Quotes of the Day

“That was a weirdest thing I have ever seen at a convention in my entire life and it will be the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen if I live to be 100. That was bizarre.” — MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow‘s immediate reaction to Clint Eastwood‘s convention speech in which he spoke to an invisible President Obama sitting in an empty chair.

Journos weigh in on Mitt’s big night

“Romney looking like man of the people — so long as the people are kept behind a rope line.” — U.S. News & World Report‘s Robert Schlesinger.

“Mitt’s a little moist in the eyes.” — Asst. Managing Editor for NYT Jim Roberts with perhaps the grossest description of Romney for the evening.

“No prepared remarks much to every reporters annoyance.” — ABC’s Karen Travers.

“This is like Ward Cleaver’s salute to June.” — Rolling Stone National Affairs reporter Tim Dickinson.

“After saying he’s Mormon, he immediately talked about how it doesn’t matter. There’s a man of faith for you.” — HuffPost‘s Dan Froomkin.

“When Mitt tells jokes an angel dies.” — Sports Editor at The Nation Dave Zirin.

“Romney doing what he needs to do here. Not spectacular but very, very solid.” — WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza.

Ana off the Wagon? “MEDICARE LIE. Drink.” — The Guardian‘s Ana Marie Cox.

“Yo teleprompter guy, cue Mitt to nix the lip smacking #RNC2012″ — HuffPost‘s Senior Political Economy Reporter Zach Carter. He soon added, “Should you really hug your kids a little longer when gas prices go up?”

“I feel bad for Mitt. He’s everyone’s second choice in the primary, and now he has to follow Clint. The poor bastard.” — Jared Keller, director of Social Media for BloombergLP.

Convention Commentary

“I vote for conventions without politicians.” — WaPo‘s Jennifer Rubin.

“1) Eastwood: Whoa!! 2) Rubio: too long, pushed Mitt too late 3) Mitt: just fine, and unlike Ryan mainly true. But enthusiasm in hall???” — The Atlantic‘s James Fallows.

“Dear Republicans, I thought we’d all agreed to not do embarrassing white people dances at#GOP2012” — RedState.com and CNN’s Erick Erickson.

“I’m not sure those dance moves should ever be done. But they should definitely not be done in a grey suit.” — The Atlantic‘s Megan McArdle.

“Fuck some asshole delegate brought a baby to RNC – someone call protective services.” — InTheseTimes.com labor journo Mike Elk.

Speaking of white guys commenting on Taylor Hicks…

“I never regretted my vote for Taylor Hicks and I never will.” — Slate‘s Dave Weigel.

“Quote of the night goes to @Ari_Shapiro: ‘For some reason I thought Taylor Hicks was a woman.’” — Reuters‘ Sam Youngman. Shapiro is a White House Correspondent for NPR.

Journo takes stab at NBC

“When will Republicans learn and NOT give NBC News press credentials for their convention. NBC News is not the press.” — Real Clear Politics‘ Ian Schwartz.

And an Esquire writer blasts them all…

“The political media are reminding us all this morning how irrelevant they are becoming.” — Ex-Romney foreign policy spox Richard Grenell.

And a Breitbart.com editor reflexively lashes out at BuzzFeed

“I’d pay real money if @McKayCoppins would give it a rest.” — Breitbart.com editor John Nolte, later adding, “These #BenSmithers are all professional trolls.” Ben Smith is BuzzFeed‘s Political Editor.

Blah blah who cares?

“The beauty of the restaurant business is we gratefully serve the left, the right, and everyone in between.” — Mr. Norah O’Donnell i.e. Geoff Tracy during Mitt’s speech.

“Folks, we got a Jim Bunning sighting on the floor.” — Politico Senior Reporter Jonathan Martin.

And now…onto Charlotte

“15K overtired, overworked, high maintenance, often hungover journalists are about to descend on Tampa airport. This will go well.” — Politico‘s Ben White.

Balloon photograph above by AP’s Phil Elliott.

There’s probably no love lost between Breitbart News‘ Tony Lee and WaPo “The Fix’s” Chris Cillizza, because there was probably no love there to begin with.

Last night Lee, lover of all things Sarah Palin, shot off tweets aimed at Cillizza. They were in response to a comment Cillizza made about Palin being unable to “let criticism roll off her back.”

