WTF Central: “Baby with blowpops coming out of its head.” — Rare‘s Tabitha Hale.

Reporter accidentally leaves home unlocked

“The moment you discover you left the keys in the front door all night … #eek” — Fox News’ Shannon Bream, who covers the Supreme Court.

This is a good thing, right?

“The men’s room at a New Kids on the Block concert is more empty than the Obama Administration’s foreign policies.” — Cameron Gray, producer and reporter for NRA News.

The Observer

“Is it just me or are trends getting stupider?” — BuzzFeed‘s Evan McMorris-Santoro in reaction to this from ABC: “Experts Warn Eyeball Licking Trend Can Injure the Eye, Damage Sight.”

“‘When we get to questions and answers, [pool reporter] is going to leave and we can talk about what you want to talk about,’ Biden in Calif.” — Washington Examiner White House Correspondent Brian Hughes.

Quote taken way out of context

“A rectal-vaginal fistula is worse.” — WaPo “humor” columnist Gene Wengarten.

Fun times at a glance: flag-making

“Thanks to @Hyatt #Lost Pines — great family getaway. Flag-making, fishing, nighttime deer & armadillo spotting in the golf carts!” — Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham.

Don’t miss more Morning Chatter… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

HIPSTER: “Dr. Paul Pellicci my amazing surgeon, dropped by the office to take me and my new hip for a walk.” — HuffPost-AOL Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington.

Best line of the Day: “Because I have the right as a senator to have no comment and who the hell are you to tell me I can or not?” — Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to CNN Congressional Producer Ted Barrett on why he didn’t attend the Benghazi hearing. Apparently it was an er, office scheduling error. WTF? McCain later made nice and went on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” Thursday night. Barrett knows how to rile lawmakers. Some may recall his interaction with ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) last year at an impromptu presser on Capitol Hill in which Weiner refused to discuss his weinerous behavior. Barrett persisted and Weiner called him a “jackass.” Need a refresher? Watch here.  Important q to ponder: Would McCain have lashed out at CNN’s Dana Bash like this? Somehow we can’t imagine it.

Journo is anti-Aidan (from Sex & the City) 

“All right, time to quit hiring Aidan from Sex & the City as a voice actor. I’m used to him doing Applebee’s, now also Medicare drug plans?” — The Hill‘s Sam Baker.

Fate of Twinkies hangs in the balance

“Fox: ‘The end of Twinkies could be only hours away.’” — WaPo media opinion writer Erik Wemple.

In other mysterious life news…

“Moved furniture so the cable guy can come fix everything tomorrow. Sat down and turned on the TV and it miraculously works. #wtf” — National Journal Daily Production Editor Michelle Bloom.

It’s the little things in life.

“Krispy Kreme donuts in the office. My day just improved.” — The Hill‘s Ian Swanson.

Reporter misses print pub

“Small world problems: I don’t think I’m alone here on Capitol Hill when I say I really miss having a print edition of CQ daily.” — USA Today‘s Susan Davis.

A lawmaker is overheard, sounds like an asshole and the W Hotel is a disappointment to a certain Bloomberg reporter…Also: Find out who’s heading up our FishbowlDC Fan Club Board… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Turns out it was the 10-year-old son of Cusack’s colleague, Pete Kasperowicz, a reporter for the publication’s Floor Action Blog, who had put his son up to the prank. Cusack bought it. “Punk’d @PeteKTheHill convinced his son to come up to me at restaurant and say, ‘Can I get your autograph?’ I was speechless,” Cusack wrote on Twitter.

While it’s not the dirtiest prank we can imagine — Cusack deserves much worse — it is admirable that he fell for it, even temporarily. But beware. Little does Kasperowicz know that Cusack has already begun plotting. “I have to get him back,” he told FishbowlDC. All we can say, Pete, is watch your back. And even then you won’t see it coming.

To refresh your memories on what Cusack is capable of, back in December, 2009, Ian Swanson, The Hill‘s News Editor, innocently spilled coffee on his computer and destroyed it. So Cusack went ahead with his devil’s work and wrote him phony emails, pretending to be a company techy. He insisted that Swanson appear before staff and speak on the dangers of coffee and computers. Swanson agreed to it, before ultimately realizing Cusack was the culprit.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Journos react to bizarre Cain ad

“Cain ad with chief of staff smoking attempts to make pitch to sullen teenagers.” — The Hill‘s Associate Editor Ian Swanson on Herman Cain‘s weird new smoking ad. He links here.

