Frank Bruni

Bruni argues that with more and more celebs putting their names on cologne and perfume, D.C. politicians need their own. As far as I can tell, this is a satirical piece from Bruni, but usually satire has hints of humor. This just reads like a fever dream that Bruni once had where he fantasized about what members of Congress smelled like. (Spoiler alert: They smell like martinis, shirt starch and shamelessness.)

Now, this is a odd idea to begin with. It’s not like these politicians are popular people. Just look at the approval ratings of Congress and you’d know that a minority of Americans like what they see. Why would anyone want to smell like Congress? Bruni writes, “Think about it. Actors, athletes, models and singers have signature scents. Snooki has two. So why not one for the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee?” Gee, Frank…  I don’t know why no one ever made the connection that since people buy merchandise that’s been endorsed by professional athletes, they’d be JUST as willing to buy stuff from Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Ill.) whose brand might be Au de Fatass, a lovely blend of his favorite foods, shrimp and Cheetos. Or Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), whose scent may be something young, fresh, beachy and Dominican.

Which politicos get their own cologne? continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

#1 Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
#2 Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State
#3 Sheila Bair, Chair of FDIC
#4 Christina Romer, Chair of White House Council of Economic Advisers
#5 Valerie Jarrett, Senior Presidential Adviser
#6 Mary Schapiro, Chair of SEC
#7 Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, Senators
#8 Carol Browner, White House Adviser on Energy/Climate Change
#9 Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney general for Antitrust
#10 Karen Ignagni, CEO, America’s health Insurance Plans

Check out the picture gallery and the reasons each of these power playas made Fortune’s cut here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

ABC’s This Week w/ Jake Tapper (Steph on vacay): Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT). Rountable with Donna Brazile, Nat. Journal’s Ron Brownstein, Anne Kornblut of WaPo, Rep. Strategist Ed Gillespie

NBC’s Meet the Press: Senator Tom Coburn, former Congressman Dick Armey, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Gov. Bill Ritter, Rep. Charlie Rangel, former Senator Tom Daschle and Chamber of Commerce’s Executive VP of Government Affairs Bruce Josten

Fox News Sunday: Sen. Kent Conrad(D), Sen. Richard Shelby(R),
J. James Rohack, M.D., President of the American Medical Association, John Rother, Executive Vice President for Policy and Strategy at AARP.

CNN’s State of the Union with John King: Sec. Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR) on health care. James Carville and Mary Matalin on “Sound of Sunday.”

CNN’s Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz: NYT’s Jeff Zeleny, Conservative Commentator Amy Holmes, WaPo’s Ruth Marcus on coverage of health care town hall. Pop culture analyst Lola Ogunnaike and Balto Sun’s TV critic David Zurawik on Kate Gosselin & Octo-mom reality series.

CNN’s GPS with Fareed Zakaria: Sec. of State Hillary Clinton, Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to the US and Prime Minister of Kenya Raila Odinga.

NBC’s The Chris Matthews Show: Richard Stengel, managing editor, TIME; Trish Regan of CNBC; John Heilemann of New York Magazine; and Kathleen Parker, Washington Post columnist.

Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal: Janet Hook of the Los Angeles Times, TIME Mag’s Michael Duffy, Nat. Journal’s James Kitfield and Janine Zacharia of Bloomberg News.

Bloomberg’s Political Capital with Al Hunt:

We’ll update as we learn them.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The journos were arrested in March and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor in June for illegally entering the country and engaging in “hostile acts.”

On NBC’s “Meet the Press” two weeks ago Secretary Hillary Clinton said the State Department was working on the reporters’ situtation “literally every day.”

>>UPDATE: White House press secretary Robert Gibbs released this statement by email Tuesday morning: “While this solely private mission to secure the release of two Americans is on the ground, we will have no comment. We do not want to jeopardize the success of former President Clinton’s mission.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

On June 7, when George Stephanopoulos snagged Clinton, “This Week” posted 3.11 million total viewers and 1.05 million adults 25-54 (demo).

In all fairness, the week that Steph talked with Clinton, “Meet” was preempted. However, when “This Week” was preempted two weeks before, Gregory’s numbers were hardly affected.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was NBC’s David Gregory‘s guest for the full hour of yesterday’s Meet the Press.

Among the topics discussed- international affairs, health care, Sarah Palin, what it’s like to work with her former presidential campaign opponent, and the two reporters imprisoned in North Korea since March.