“Says thin-skinned MSMer,” Lee chimed in. Cillizza didn’t respond, but why should that matter to Lee? Palin’s biggest fan boy continued:

• WTF do u want Palin to do? Not call y’all/GOP [establishment] out on groupThink, packMentality, spoonFed, cocktailCircuitSpin/bullying? Child, please.
• Sorry the 5 GOP consultants y’all pass around to “report” on conservatives like I would on gymnastics don’t defend her. Tea Party does.
• Sorry if criticism was too harsh. Hope u can let it roll off your back. Palin can’t call her GOP [establishment] office so she has to defend herself.
• Just remember, [Cillizza] accused Palin/tea party without any evidence of being responsible for Giffords shooting. Won’t be forgotten. Capeash?

Lee couldn’t point to any specific time Cillizza accused Palin or the Tea Party of being responsible for the Gabby Giffords shooting. In fact, in a column last year Cillizza wrote that “many on the left unfairly blamed Palin for somehow inciting the gunman.”

But there was a dash of irony: “In a funny/pathetic development, [Cillizza] has blocked me after 5 mild tweets after he said Palin can’t take criticism,” Lee tweeted, with the hashtag #pobrecita (Spanish for “poor thing”).

We asked Cillizza if he blocked Lee because of the criticism, and why not engage in an argument like his colleagues, professional arguers Greg Sargent and Jennifer Rubin. Cillizza never responded, which is usually the case unless he wants something or wants Politics & Pints trivia night info published.

Lee, on the other hand, had a lot to say. “He blocked me because the truth hurts,” Lee said. “People like [Cillizza] mistake conventional wisdom for intelligence like people in D.C. often mistake activity for achievement… Palin can’t win when The Fix (pun intended) is in against her.”

As to why Cillizza didn’t argue back instead of blocking, Lee said, “People like [Cillizza] are MSM bullies who gang up on people like Palin because it’s cool to do so in their elite media circles.” He added, “When he got figuratively punched in the nose and called out, his first instinct — like with all bullies — was to to run away (or block).”

The Nation‘s Eric Alterman, author of What Liberal Media?, has taken a blowtorch to WaPo‘s conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin. In an article published Wednesday meant to criticize WaPo as a paper lacking integrity, Alterman hones in on Rubin, who he calls an “attack dog” and accuses her of…a lot of things. None of them positive.

Here’s a dog-bites-man story if there ever was one. Alterman, who once blogged for Media Matters for America, takes issue with a conservative writer with a prominent platform.

First Alterman criticizes some of Rubin’s pre-WaPo work that caused a stir, including a piece she wrote for Commentary Magazine titled “Why Jews Hate Palin.” In the story Rubin wrote that “American Jews” firmly believe that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is “uncouth, unschooled, a hick, anti-science and anti-intellectual.”

“[Rubin] developed a specialty in venomous attacks on liberal American Jews” at Commentary, Alterman says (side note: Rubin herself is Jewish).

Other razor-sharp bits Alterman throws at Rubin:

• “Barely a day goes by without a Rubin post filled with nasty name-calling attacks on a group or individual…”
• “[Rubin is] a writer who cares nothing for the truth, but rather dedicates herself to spewing childish insults at the president of the United States as well as the millions of people who reject her ideological obsessions…”
• “[W]hile the talk of Nazis and Obama’s alleged love for Islam have been tamed a bit, Rubin’s penchant for hate-filled fantasy has not.”

And so it goes, graph after hate-filled graph.

Predictably, Alterman speaks highly of WaPo‘s liberal blogger Greg Sargent, whom he hails as “a hard-working professional journalist who advances news stories regardless of whether they critique or flatter his own side.” (This part is somewhat inconsistent with Alterman’s criticism of Rubin, given that later in the story, he cites Rubin as tearing into former GOP presidential candidates Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry. He called Rubin’s writing on them “abusive invective.”)

Also predictably, Alterman has favorable things to say about other liberal writers such as Slate‘s Dave Weigel, whom Rubin replaced at WaPo after Weigel resigned in 2010 amid the “journolist” controversy.

Weigel told us he’s “a huge Rubin fan” and his sole criticism of her blog is that interviews she conducts aren’t transcribed in Q&A format. He said he didn’t believe her work at WaPo has hurt the paper’s reputation.

