The one jab that never fails to elicit laughs from conservatives is the one about MSNBC and how “nobody” watches it. There was a lot of that at last night’s Media Research Center gala.

MRC, a conservative media watchdog org, celebrated its 25th anniversary and presented its tongue-in-cheek Dishonors awards at the National Building Museum.

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham presented the first two awards, one of which was the “Obamagasm” award. The nominees were MSNBC’s Chris Matthews (“Isn’t it a surprise when you see him talking about Obama and he still has his clothes on?” Ingraham said.), ABC’s Diane Sawyer (“of the perpetually heavy breathing voice”) and CNN’s Piers Morgan (“Britain’s own alien life form”). Matthews won for declaring in July that President Obama is “the perfect father, the perfect husband, the perfect American.”

The second award — the “Vast Right-Wing Knuckle-Draggers” award went to MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts, for saying in September 2011 that the GOP wants to build “a time machine, to go back in time…” Ingraham described Roberts as “Thomas no-one’s-ever-heard-of-me Roberts.”

Media bashing was given a rest for the William F. Buckley award for Media Excellence. It was presented by conservative columnist Cal Thomas as a tribute to Andrew Breitbart. The audience gave a standing ovation at the conclusion of Thomas’ remarks.

Two more anti-media awards were given out: The “Damn Those Conservatives to Hell” award (to NBC’s Ann Curry, for her interview with Republican V.P. candidate Paul Ryan in April) and the “Barbara Streisand Political I.Q. Award for Celebrity Vapidity” (to actor Sean Penn, for saying on CNN in October 2011 that the tea party wants to “lynch” Obama).

Finally, MRC President Brent Bozell handed out one last award: “The Worst Reporter in the History of Man” award. This one was chosen by cheers from the audience. It was initially a tie between former CBS anchorman Dan Rather and ABC’s Katie Couric. After a second round of cheers, Couric was named the “winner.” An embarrassing photo of Couric dancing at a private party in 2006 was projected on banners hanging from the ceiling.

The banners were a fixture for awkward photos throughout the evening. To the right was the spaced-out image of RNC Committee Chairman Reince Priebus that displayed when he spoke on stage.

Notables: The Daily Caller‘s Neil Munro, The Heritage Foundation’s Lachlan Markay, Fox News contributor Steven Crowder, The Washington Examiner‘s Philip Klein and Charlie Spiering, Slates David Weigel, The National Review‘s Jonah Goldberg, The Weekly Standard‘s Stephen Hayes, GOP mega donor Foster Friess, WMAL’s Chris Plante and CRC publicists Ashley Morris and Kelley Hudak.

Quotable: “I better put this down.”– An MRC goer who was spotted drinking directly from a champagne bottle. She put the bottle down when she saw us attempting to snap a photo.

No one can argue that MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough has been among the sharpest critics on the shortcomings of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. But he isn’t the only conservative member of the media to make this case. And yet, it’s Scarborough’s relentless criticism that has put him on the receiving end of a firing squad from fellow conservatives.

In short, they think he went too far…

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Quotes of the Day

LOCKED OUT: WaPo’s Dana Milbank: Mayhem at #dnc2012. Hundreds of delegates, journalists locked out of arena.

Penis sighting

“So yeah. Definitely just walked in on some dude in the bathroom with his pants around his ankles staring in the mirror #dnc2012” — BuzzFeed Washington Bureau Chief John Stanton.

WTF Mars Mention of the Evening: “I always figured if Bill Clinton landed on Mars, he would know how to do it. He would know how to reproduce. He would know everything. He’d just instinctively know how to talk to people…the martians.” — MSNBC’s Chris Matthews at 12:53 a.m. opining on Clinton’s vast reproduction knowledge that extends beyond our solar system. Please, someone put Matthews to bed (no pun intended).

Bill Clinton Speech Fallout

“A significant part of this is off prompter. He is using it as notes.” — TIME‘s Michael Scherer.

“The prompter has stopped rolling as Clinton goes off book.” — BuzzFeed‘s Zeke Miller.