Gregory: Finally on this, two U.S. captives, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, two journalists in captivity now; is there a feeling that some of the tough talk that you had with the North Koreans this week, this sort of exchange of insults, does it make their situation more dangerous?

Clinton: We believe that this is on a separate track. This is an issue that should be resolved by the North Koreans granting amnesty and allowing these two young women to come home as quickly as possible.

Gregory: Are you making progress?

Clinton: Well, we have—are certainly pursuing every lead we have. The messages that we’ve received from the young women both through our protecting power, the Swedish ambassador, and through the messages and phone calls they’ve had with their families are that they’re being treated well, that they have been given the supplies that they need. But obviously, they want to resolve this, as we do, and we work on it literally every day.

This exchange begins about 8 minutes into the clip above. (h/t BayNewser)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

According to MTP‘s website: “She’ll go one-on-one with David Gregory about her role in the Obama administration and the many hot spots around the globe: Nuclear threats in Iran and North Korea; Fighting terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan; the continuing war in Iraq; her trip this week to India and Thailand; and upcoming talks with China.”

Clinton’s first Sunday show appearance as Secretary of State was June 7th on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good morning FishbowlDC!

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line.

Happy Birthday to Anne Schroder Mullins! What we know and what we’re reading this Monday morning…

TV | ONLINE | NEWS NOTES | REVOLVING DOOR | JOBS

TV

The 7 Best Moments from Sunday Talk, brought to us by The Daily Beast.

TVNewser: ABC’s Bob Woodruff returned to Iraq today for the first time since being injured by a roadside bomb in January 2006. He is traveling with Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and will be reporting for ABC News’ broadcasts and platforms. His first report will air tonight on “World News with Charles Gibson.”

Woodruff blogs about his decision on The World Newser. “I feel extremely privileged to be back to reporting and to have recovered as well as I did. It is an honor for me to continue to highlight the stories of this conflict to our audience,” he writes.

Fox News Justice correspondent Shannon Bream‘s featured in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. She describes covering the Sotomayor hearings as “great for a legal geek like me.”

WaPo‘s Howard Kurtz profiles CBS The Early Show‘s Maggie Rodriguez.

PBS’ Jim Lehrer will interview Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke, TVNewser reports.

More on Fox News remembering Tony Snow.

More on Anderson Cooper‘s interview with President Obama in Ghana here and here.

ONLINE

NYT: Findings suggested traditional news sites were typically ahead of blogs by two and a half hours when a story line spread.

NEWS NOTES

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the U.S. is now seeking “amnesty” for Current TV journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee who have been detained in North Korea since March.

“I cannot think… of any other politician, not a president, not a vice president, not a candidate, whose children have been so readily focused on and trashed and ridiculed by mainstream media.” That was radio host Michael Medved on Kurtz’s Reliable Sources yesterday on CNN.

Drew Barrymore is shooting a movie in the NY headquarters of the AP this week.

HAT TIPS: mediabistro

THE REVOLVING DOOR and JOBS after the jump…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

What is the biggest obstacle you’ve overcome in your career? The biggest challenge was having faith in myself. It took a long time. What helped was concentrating on the people who want – and need – the information I was giving them and not concentrating on myself and how I came across.

Any regrets? Absolutely no regrets about the work, although I wish the day were longer than 24 hours so I could spend more time with the people I love.

You’ve held positions for CNN all over the world. What was your favorite and why? Moscow – hands down. It’s a country with amazing people and a strong and beautiful culture that attracted me from the first day I started studying it and the Russian language.

What single person has played the biggest role or has had the biggest influence on your career? There have been several. But I think back to my college teacher, Sister Kathleen Dierdre Guerin, who taught me to love words and how to write.

What is the biggest challenge that Hillary Clinton will face in her new role? Making her case to President Obama on issues she cares about and has opinions about…with which he might not agree. If Mr. Obama decides to do the opposite of what she thinks is right, she still will have to find a way to publicly support that policy — that’s not easy.

Has being a female journalist helped or hindered your ability to get “access” while reporting internationally? In some countries men do not take women seriously. But I find that if you keep at it, those men sometimes come around. The hardest part is not reacting to the initial encounter by calling them “idiots.”

What one living person would qualify as your “dream” interview? It would be too easy to name someone famous. I’m more interested in regular people whom fate throws in your way, who tell me about their lives and they find meaning and faith, sometimes in the most difficult circumstances.