Back to Rubin. She graduated from UC Berkeley with a law degree. She worked as a labor lawyer for 20 years. She’s done countless TV hits, written for Politico, and has been featured by Washingtonian magazine. She has no fears about publicly going after her liberal colleagues like Sargent and Ezra Klein. Alterman identifies her as “a former Hollywood lawyer” who worked “briefly as an editor for the right-wing Pajamas Media and as a blogger for Commentary.”

Once you get past this and the 14 rabidly anti-Rubin graphs, Alterman redirects his venom back to WaPo at large. “It is true that the Washington Post has bigger problems than the serial inaccuracy and incivility of its right-wing blogger,” he writes. “But the question for the house that Ben Bradlee and Katharine Graham built is not merely whether it will survive, but how.”

Though criticism of Rubin makes up the bulk of Alterman’s piece, he told us she’s not his “main concern with the paper. She’s just the one about which [he] chose to focus in this particular article.” As for his own nasty tone toward her, he said he had no personal reasons to attack her and even admitted that he has never met her. “This is my job and I try to do it as well as I can,” he said.

FBDC reached out to Rubin for comment.

Quotes of the Day

Created by Morgan Howlan, age 5. Appeared in New Times.

Marc Ambinder not keen on ‘poking’ David Brooks

“I do not know why Facebook suggests that I poke David Brooks, but I think I shall reject their suggestion.” –Contributing Editor for GQ and The Atlantic Marc Ambinder, who is up awfully early for an L.A. based writer. This tweet was written at 5:20 a.m. which is 2:20 PT. Brooks is a conservative columnist for NYT.

Convo Between Two Journo Types

A sampling from JRC’s Steve Buttry: 1. “Amtrak just canceled our Acela train. Seriously.” 2. “My last Amtrak trip from NY to DC was delayed 3 hours by a fatality on the track. Now we’re thrown off in Philly for a ‘bridge problem.’” 3. “But I’m not patient.” 4. “Avis didn’t honor our reservation, but we were working w/ another guy whose reservation worked.”

Jeff Jarvis, blogger and J-School prof: “Steve Buttry, I’m surprised even your wife travels with you. Hell, I’m surprised any conveyance sells you a ticket.”

It’s Raining Jean Shorts!

“I am counting the # of jean short-tank top combos today. Despite that it’s a thing, it shouldn’t be. We are not a beach town. #dcpride” — Metro Weekly White House Correspondent Chris Geidner. In other weekend observations, Roll Call‘s John Stanton saw this: “Black leather bannana hammock + rainbow angel wings + pasty ass white skin = gay pride weekend on U St.”

Real Life Bulls%!t

“Just saw a pregnant woman carrying a baby crossing a street without crosswalk while texting… #whatswrongwithpeople” — Thomas Tobin, executive producer at NBC4.

Dinner Faux Pas

“Got back to my table, and @michaelpfalcone was using my napkin. Dude…. #RTCADinner” — Retiring Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) at the RTCA dinner Friday night on Falcone, deputy political director for ABC News. McCotter also remarked on CBS’s Steve Chaggaris, saying, “Finally met @stevechaggaris – he’s skinnier in person than on TV.” In other RTCA dinner news, WJLA TV reporter Mike Conneen, meanwhile, observed this: “AWKWARD! At @rtcadinner, Steve Kroft accepts award a few ft away from Speaker Boehner for story exposing Congressional insider trading.” Kroft works for CBS’s “60 Minutes.” UPDATE and Correction: Cheggaris recently returned to CBS as Executive Editor, Washington of CBSNews.com. He is no longer with Yahoo! News. Before that he was at TBD. The above has been changed to reflect the facts.

Surprise. Surprise. A WaPo technological failure.

“My @washingtonpost app has crashed 3 times this morning! I suppose I could go pick up the paper at the end of my driveway.” — Christine Montgomery, chief digital officer at the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch.

The Appointed Media Critic

“It’s funny how @HowardKurtz has hard lefties like David Shuster on his show, but the best he can do for a righty is Jennifer Rubin…?” — The Daily Caller‘s TV reporter Jeff Poor referencing lefty radio host Shuster and WaPo‘s right-leaning blogger Rubin.

In case you missed it over the weekend, MSNBC Contributor, author and Daily Beast Contributor Meghan McCain tweeted a picture of her crotch. By Saturday morning, it had been deleted. Lucky for her, she wasn’t going commando. See here.