“Take away the TelePrompTer, bite his ankle, throw a rat down his trousers, it only raises his game.” — Editor of The New Republic Franklin Foer.

“Bill Clinton is totally ghost ridin’ the script right now.” — Jamelle Bouie, writer for The American Prospect and fellow at the Nation Institute.

“The constant camera flashes in here are going to send Bubba into a seizure #dnc2012″ — Stanton.

“Bubba’s hands are shaking.” — HuffPost‘s Jen Bendery.

“I think Bill Clinton is the gun you bring to a knife fight.” — Metro Weekly Co-publisher Sean Bugg.

“Bill Clinton looks great. @peta may be right about the benefits of a vegan diet.” — HuffPost Deputy Editor Erin Ruberry.

“Man, Clinton is happier than a pig in Arkansas you know what.” — James Oliphant, Deputy Editor, National Journal magazine.

“Clinton is the master. He makes a speech to an enormous crowd feel like a personal talk.” — LAT‘s David Horsey.

“I really don’t understand reporters who think this is too long for a politician to be trying to talk to voters about policy.” — WaPo‘s Ezra Klein.

“This speech was killing it at 15 mins. Now, it’s bordering on a hostage situation.” — Co-host of MSNBC’s The Cycle S.E. Cupp.

“This is moving from ‘greatest speech ever’ to gong territory pretty fast.” — BuzzFeed Political Editor Ben Smith.

“They’re going to need a crowbar to pry Bill away from that podium.” — NYT Op-ed Columnist Charles Blow.

“There’s no way Rahm Emanuel actually thought ‘a broken clock is right twice a day’ was that funny.” — National Review‘s Jonah Goldberg.

“This is like watching a good lawyer defending a guilty man.” — Former Clinton pollster Dick Morris.

“Poor fact checkers, now they gotta spend the night studying 52 years of employment data” — Craig Crawford.

“Same R bloggers who were touting Clinton as the ‘good’ Dem for weeks suddenly talking about sex scandal and perjury again.” — WaPo‘s Greg Sargent.

The Name Dropper

“Caroline Kennedy just walked into our booth. Interview w @DavidMuir #abcworldnews” — ABC News’ Rick Klein.

Dirty jokester

“PLEASE tell me that Sandra Fluke isn’t wearing a blue Gap dress tonight.” — NRA News’ Cameron Gray in a tweet on the night former Prez Bill Clinton is to speak.

INTO THE POOL: “Oops! A wet former treasury secretary Bob Rubin after falling into a pool at a fancy cocktail party in Charlotte.” — Politico‘s Lois Romano with accompanying photograph.

Peter Ogburn contributed to this report. Above black and white photograph by Roll Call’s Meredith Shiner.

Nearly every Washington-based big print publication has some type of video coverage of the party conventions. As they breathlessly note in their releases, much of the video is “LIVE!”

FishbowlDC took a look at some of the LIVE! offerings to separate the pros from the piglets.

Politico has done a solid job thus far with its video coverage. Each morning at 7:30 a.m. White House Correspondent Mike Allen and Executive Editor Jim VandeHei begin with a look at the day ahead. An hour later Politico partners with the Tampa Bay Times for a “Playbook Breakfast” featuring high-profile guests such as Liz Cheney, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Karl Rove. Live streaming video continues throughout the day with coverage and analysis provided by Politico reporters and other media types. Convention speeches are also streamed in the evening. Finding Politico‘s video coverage is easy. A large graphic link sits at the top of the homepage. Shockingly, this detail escaped many other publications, which essentially put their video streams in holes then covered them in dirt. One upside of viewing Politico‘s live videos is VandeHei try to intimidate his reporters with scare tactics. Wait, isn’t that Politico Pro‘s Tim Grieve‘s job? “You said you’d have two scoops for us,” VandeHei said to Jake Sherman at the start of one segment. “It’s your birthday!” VandeHei said at one point to another reporter. “We’re going to let you work until midnight!” Only minor audio issues in the stream have ensued.