“Herman Cain’s smoking gum: the dumbest ad in the history of politics.” — The Guardian’s Richard Adams.

“I still say @TheHermanCain’s smile was the most entertaining part of the smoking ad.” — Roll Call‘s David Drucker.

Best of Lululemon murder trial tweets

From WTOP’s Neal Augenstein: “Books being read in courtroom during #Lululemon jury selection: 4 Blondes by Candace Bushnell, and Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning.” And this…”Topics of discussion between potential #Lululemon jurors — the size of a dog’s paws, and the political future of Md Atty Genl Doug Gansler.” Follow Neal at @AugensteinWTOP.

One of our readers writes in on Twitter: “In the middle of a conference call, still, and I see the “tweets and tits” story. Thanks for causing me to choke on Cheez Its.” The story he’s referring to is this one. Another reader writes in from Napa Valley… “I’m in wine country in northern California. Sometimes, I come across, read items like this one and just wish that the whole bunch of em on the Hill could just chill out for a week (or much more) in the Napa Valley. Say, Calistoga, where they could all jump into a hot mud bath and splash mud at one another to vent all those pent-up aggressions and emotions. Please be sure to let the Calistoga resort owner know when Congress is coming. I’m sure they’ll want to be sure they have enough mud on hand!”

Ifill tries to one up Booker

“Lovely day today in Newark. (there, beat you to it @corybooker)” — PBS’s Gwen Ifill.

Uh oh.

“What goes around, comes around….That is my philosophy at the moment.” — The Daily Caller‘s Pat McMahon.

Journo hears beatings for greetings

“Voicemail says ‘to administer personal greetings press 3,’ but it sounds like ‘beatings’ which I suppose is what was on Qaddafi’s voicemail” — Slate and CBS’s John Dickerson.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Today is The Hill‘s Mike O’Brien‘s last day at the publication. O’Brien, who runs the Blog Briefing Room, has taken a job with MSNBC.com.

Associate Editor Ian Swanson remarked on Twiter, “True story: @MPOthehill showed me how to use Twitter. Today is his last day at The Hill. #nostaligia”

If you feel like hearing O’Brien’s voice, listen here.

Congratulations to O’Brien.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), in referring to the debt deal as a “Satan Sandwich,” is getting him a boatload of media attention. Deeply religious, Cleaver is no stranger to injecting biblical references into his political theater. As a United Methodist minister, he prays in his office and apartment several times a day. But Satan Sandwich? “If you lift the bun, what you see is antithetical to everything the great religions of the world teach. Which is take care of the poor, take of the aged,” he told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing Sunday night after first saying the phrase to a Roll Call reporter. “. . . I am concerned about this because we don’t know the details. And until we see the details, we’re going to be extremely non-committed, but on the surface it looks like a Satan sandwich.”

He reiterated his sandwich idea on Twitter this morning: “This deal is a sugar-coated satan sandwich. If you lift the bun, you will not like what you see.”

Mary Petrovic, Cleaver’s press secretary, assured that the quote came directly from Cleaver. “Oh this is a 100 percent original Cleaver quote,” she said. “It’s been very popular. We’ve gotten a lot of visibility on our Social Media sites. I’ve seen it quoted all over the Internet. I think he really nailed it.”

The Satan sandwich, however, is not new. The Urban Dictionary has a definition for it: “The chiefest of hell’s dark delights, it is said that just one bite of it arouses an unspeakable lust of terrific potency.” By early Monday the clever sandwich spread on a myriad of media outlets including MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Mediaite and buzzed loudly on Twitter.

The Hill‘s Ian Swanson: “Cleaver is winning the AM”

TPM‘s Brian Beutler: “Bacon-coated Satan sandwich.” He added, “If we’re being honest, sugar isn’t a very good sandwich coating, no matter what’s between the bread.”

ABC News White House Correspondent Jake Tapper: “Hold the Mayo”

NJ‘s Joshua Green: “Think I’ll skip lunch today.”

@WestWingReport: “What is this Satan Sandwich? Sounds like a hell of a good lunch. Is it deviled ham?”