Quotes of the Day

Journo wants CNN’s Piers Morgan deported

“Can someone set up a kickstarter to fund deportation of Piers Morgan and the rest of these #jubilee fools drooling over an aging despot?” — Roll Call‘s John Stanton, who previously said he’d rather smoke bath salts with Jeffrey Dahmer than watch the Queen’s Jubilee.

Charges pressed

“I have pressed charges against Tim Scott’s COS Nick Muzin for simple assault & Honeywell PR guy Rob Ferris for false imprisonment.” — Mike Elk of InTheseTimes Magazine. Last Thursday he alleges he was grabbed by Muzin and locked in a room against his will by Honeywell’s Ferris, who did not return a phone call to FBDC on the matter. Elk continued, “The charges will be forwarded to the U.S. Attorney’s office who will decide whether or not to prosecute. I was hesitant to press charges cuz I didn’t want to seem like a crybaby, but precedent of intimidating reporters in Capitol is scary.”

Never a dull moment

“Met a man who legally changed his name to Jehovah Jesus. Had a lot to say about the CIA, Supreme Court Justice Souter, etc.” — CJ Ciaramella, a reporter at Free Beacon.

Democratic operative lashes out at WaPo‘s Rubin

“Unpaid Romney spokesperson Jennifer Rubin also has thoughts on the media. #classy.” — the always thoughtful DNC New Media Outreach Director Greg Greene. He links to this. As you can see, reaching out as usual. Thanks Greg!

Quote taken out of context

“@samyoungman isn’t a wedgie in order?” — FNC’s Ed Henry to Reuter‘s Sam Youngman.

Thanks for the memories!

“Perhaps worst spelling gaffe I can remember, @BashirLive, was when @msnbc gave Niger Innis two ‘G’s in his first name.” — Newsbuster‘s Ken Shepherd.

Journo grants permission to torture him

“If I ever happen to catch a single second of Lifetime TV’s”Dance Moms,” you have permission to waterboard me” — NRA News’ Cameron Gray in an apparent moment of shame about the popular dance show on the women’s network.

Ouch!

“Well, progress is overrated, I’ll just get back to work…work that I am paid less for than a man. #PayCheckFairness” — Erikka Knuti, Democratic strategist who works at Ogilvy.

Unnecessary Tweet of the Day: Hat Attack

“I vow to wear hats more often in an effort to bring them back into fashion.” — Greenwire‘s Jessica Estepa.

Peter Ogburn contributed to this report.

When she’s not harassing her liberal counterpart Greg Sargent on Twitter, Jennifer Rubin helms the conservative “Right Turn” blog at WaPo. “I love mixing it up with liberals,” Rubin says of the Twitter wars she throws herself into with valiant force. “For too long too many of them have never been forcefully challenged,” she said. “They talk to and write for liberals and rarely get called on to defend their assumptions.”

Rubin joined WaPo in 2010, replacing Dave Weigel, who resigned under the weighty Journolist scandal and moved over to Slate. Before that she wrote for Commentary for several years. And before that she worked as a labor lawyer in California for 20 years. Rubin has a BA in history from UC Berkeley and a JD from Boalt Law School.

Throughout the Republican presidential primary Rubin faced criticism for showing signs that she might be in the tank for Mitt Romney. She doesn’t really deny it. “Oh pish-posh,” she said (yes, she said pish-posh). “I was simply ahead of the curve in spotting the fatal flaws in a series of challengers who would have crashed and burned in the general election.” Rubin said, however, that she actually would have preferred Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over Romney.

Let’s begin.

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

Jolt Cola

How often do you Google yourself?

Hardly ever.

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

A previous editor: “You can’t call Maureen Dowd ‘a harpy.’” Seriously, I’m sure I was on the receiving end of worse but I’ve blocked it out.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why?

Don’t all journalists work? Well, Jake Tapper hands down. He’s smart and fair and tough.

Do you have a favorite word?

Scrumptious

You’re walking down a dark alley and you run into a group of people, all of whom you’ve insulted on your blog. What do you do? What do you say? And do you activate your mace?

I’d say a friendly ‘Hello.’ No mace!

Who would you rather have dinner with – WaPo’s Erik Wemple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi or Hilary Rosen? Tell us why.

Erik certainly!

The Earth’s human population is dying out and you must save it. You will spend a romantic evening with either Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) or former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.). Who do you choose? (Neither is not an option.)

Sorry, but the world will have to muddle through on its own.

What swear word do you use most often?