WaPo‘s live coverage, meanwhile, is mediocre at best, if you can manage to stay awake to actually experience it. It’s unclear how to even get to a video landing page. From the front page of WaPo‘s website, readers can either scroll down a little to click a small icon labeled “live” which leads to a regularly updated blog on political news and posts live streaming video when there is one. The stream we caught was a breakfast yesterday hosted by WaPo‘s Dan Balz, Chris Cillizza and Karen Tumulty along with Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio). Content amounted to a camera that largely zoned in on Portman. The breakfast bore the atmosphere of a cafeteria at a retirement home.

HuffPost Live, the new video venture from HuffPost, has also been streaming segments from the convention. Yesterday the publication’s Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington streamed into HuffPost‘s studio via webcam from Tampa to discuss the Republican convention. What’s distracting is how anyone joining by webcam has to do so wearing headphones, often the white ones that come with Apple products. Video is easy to find with HuffPost Live because it has its own website. Production is sharp enough for online video but we can’t escape the feeling that our annoying relatives are trying to Skype with us. Furthermore, because many of the guests are everyday people joining from home, so viewers are often treated to random home phones ringing and out-of-sight dogs panting.

CNN may have the best online video stream (understandable, given that it’s produced by an actual TV network). The cast we caught was a convention chat between CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Jim Acosta along with liberal commentator Donna Brazile and former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer. Unfortunately, we have no idea how to navigate back to any video streaming. We were only able to find this particular one because the exact web address was advertised on CNN’s TV channel. But trying to get there from CNN.com is a no go.

Moving on, other than picture quality, which was generally top notch, The Hill‘s live streaming has been terrible. We checked in on several occasions. Once, the camera was fixated on a man tapping on his phone and doing nothing else, with a 30-second clip of music on loop. Another time, the camera was focused on empty bleachers for an unusually extended period of time. And in a third instance, the audio wasn’t in sync with the video. This morning’s stream was a panel discussion featuring conservative author Jonah Goldberg and The Hill‘s A.B. Stoddard, two capable journos who know their way around TV appearances. I’d tell you who the other person on the panel was, but there was almost zero description of the panel underneath the video. The description that was there only contained the name of the event and the time it started. The camera never moved, or zoomed. It simply sat with a wide shot of the panel. On the plus side, the video stream is easy to find. Like Politico, a graphic link at the top of The Hill‘s homepage takes you there.

Tied with The Hill for terrible video streaming is National Journal. Once again, it’s difficult to find when navigating from the front page. Scroll down and a graphic link is to the right with tiny font lettering that says “full coverage.” Even when you get there, the live stream video isn’t at the top, it’s almost halfway down the page. In National Journal‘s case, the picture quality is good but the camera work is poor. It was only a single stationary camera focused on the speaker (and we can’t tell you who it was when we watched because like The Hill, there was no description underneath the video).

Don’t look for TWT Columnist and Drudge’s Joe Curl and ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper to kiss and make up anytime soon. Curl, a former White House correspondent, took a machete to the mainstream media in a Sunday column, taking large slices out of the media covering President Obama as a whole and ripping on TIME and MSNBC Contributor Mark Halperin. But he took special care and precision in going after “The Tap” as he writes, pointedly and personally mocking Tapper.

Curl begins with the “dog” metaphor and stretches it out, saying that the MSM has been in the “downward-facing dog position” for the past four years. And then, employing the reporter’s full name, the almost uncomfortable attack on “Jacob Paul ‘Jake’ Tapper” begins.

Tapper worked for Handgun Control Inc. and the “ultra-liberal” Salon magazine, writes Curl, who then goes after his wife, whom he does not name, indicating she’s the “former regional field manager for Planned Parenthood Federation.” He moves on to Tapper’s book, Down and Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency, calling it a “mega-non-best-seller” and citing the author speaking about media bias. Then Curl twists the knife by making fun of an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.”

