another one. Calls still aren’t coming through. #EarthTwake” — Mother Jones’ David Corn in a Tuesday tweet.

Kurtz’s unusual spelling of Gaddafi

“When I walked out, the Khadafy compound was under siege. Now it’s all #earthquake all the time. I guess local trumps everything.” — The Daily Beast’s Washington Bureau Chief Howard Kurtz in a Tuesday tweet. Though it looks unusual, technically Kurtz is not wrong. This is an acceptable way to refer to Muammar Gaddafi, which has a wide variety of spellings out there from G’s to Q’s to Qu to Qa and so forth.

Reporter offers campaign advice

“I know it’s tempting, GOP campaign flacks. But no earthquake-themed Obama jokes. Don’t do it. For the love of good comedy!” — RealClearPolitics’ Scott Conroy in a Tuesday tweet.

Local watering hole addresses the quake

“Yes – we are open. Accepting nominations for quake specials.” — CapLounge in a Tuesday tweet.

Necessary Tweet of the Day

“I complain TOO much, I know. Becoming the travel trauma king. TWO car accidents so far. I was NOT driving. no injuries but poor car.” — ABC7′s Stephen Tschida in a Tuesday message to FishbowlDC. To which we say, we love you Stephen and your dramatic travel habits. Don’t go changing, to try and please us. And enjoy the rest of your vacation.

If you missed the late-night story on The Daily Caller‘s Kurt Bardella returning to Rep. Darrell Issa‘s (R-Calif.) office, read it here.

Quote of the Day

Baby still refusing to come out, so we’re home. Wife: SOTU made him think he’d rather stay where he is for now.
– NYT’s Charlie Savage tweeted this yesterday, the day after spending the SOTU from the Georgetown Hospital delivery ward.

This is called a Yellow Regal Child fish.

Photo by Washingtonian. CBS’s Lara Logan, ABC’s Jan Crawford Greenburg, the Atlantic’s Joshua Green, Hotline’s Amy Walter, the WaPo’s Chris Cillizza, and the NYT’s Charlie Savage.

Washingtonian (and former FishbowlDC’er) Garrett Graff is out with the magazine’s picks for the “50 Top Journalists 2009.”

The list has existed in Washington since 1973 and is always put together based on interviews with various DC journos, though this year’s is particularly unique because of the changing landscape of journalism. Another milestone– for the first time since 1973, neither David Broder or Bob Novak appear, as both retired from what the mag calls “day-to-day journalism” in 2009.

By our count, WaPo leads with ten journos, NYT not far behind with nine and relatively new, Politico has nabbed two well-deserved spots on the list (Mike Allen and Jeanne Cummings). On the TV side, NBC and ABC are tied with three each; CBS and CNN each have two.

Check out the list in its entirety here.

From the NPC:

Iraq Study Group co-chairmen James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton will address a National Press Club luncheon on Monday, June 11, as part of the annual Gerald R. Ford Foundation Journalism Awards presentation.

Former Secretary of State Baker and former Indiana Rep. Hamilton will pay tribute to the 38th President and answer questions on such issues as implementation of recommendations made by their bi-partisan Iraq Study Group in December 2006. Jack Ford, son of the late President and director of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, will present the foundation’s annual awards for outstanding coverage of the presidency and national defense issues.

Baker and Hamilton have wide experience in political, diplomatic and national security issues. Baker served in the administrations of three presidents, including as undersecretary of Commerce for President Ford, Chief of Staff and Secretary of the Treasury for President Ronald Reagan and Secretary of State for President George H.W. Bush. He led presidential campaigns for those three Presidents and currently serves as honorary chairman of the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University.

Hamilton served for 34 years in the House of Representatives, where he was the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee and chaired the Intelligence Committee. He is President and Director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and sits on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board and the Homeland Security Advisory Council. He also co-chairs the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future and was vice chairman of the 9/11 commission.

The National Press Club luncheon will begin promptly at 12:30 p.m. Remarks will begin at 1 p.m. followed by a question-and-answer session. Reservations can be made by calling (202) 662-7501 or email reservations@press.org. Cost of the luncheon is $16 for National Press Club members, $28 for guests of Club members and $35 for general admission.

Charlie Savage is the recipient of this year’s award.

Check them out here.

>UPDATE: Locally, The Boston Globe’s Charlie Savage was one of the few winners, taking home a Pulitzer “for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs, in print or in print and online, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).” Savage was honored “for his revelations that President Bush often used ‘signing statements’ to assert his controversial right to bypass provisions of new laws.”

Says one Postie:

Good thing there’s breaking news to distract everybody. Such a change from last year, when we were headed to the Hay Adams for a celebration. Though chances are pretty good that there’s at least one award coming TWP’s way next year, thanks to the Walter Reed coverage.

The Postie tells us that the VT story, and not the Pulitzers, has dominated the attention of the Post today. “Senior editors have been in and out of meetings and huddling at the virginia desk all day. there was one virginia tech story meeting earlier that included almost two dozen editors.”

>UPDATE: Another local tie: Andrea Elliott (feature writing winner from the NYT) was born in Washington, D.C.

>UPDATE: Another reader writes in:

Amazing the Post got shut out of the Pulitzers — and two of the winners were cited for their “online” reporting, which is the Post’s claimed home turf. So much for the primacy of washingtonpost.com. Ouch.