F*+k

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.)

Candy Crowley, PJ O’Rourke, John Bolton and AEI President Arthur Brooks.

Now for a really serious moment: What is your dream job, money and practicalities aside?

My ideal career would be to keep my current job and have a new “Crossfire” with James Carville.

Find out what Rubin pigs out on when no one’s looking…

Read more

Quotes of the Day

“The Banana is the perfectly named fruit.” — former CNNer Larry King. Can Piers make him an assistant or something?

Journo comes across dead body

“En route to Louis Armstrong park for treme brass band and we see a dead body on a lot.” — Roll Call‘s John Stanton at Jazz Fest in New Orleans.

Attention grabber

“National Zoo to live-tweet artificial insemination of panda.” — Drudge Report.

“Like dc to want her barefoot and pregnant” — WaPo’s Jennifer Rubin in reaction to WaPo writing a story on the panda possibly being replaced if it doesn’t get pregnant. To the above Drudge tweet, Rubin remarked, “Perfect assignment 4 Anthony Weiner.”

“For 340 new followers I’d have live-tweeted my vasectomy.” — Consultant, NBC Washington Contributor Chuck Thies.

Since when did HuffPost become a cheap knockoff of Maury Povich and Tyra? In a Monday tweet they ask: “Did you reinvent your life after a personal trauma? #breakover Tell us about it.”

Eavesdrop Café

“At cafe eavesdropping on a guy getting performance review. I think his boss should be fired. This is painful.” — NPR’s Sonari Glinton.

Oh, you got Uggie too?!

“Lisa Lerer, you got a picture with the artist dog too!??!?!?! you won the weekend I think.” WSJ‘s Victoria McGrane to Bloomberg’s Lisa Lerer. And this from Barron‘s Washington Editor James McTague: “Cannot believe that my pix with the dog from the film “the Actor” has not become a Twitter sensation. Must be the dog.”

A shoe-in for an invite to next year’s pre-WHCD garden party: “This tweet’s for @haddadmedia #letsfindacure” — CBS’s Christine Delargy.

Blogger recounts therapy appt.

“Best part of therapy today was my therapist stopped to hunt down & kill a fly that was disturbing my peace. #youknowyouhaveproblemswhen” — blogger Pamela Sorensen who writes Pamela’s Punch.

Quotes of the Day

Wolf & Cee Lo: Hip Hop collides with Washington

“Ran into @CeeLoGreen at Atlanta Airport. Very nice guy and strong talent.” — CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in a tweet at 8:25 p.m. last night.

Journo Love

“Anybody who knows and loves @maggiepolitico needs to tell her to get some sleep fast.” — Politico White House reporter Glenn Thrush.

Baier Vomit

“Thank u!” MT @JonathanCapps8 “Bret Baier, don’t always agree -but will always be a loyal viewer. I’m in CA, have the DVR set to auto record you.”

Journo survives day sans Twitter

“Wow, I was too busy to tweet today. THAT NEVER HAPPENS. Leaving work tired, happy, and ready for a beer. We’ll try again tomorrow, Twitter.” — Kiplinger‘s Caitlin Dewey.

Weigel, Einstein inevitably linked

“That guy @daveweigel is the Einstein of the incomplete tweet.” — Reuters media writer Jack Shafer.

You’re a ‘ridiculous jerk’ if…

“Am I the only one who thinks you’re a ridiculous jerk if you quit on the pages of the NYT? Isn’t that like asking for a divorce in an op-ed?” — WaPo‘s “Right Turn” blogger Jennifer Rubin.

Goddammit Comcast, don’t you know who D. Shuster is?

“Despite polite efforts by my family, @comcast still refuses to carry @current in my IN hometown. New tactics coming, including #dropComcast” — Current TV’s David Shuster.

Michelle O. is rolling in her vegetable garden over this…

“I am going to reward myself for eating this healthy salad of mixed greens and tomatoes by following it up with this delicious cupcake.” — WaPo Express‘s Sara Schwartz.

Peter Ogburn contributed to this report.

Here is this week’s installment of “Ask Piranhamous Anything.”  If you have a question you’d like “snarked to death,” send it to FishbowlDC@mediabistro.com. This isn’t an advice column. Piranhamous doesn’t know what the hell you should do with your life any more than you do — and worse, he doesn’t care. Try to keep your questions short — we want to keep this fun, simple, funny and insightful.