Tapper has been praised by conservatives for asking tough questions that some think make him decidedly anti-Obama: National Review Online writer Jonah Goldberg: “There’s a reason why ABC’s Jake Tapper is one of the few nonconservative reporters respected on the right: He’s stayed as skeptical of Obama as he was of George W. Bush.” National Review Editor Rich Lowry: “In May, a bi-partisan majority of the House, including 20 Democrats, voted to ban abortion for the purpose of sex selection. As the National Right to Life Committee noted, it didn’t occur to reporters to ask the White House about the president’s position on the legislation, with the honorable exception of Jake Tapper (who, for some reason, is always the honorable exception).” Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham: “Jake Tapper of ABC News, one of the few honest brokers out there in the non-Fox White House Press Corps.”

This won’t sit well. Washington can feel like a small town where media is concerned, so this should make for some exquisitely awkward party moments. We just hope we’re there to witness them.

Tapper declined to comment on Curl’s column.

An excerpt:

…America’s reporters are prepared to do what must be done so they can get back to their skewered shrimp in the faux gardens of upper Manhattan — with Barack Obama back in the White House.

All of this comes as a tremendous shock to Jacob Paul “Jake” Tapper. The Dartmouth grad who once worked for Handgun Control Inc. and the ultra-liberal Salon magazine (is his wife a former regional field manager for Planned Parenthood Federation? Yes, yes she is) did not really know there was this “liberal bias” when authoring the mega-non-best-seller “Down and Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency” (surprisingly, it was not about how Al Gore tried to steal the presidency).

Quotes of the Day

From USA TODAY‘s Jackie Kucinich, who writes, “Good to know…”

Travel Taunting: “Shockingly large number of air travel rookies today. Guy from Bloomberg: ‘Do I have to take my laptop out?’” — National Review‘s Jonah Goldberg. Wino Watch: “Dulles bar near gate to Tampa uncorking vino already. Here comes the press!” — Washington Examiner “Washington Secrets” writer Paul Bedard.

Ana off the wagon?

“@ananavarro: In my mathematic formula: Should always pack more shoes than days for a convention. Same holds for bottles of wine.”#approve — The Guardian‘s Ana Marie Cox. Ana Navarro is a Republican pundit for CNN.

Deep Travel Thoughts: “Try to not point out flaws in stupid shit on airplanes right after boarding if you want your flight to take off on time. Or at all.” — House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa‘s (R-Calif.) Press Sec. Becca Glover Watkins. And from Sen. Orrin Hatch‘s (R-Utah) Comm Dir. and Senior Advisor Antonia Ferrier: “Airports on little sleep is a bad idea.”

“A quad of talent in Tampa.” — NBC Audio OP Steve Mitnick. The photograph includes NBC Correspondents Chuck Todd, Kelly O’Donnell, NBC News Senate Producer Libby Leist and NBC Producer Doug Adams.

Tampa Hair and the fight against humidity

“Getting hair and makeup done for @CNN with @crowleyCNN in an hour. Artists putting up a valiant fight against humidity.” — WaPo‘s Karen Tumulty.

“Uh oh forgot my flat iron. There is going to be some serious crazy Zito hair going on in Tampa.” — Pittsburgh Tribune-Review‘s Salena Zito.

Speaking of a good blowdry…

“I can probably put down blowdrying rain-soaked shoes as one of the few things I will not miss about living in this city.” — Former TWT White House reporter Kara Rowland, a gradate student at the London School of Economics.

What could possibly go wrong? “Renting a car for the next two weeks. Haven’t driven in something like 3 years.” — Ashley McCollum, press manager for BuzzFeed.

Tampa-wear: What should she wear?

“Packing for Tampa. Help me out, tweeps: What does one wear to a hurricane?” — BuzzFeed‘s newest scribe Rebecca Berg.

From L to R: Benjy Sarlin, Sara Libby and Evan McMorris-Santoro. “Good morning Team @TPM! #travel buddies.” — Roll Call’s Meredith Shiner.