What does your morning reading list include? CNN.com first thing in the morning (as well as throughout the day), then a short email version prepared by CNN of all the important articles from a number of publications, then Washington Post, Financial Times and New York Times on line. Plus listening to NPR and checking out some international sites, including Russian and Brazilian ones.

How would you spend a “perfect weekend?”
If I could travel, it would be to Rio de Janeiro for a weekend of jogging on the beach, drinking coconut water, listening to music, dancing and talking with friends. If it’s staying in the U.S., it’s sleeping in, jogging, biking, going to a play or catching some music, and meeting friends.

Who is your favorite active journalist (excluding CNN)? I actually have quite a few I like for different reasons. The one I really respect is Bob Schieffer of CBS. He defines the word “fair.”

More after the jump…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It’s a million dollar question- and the answer will really surprise you. Who is the most sought after Sunday show guest in Washington? Bob Schieffer, David Gregory and George Stephanopoulos all agree: Bo the dog.

In a rare joint appearance, the hosts of “Face the Nation,” “Meet the Press” and “This Week” took questions took questions at this month’s CSIS and Texas Christian University Schieffer School of Journalism Dialogue: “A Sunday Show Summit.”

More realistically, the Sunday show hosts said they’d like to book First Lady Michelle Obama. Schieffer pointed out ABC’s get with Hillary Clinton, saying he’d like to interview the Secretary of State. Stephanopoulos returned the compliment, telling Schieffer, Face had the “strongest May” with former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Now once they land the guest, how do they get them to talk? “Ask the obvious question,” Schieffer advised. Gregory said sometimes it’s ok to be quiet- “Let them talk,” citing a recent interview with Defense Secretary Robert Gates in which he compared Presidents Bush and Obama for the first time.

We give props to a young freelancer in the audience who asked the panel quite frankly, “How can I be you?” The oldest and most experienced member of the panel, Schieffer, answered that while we don’t know where journalism is going, “there will always be a need for reporters.”

On the future of journalism, all three expressed love for newspapers, but skepticism for their future in print. Gregory referenced Ben Bradlee that there is a “fundamental demand” for newspapers in communities. All agreed whether it was online or in print, it was the information that was most important.

The Internet, the “first avenue that doesn’t have an editor,” as described by Schieffer, puts a “special responsibility” on the mainstream media, Stephanopoulos said. “I feel like an editor,” he said, sifting through blogs for facts every week.

Other topics covered include healthcare (all agree the President needs one domestic achievement soon and that he wants it to be healthcare) and the balance of coverage on politics and the economy during the campaign (all thought mainstream media did a good job, learning and explaining economics and covering an election “historic in every way,” as described by Schieffer).

As for their roles on Sunday mornings, I think even his competitors can agree with Gregory here. “This is still the place to really hear somebody out and learn something.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good morning FishbowlDC!

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line.

Happy Birthday to Dana Bash! Former Fishbowler Patrick Gavin is filling in for Politico‘s media blogger Michael Calderone this week- don’t read! What we know and what we’re reading this Monday morning…

NEWSPAPERS | TV | ONLINE | MAGAZINE | NEWS NOTES | WEST WING REPORTAGE | JOBS

NEWSPAPERS

The AP announced at the IRE Conference in Baltimore this weekend plans to distribute watchdog and investigative journalism from nonprofit organizations to its 1,500 member newspapers. More details in this press release.

Potential buyers of the Boston Globe are emerging.

Related- NYT‘s David Carr: What Price Would You Put On The Boston Globe?

TV

From The Daily Beast- the 7 Best Moment From Sunday Talk.

NYT‘s Maureen Dowd takes a look at the new look of TV, high definition. MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell: “But people like authenticity. And if it means they see more of my wrinkles and freckles, and where I tried to wipe clean where my kid spit up on my shoulder, so be it.” CBS’ Bill Plante: “You go in knowing every mole and random facial hair will be visible to somebody watching closely.”

FOX News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace is featured in a Q&A with the Boston Globe‘s Doug Most. He talks about why he’s a registered Democrat (because he lives in D.C.), his favorite TV show (“24″) and his most memorable interview (this one). More at TVNewser.

HLN anchor Robin Meade and former President George H.W. Bush were skydive partners Friday in Maine. They celebrated his birthday and also sat down for a lengthy interview, with questions on the economy Judge Sonia Sotomayor and his son’s legacy. TVNewser has the highlights here.