1. Do you think online Twitter fighting has gotten out of control? Why, you wanna fight? Absolutely not! Fighting is what Twitter was made for. With only 140 characters you can’t exactly convey the genius of Milton Friedman, but you can call someone an asshole. And since there are plenty more assholes than Friedman’s out there, Twitter is custom-made for pointing them out. You want a serious discussion of policy, start a blog. Twitter is for pointing out how big of a jackass someone is while adding a link to your rant justifying it.

2. Why is there such infighting amongst GOP bloggers like WaPo‘s Jennifer Rubin and the rest such as RedState and CNN’s Erick Erickson? There’s a huge difference between being a member of the GOP and being a conservative. The GOP has leaders like Mitch McConnell, who rambles with the same monotone whether he’s giving a floor speech on something that makes him “angry” or passing a stone. Rubin wasn’t picked to write for the Post because she’s conservative, she was picked because she’s a Republican. Erickson is a conservative. The difference between a Republican and a conservative is the difference between someone who wants to step gingerly, rather than stomp, in cow manure (the way they envision the Founding Fathers would’ve liked) and someone who doesn’t want to step in it at all. I’m not saying Rubin smells…but I’m also not saying she doesn’t.

3. Who is better looking, FNC’s Ed Henry or Bret Baier? Tough call. They both look like they just fell out of a catalog, but Henry has to lose this one. Baier always looks put together, as does Henry, but Bret does so while looking like it was effortless, like he woke up that way. Ed comes off as the type who not only always has a pocket square, but spent 15 minutes with a ruler and protractor making sure it conforms with the Brooks Brothers style guide. It’s the difference between simply being an A student and being an A-minus student who kisses the teacher’s butt to get the upgrade. Sure, you’re both getting an A, and both were “earned,” but only sort of.

Quotes of the Day

Overheard at the airport…

“Heard at DCA ‘will the owner of a loose chihuahua please return to the security checkpoint.’” — VP, Bureau Chief, NBC News Washington Bureau Antoine Sanfuentes. We can only hope the pooch was wearing this getup.

A writer and porn

“I bet porn consumption drops a lot during the #superbowl” — Washington freelancer and resident National Press Club troublemaker and crusader Sam Husseini (Husseini, who works for the Institute for Public Accuracy and blogs for washingtonstakeout.com, was briefly suspended from the club late last year for posing questions perceived to be inappropriate at a presser.)

Twitter Shame

“There needs to be a word for when you tweet something you think is really hilarious and nobody retweets it.” — CNN’s Lizzie O’Leary.

Roger gets racy regarding Newt

“Does Newt know how to give good press or what?” — Politico‘s Roger Simon.

Editor makes predictions on Madonna’s nipples

“SuperBowl prediction. Madonna shows both nipples. She’s too competitive too let Janet Jackson beat her at her own game.” — Washington Life Exec. Editor Michael Clements.

The Media Critic

“CNN has is now broadcasting a live count of votes. It’s as exciting as it sounds.” — Reason Mag and TWT movie reviewer Peter Suderman.

Journos give Newt crap for a change

“Topics Newt needs to avoid to preserve the sanity illusion: himself, mitt, janitors, the moon, ‘historian’” — WaPo‘s “Right Turn” blogger Jennifer Rubin. An observation on Newt…“Anyone else notice how much time Newt seems to have to read the papers?” — PBS’s Gwen Ifill.

A warning from The Guardian‘s Ana Marie Cox: “I better warn folks that I may not be able to experience this event ironically. Large groups of people sincerely singing can get to me.” (She attended a Rick Santorum campaign event in which attendees were saving seats with Bibles. Note her accompanying photograph.)

Journo Love

“[Bret Baier] does a great job responding to his Twitter critics, even gave them a voice on the air. Bet a lotta anchors blow ‘em off.” — Politico‘s Dave Catanese.

Unnecessary Tweet of the Day

“Passionate reactions to Komen segment on Reliable. Regardless of your view, of course the underlying issue in the flap is abortion.” — The Daily Beast’s Washington Bureau Chief and CNN “Reliable Sources” host Howard Kurtz. Really. The underlying flap is abortion?

Unnecessary Tweet of the Day II

“LOL and ZOMG are the only two expressions you need to know to report or understand campaign coverage.” — TPM‘s Brian Beutler in an observation that could truly, easily be ignored.