Hurricane Watch: “Hurricane, meet Hurricane. Speaker Newt ‘I will be the nominee” Gingrich on my plane to Tampa.’” — The Hill‘s Managing Editor Bob Cusack.

Poor Howie! Alone with a bagel.

“The sad sight of Howard Kurtz eating a bagel alone in a Holiday Inn at 7am.” — The Guardian‘s Richard Adams. Meanwhile, Howiella is en route to Tampa. “On a flight to Tampa with @BobCusack and @thehill Editor-in-Chief Hugo Gurdon.#partytime” — The Hill‘s gossip scribe Judy Kurtz (a.k.a. Howiella, Howlma, Howeesha, etc..)

Huh, really?  

“If you are a political reporter, Tampa is the place to be this week. #protip” — Newsweek‘s Eli Lake.

Corn lost, pissed without MSNBC

“And this damn hotel doesn’t have MSNBC. Just Fox and CNN. Figures. We’re blowing the joint this AM.” — Mother Jones D.C. Bureau Chief and MSNBC Contributor David Corn.

WORLDS COLLIDE

“Sitting next to @BretBaier on flight to Tampa. A very nice guy. By the way, live @CNNSitRoom 6PM ET today. He’s not live today.” — CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

Hallelujah! TBD Twitter account officially sinks. Who cares that it happened two weeks after its death?

Radio host is all ears

“I talk on the radio but most impt thing I do is listen, esp on matters of Race. And if you listen carefully you even hear what’s left unsaid.” — NPR’s Michele Norris.

The admission: “Going on CNN’s ‘Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz’ this morning to say regrettable things I will certainly try to weasel out of.” — Politico‘s Roger Simon.

Journo needs The Weather Channel

“Seems to be getting windy in Tampa this morning. What’s that about?” — CNBC and NYT‘s John Harwood.

A new airport game: Spot the Reporter

“ON WAY TO TAMPA: 20-something girls near me in airport were briefly playing ‘spot the reporter.’ Guess lack of ‘press’ hat disguised me?” — CNN’s Lisa Desjardins.

Peter Ogburn contributed to this report.

Quotes of the Day

You’ve been warned.

“I swear if Pepco hits us with a rolling brown out I’m marching on Potomac and lighting every rich person I find on fire. Fair warning.” — Soon to be Buzzfeed Washington Editor John Stanton, who, if played by Tom Hanks might look like this.

TV journo in heat

“Have no a.c. and two HOT dogs! and I don’t have a drop of chilled Sauvignon Blanc in the house. THAT IS STRESS!” — ABC7′s ever dramatic Stephen Tschida. That same day he wrote, “In a house built in 1870 with no air conditioning. I truly am a HOT MESS!”

TWTer gets the Rachel

“Just realized why my new haircut seems so familiar. I think my stylist gave me ‘the Rachel.’ gasp.” — TWT‘s Anneke Green.

Priorities.

“Fresh round of accidental unfollows. If I victimized you with one, sorry! Happy Sunday.” — Politico‘s Ben White.

“You think you’ve got problems? Just realized forgot to bring yoga clothes to Aspen.” — The Atlantic‘s Molly Ball.

Luke Russert weighs in on impending Tom-Kat divorce

“Katie Holmes to me will forever just be a sweet #Catholic girl from Toledo. I blocked out the last 5 years.” — NBC’s Luke Russert.

Weather woes

• “Still no power, but the basement was nice and cool so I sept well. The prospect of not having power for a week is no fun.”– NBC Washington’s Jim Long.

“I won’t say being without power all yesterday was great, but being off the electronic leash wasn’t entirely awful, either.” — Center for American Progress’ Matt Duss.

• “Filling up at swamped gas station had a Lord of the Flies feeling. Woman got out of her car and screamed at guy who cut in line.” — Roll Call‘s Steven Dennis.

“It’s like someone played ‘he loves me, he loves me not’ with power outages in #Alexandria.” — WaPo Express‘ Sara Schwartz.

• “Air conditioning is out at the gym. I have always wanted to try hot yoga….here is my chance.” — CNN’s Jen Scoggins.