Ben Shapiro, a conservative syndicated columnist who wrote 12 tweets on the Satan sandwich, came up with the “Rep. Cleaver Deli” and offered side dishes such as Lucifer roasted potatoes. The references grew weirder as he moved along. He began by saying he was “super confused” by Emanuel and wondered if the sandwich had deviled eggs in it.

After a female follower suggested it might be a  “sewage coated booger sandwich made by Satan” he presumed that the congressman gets drunk. “Maybe @repcleaver always substitutes Satan for ‘s—’? So when he gets drunk before he votes, he’s Satan-faced.” Shapiro also played devils advocate, asking, “Wouldn’t a Satan sandwich be a good thing? After all, it means we’ve killed and roasted Satan, and presumably coated him in sugar.”

Note to readers: The top Satan sandwich was first spotted on PajamasMedia from a reader.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A list of those who turned up last night: Young’s brother, Tim, his girlfriend, Sommer Mathis (who writes the DCist). Only co-workers and former co-workers were invited. (Full Disclosure: I worked with Young for many years and was invited to the soiree. So this post is going to be free of snark because I don’t have a bad thing to say about the guy.)

Jim Snyder, Roxana Tiron, Ian Swanson, Alex Bolton, JT Rushing, Jordan Fabian, Kevin Bogardus, Walter Alarkon, Kim Hart, Sean Miller, Emily Goodin, Sam Youngman, and Silla Brush. Representing The Hill’s alumni were Greenwire’s Mike Soraghan and The Atlantic’s Chris Good. Remarked Young: “My once-and-future colleague Patrick O’Connor broke my heart — not for the first time — by failing to show up and there’s a special place reserved in hell for Jared Allen, who brushed it off to go play sports or something.”

Young reflected on his time at the newspaper.
“It’s been a hell of a ride these past five years, capped off the a year-plus of health care reform insanity,” he wrote to FishbowlDC. “Mostly, there are some people I’m going to miss when I’m gone. (On a smaller scale, I’m really going to miss my Mac and will have to suffer Windows for the first time in years.)

“At the same time, there are only two people left in this news room, not counting Hugo [Gurdon] and Bob [Cusack], who’ve been here longer than I have. That alone might be a sign that it’s time to try something new. I’m also very excited about what we’ve got cooking at Bloomberg and I can’t wait to get started.”

We wish Young the best in his new job.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Yes, it’s true. C-SPAN does dishes, not dirty dishes, but rather, gigantic satellite dishes. A warning: majorly wonky microwave talk ahead. Watch here.

And, how does C-SPAN Radio deal with the snow?
Bobbi Jackson from C-SPAN radio: “We’re just staying on the air,” she says, explaining how they’ve needed to be creative and retrieve the best of old material over the past few weeks.

Check out The Hill’s Ian Swanson on TV to the right of Jackson’s head. He miraculously made it to the C-SPAN offices to do “Washington Journal” on Wednesday morning and managed to not look like he’d been windblown through a blizzard.

Watch here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

After his computer died, Swanson was understandably distressed. Apparently it’s not normal when a flashing briefcase with a question mark appears on your screen.

Managing Editor Bob Cusack (known for pulling elaborate pranks) went to work, e-mailing Swanson under a fake name, pretending to be a techy at corporate headquarters.

Swanson was told the incident would be put in his employee file. In order for the coffee controversy to go away, the techy asked him to go before staff to discuss the dangers of having drinks around computers — to which Swanson agreed.

At one point Swanson pled his case to the make-believe techy, saying, “I’m just still in shock. I’ve never had that happen before, and I’m surprised the coffee did that much damage. The stupid top didn’t even come off of the cup.”

On Friday Swanson put two and six together and figured out Cusack was the culprit.

FishbowlDC is collecting the best in newsroom pranks. Who does them? We’re all ears. Write us at: fishbowldc@mediabistro.com.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Developing…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

IWP, as employees call it, publishes a bunch of hyper-insider newsletters on defense, environment and other policy matters. Headquartered in Crystal City, insiders say it was “niche before niche was cool.”

Today’s hill rags are loaded with IWP alums- in fact all three are run by IWP’ers. Charlie Mitchell at Roll Call, Bob Cusack at the Hill (sources tell us friends still call him “OSHA Bob” because he ran “inside OSHA”) and Politico’s Jim VandeHei, who started at New Fuels Report.