Is MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough the new face of the Republican Party? Christopher Buckley explores that idea on The Daily Beast.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper will sit down with UNHCR ambassador Angelina Jolie and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for interviews to air on World Refugee Day June 18th.

ONLINE

Why are Twitter-ers annoyed with CNN? WebNewser has the answer.

“Twitter is the teeny bopperification of America, the dumbification of America.” That was CBS Sportsline’s Gregg Doyel, debating CNN’s Rick Sanchez yesterday also on CNN’s “Reliable Sources” with Howard Kurtz.

More from Kurtz in today’s WaPo: “Twitter users are exchanging more than just 140-character bursts of blather about their daily lives: They are guiding their friends and followers to the latest news, information, gossip, snark, and a pulsating, real-time debate. Old-style news outlets would kill for that sense of belonging.”

HuffPost’s Nico Pitney has been liveblogging about the situation in Iran, with the latest pics and video. Read in here.

MAGAZINES

From NYT, Conservative Magazines: Their Vision Isn’t G.O.P’s. “At The Weekly Standard, the point is “to air our views,” said Fred Barnes, executive editor of this newsy, inside-the-Beltway magazine. “A lot of people want to write for us about the future of the Republican Party. We’re not that interested in that. We’re not that interested in the future of Republicans or conservatives. We’re interested in Obama.’”

NEWS NOTES

In light of Laura Ling and Euna Lee‘s situation in North Korea, NYT‘s Brian Stelter takes a look at the new dangers facing today’s journalists.

Why did White House senior advisor David Axelrod leave journalism? In a commencement speech at DePaul University near Chicago, he said of his start in media, “Journalists heped save the republic, and I wanted to be a part of that. But, over time, things changed. By the mid-1980s, journalism was becoming more business than calling. The front office began to take over the newsroom. The emphasis went from veracity to velocity, from reporting to receipts.” (h/t Chicago Sun Times)

WEST WING REPORTAGE

NYT‘s Frank Rich: “The Obama Haters’ Silent Enablers.”

Politico’s Calderone: “Obama, W.H. woo the Gray Lady.”

AP: Another Obama relative has a book deal. A memoir by George Obama, the president’s half brother and a resident of Huruma, Kenya, will be published by Simon & Schuster in January 2010. George Obama, 27, shares the same father with his famous, older half sibling.

HAT TIPS: Mediabistro, HuffPost Media

JOBS after the jump…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

ABC, FOX and CBS’ total viewership all grew from week-to-week but ABC was also the only network to grow year-over-year in both categories.

For Sunday May 31, 2009:

Total Viewers: ABC: 3,110,000 / CBS: 2,490,000 / FOX: 1,360,000

25-54 demo: ABC: 1,050,000 / CBS: 780,000 / FOX: 550,000

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

President Barack Obama was certainly a hit last night, opening with a teleprompter joke and cracking himself up. Here are some highlights:

On his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “Arlen, you know what I always say, ‘If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em.” And he joked Clinton sent him down to Mexico just in time for swine flu- “She pulled me into a hug and gave me a big kiss and told me I should get down there.”

You can also apparently look for “How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People” by former Vice President Dick Cheney on bookshelves soon.

The best line of the night was by far: “Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me,” turning to apologize to the Fox table, where Glenn Beck was reportedly pumping his fists.

First Lady Michelle Obama- in a pink sleeveless dress, of course- has “the right to bear arms,” according to the President. And today’s a tough day for Rahm Emanuel because “he’s not used to saying the word day after mother.” And apparently both the President and Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) are people of color- his words!

On RNC chairman Michael Steele- he’s “in the house tonight. Or as he would say, ‘In the heezy.’”

He said he’s so good that he’ll complete the next 100 days in 72- “and on the 72nd day, I’ll rest.”

“I must confess I really didn’t want to be here tonight. But I had to come. That’s one more problem I inherited from George Bush.”

He did make a serious note about the state of journalism: “A government without newspapers, a government without a tough and vibrant media of all sorts is not an option for the United States of America.”

You can watch Obama after the jump…

WHCA board member CNN’s Ed Henry, NBC’s Brian Williams and WHCA Treasurer Politico’s Mike Allen.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good morning Washington.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Good morning, Washington. What DC museum is featured above? Think you know? Email us with your best guess. AND: Join us after the jump to find out if you guessed our last contest correctly.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.