“Clearing storm debris from my yard has caused a perspiratory event of mythic proportions.” — National Review‘s Jonah Goldberg.

• “In case yall were wondering, @DailyCaller data center got hit by storm. We’re working as fast as we can to get it back up.” — The Daily Caller‘s Matthew Boyle plays spokesman over the weekend.

“In her book @AliEWentworth says to straight to the Four Seasons during disasters. I have power but I still want room service.” — Publicist Courtney Cohen, former producer for ABC’s “This Week.”

• “Would not be surprised to come home to find my cat doing the backstroke in the toilet for relief. Poor thing. Come on, power!” — Conservative journo Mary Katharine Ham.

“Why have we lost our electricity in #Bethesda 30 hours AFTER the big storm? (So much ice cream, so little time.” — WaPo Book World Editor Ron Charles.

• “At 6pm there is a 95% chance of more T-storms in #DTSS #SilverSpring – tie up those tomatoes!” — Kathy Jentz, Editor of Washington Gardener Magazine.

“Big storms in dc! Wow – apparently -80 mph winds clocked. Listening for a freight train sound to grab the kids and head to the basement.” — FNC’s Bret Baier.

• “Holy shit. Biggest storm I’ve ever seen. Trees down, power out, huddled in the basement. Scary. #Bethesda” — Brett Haber. You lost us at Bethesda, Brett.

(Photo credit above left storm picture: CBSNews.com.)

Luke invites Chuck over for a swim

“Hey @chucktodd go take the guest room at @LukeRsmom house. AC working. Kids welcome. Pool open till 10.” — NBC’s Russert to his colleague Chuck Todd.

Meanwhile…Politico‘s Shermanator Jake Sherman spent the weekend — where else? — at a Phish concert near Milwaukee: “Midwest phish. Alpine valley.”

How to Make It All About Me

“This is how I work with no power. This storm is freaking me out.” — The Daily Caller‘s Michelle Fields.

“Though I ended keeping from puking reading #FASTANDFURIOUS coverup plan docs, I was screaming through newsroom. Sickening people.” — The Daily Caller‘s Boyle.

Thanks for the memories…

“Remember showing @SavannahGuthrie around DC bureau on one of her 1st days @NBCNews and now she’s a Today Show anchor! BIG congrats!!” — CBS’s Christine Delargy.

Grief porn…“So sad to hear about Nora Ephron. I had a few meals with her and she was as great as I imagined her to be.” — NJ‘s Matt Cooper. Cooper’s not alone. “I sat next to Nora Ephron at dinner just a month ago. She was funny, charming, & full of life. A light went out tonight. RIP, Nora.” — MSNBC’s Willie Geist. And this: “I got to cook for Nora Ephron once. Man, it made me scared.” — NYT National Editor Sam Sifton, who wrote this piece about making meatloaf for Ephron in 2009.

WaPo finally has good excuse for techno difficulties

“Send us your storm photos — we would’ve asked sooner, but storm knocked this feature offline.” — WaPo, which shockingly had online difficulties during the hurricane storm that hit D.C. this weekend. Who would believe WaPo would otherwise have web issues?

Howeesha flees Washington

“Leaving DC’s #stormageddon for the city that never sleeps…and hopefully has power to boot. DC –> NYC” — The Hill‘s gossip columnist Howeesha Kurtz (a.k.a. Judy Kurtz, daughter of you know who.)

Amtrak Complaint Desk

“Y didn’t @Amtrak alert passengers to issues B4 we boarded? Train 99 said all on time when left NYC, but tracks were still closed.” — founder of the political blog PunditMom  Joanne Bamberger, who contributes to Politico‘s Arena section.

“For the record, not traveling this weekend,” wrote avid traveler complainer Steve Buttry, noting that Amtrak declared Philly and D.C. service suspended due to weather. Buttry is the Community Engagement Director for Digital First Media.

A Happy Birthday to WaPo‘s Jonathan Capehart. They sung to him during his appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” just before he weighed in on Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise‘s marriage troubles, saying he felt the marriage was a five-year contract. “She decided five years, I have an option to get out, I’m getting out!”