Other IWPers at the “Big Three”- Jim Snyder at The Hill, John Bresnahan at Politico, and John Stanton, Paul Singer and Keith Koffler at Roll Call.

“Al Sosenko, who runs IWP, is a genius in ways we had no ability or time to appreciate in the 90s. He took a bunch of young guys, gave us tremenous freedom and demanded we write tons of insidery stories often under high pressure deadlines. Its no accident that today all of us in different ways are involved in producing, well, tons of insidery stories under tight deadlines,” VandeHei tells FBDC.

Update: The Hill’s Ian Swanson also started at IWP.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Ian Swanson will become an assistant editor of the paper on Monday, replacing Megan Mulligan, whose last day at The Hill is this Friday. Ian has done an outstanding job since joining the paper as a reporter, swiftly earning the respect of everyone in the newsroom. His experience and understanding of Capitol Hill will be a great asset in the editing process and I am confident that he will play an important role helping to shape the newspaper.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

]]> Patrick http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/swanson-becomes-hill-assistant-editor_b9065#disqus_thread http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/swanson-becomes-hill-assistant-editor_b9065 http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/swanson-becomes-hill-assistant-editor_b9065 Thu, 18 Oct 2007 10:55:35 +0000
• “You even smell clean” is in the lead!

• A NBC release announced that “Meet the Press with Tim Russert” “posted huge advantages over the Sunday morning public affairs competition, winning the week ending Sunday, February 11 in all categories both nationally and in Washington, D.C.” “Meet” topped ABC’s “This Week” by 50%, CBS’s “Face the Nation” by 68% and Fox’s “News Sunday” by 174%.

• An ABC release announced that “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” outperformed CBS’s “Face the Nation” with 2.87 million total viewers. This is the second week “This Week” outperformed “Face” among total viewers and the eighth time this season it outperformed among total viewers and adults 25-54. “This Week” was also the only Sunday show to increase compared to last year, “an impressive 32% in Total Viewers, and 35% in the key Adults 25-54 demographic.”

• Another ABC release announced that “Nightline” “continued its growth trend in both Total Viewers and the key Adults 25-54 demographic” for the week of February 5, 2007. “Compared with the same week a year ago, ‘Nightline’ increased in Total Viewers compared to last year delivering 3.76 million.”

• From a tipster: “The Politico’s press release criticizes ‘other publications’ for hiring “young reporters with scant experience’ to cover lobbying. Up until Cummings’ hire, the Politico’s chief lobbying reporter was Jeff Patch, whose previous experience was one month as an unpaid intern at Roll Call.”

• A tipster informs us that Politico is n the Age of Aquarius with lots of has birthdays lately. Yesterday was Carrie Sheffield’s. Tuesday was Samantha Slater’s. Monday was Jim VandeHei’s. Last week was Aoife McCarthy’s.

• The Washington Examiner hires Micah Morrison as an investigative reporter.

• A reader writes, “Not to belabor the ‘Capitol Hill newspaper cat-fight,’ but if you’re wondering why Roll Call did an Aging policy briefing two weeks after the Hill did one, it’s because every year, RC sets its publishing schedule, then the Hill gets a copy of it and schedules sections on the same topics for a week or two earlier — just so they can tell advertisers, ‘See, we’re doing it first.’ They’ve been doing it for years. Kind of funny, or sad, depending on how you look at it.”

• Another reader, “It’s clear who Allbritton’s quote about ‘scant experience’ was intended for. The Hill has hired several business and lobbying reporters recently, and it stated in a recent release that it was the go-to source for B&L coverage in its most recent one (I believe when it hired Ian Swanson). I thought Politico was competing with the Wash Post and NY Times, not those silly little Capitol Hill newspapers. Between this and the political cartoon they ran on their first day, it’s very clear who they are competing with.”

• “Washington Times Lands Abe Lincoln Scoop”

  New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

  ]]> Patrick http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/taking-out-the-trash-02-16-07_b5591#disqus_thread http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/taking-out-the-trash-02-16-07_b5591 http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/taking-out-the-trash-02-16-07_b5591 Fri, 16 Feb 2007 09:55:49 +0000