Peter Ogburn contributed to this report.

Say hello to Mother Jones‘ National Security Correspondent Adam Weinstein, who has been splitting his time between Washington, San Francisco and Tallahassee. Next month he’ll grace Washington full-time as the mag’s new Community Engagement Editor and will continue on as their National Security Correspondent and Tumblr-starter. He was previously their copy editor. Before that, he worked at the WSJ, the Village Voice, and the Tallahassee Democrat. He’s written for the NYT, New York Magazine, GQ, and Newsweek.

He has many life titles: Navy veteran, two-day Jeopardy champion and ex-political scientist. He also did a recession-fueled stint as a military contractor in Iraq. He holds an MS in Journalism from Columbia and an MA in international affairs from Florida State. Weinstein says he’s looking forward to “getting down with” the other social media folks in Washington.

Born and raised in Fort Lauderdale, he says he tried his hardest to be a beach bum. “There was lots of drinking on the beach and cutting class,” he recalled. In high school he interned at the Sun Sentinel, where he says he caught the Hemingway bug and figured journalism was something he’d always end up doing. He was a copy editor at the Tallahassee Democrat and the WSJ until Rupert Murdoch laid him off. He has funny copy editing memories: “Everybody has that moment where the front page comes out and you have a 72-point headline that reads ‘Headline Goes Here.’” He says he wasn’t a very good copy editor.

Weinstein says one of the problems journalists have is remembering that the world doesn’t revolve around them.  “We all just have a tendency to assume that what we work on everyday and what comprises our world is what comprises everybody’s elses,” he says. “The best journalists are ones that can step out of that bubble and be aware of other people’s worlds.”

If you were a carbonated beverage, which would you be? Diet Mountain Dew. Not very classy, but irresistible, slightly Southern, and sure to make you sick in massive quantities.

How often do you Google yourself? Enough to grow hair on my iPad.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)? I once told a restaurant manager I’d rather take a high colonic with a rusty chainsaw than work another minute for him. Two years later, I was writing for the Village Voice. The restaurant was out of business.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? I can’t narrow it down. Dave Weigel is the nicest guy in the business. Mike Hastings is the most entertaining. C.J Chivers is a personal hero. I have an intellectual crush on Virginia Heffernan. But overall, right now I’d kill a man with my bare hands just to keep reading John Jeremiah Sullivan.

Do you have a favorite word? My wife and I giggle every time we say the word “backpack”, for some not-at-all-drug-related reason. When not in mixed company, I like “fuckstick.”

Who would you rather have dinner with – MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Katie Couric or ABC’s Diane Sawyer. Tell us why. Maddow, because I like to talk to PhDs. There ought to be more doctors and masters of non-journalistic shit working in journalism.

The Earth’s human population is dying out and you must save it. You will spend a romantic evening with either Helen Thomas or Joan Rivers. Who will it be? (Neither is not an option and yes, it’s possible. We’re in your imagination right now.) Joan Rivers, because I like her dirty talk.

What swear word do you use most often? “What the shit?!” I’m an ex-copy editor, so a lot of years in there, I spoke mainly in cusses. We’re the engine mechanics of the news biz.

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.) Skip Bayless, Woody Paige, Dana Loesch, Jonah Goldberg, and three dull machetes in the center of the table.

On a serious note for a moment, if you could have dinner with a person who has died, who would it be? I was raised in part by a lovely woman, April Rubin Bloom, an erudite, gentle union crusader who was like a third grandmother to me – Molly Ivins meets Atticus Finch. I was working on the wrong coast when she died, and we never got to share in each other’s excitement over my job at MoJo, one of her favorite magazines. Plus, she was the most talented cook ever to organize a NOW picket line for equal pay.

Does David Corn have a bad temper? No! He’s just a badass ex-hippie with great guitar licks and a sophomoric sense of humor.

Weinstein says Washington’s Boybanders “poop brown poop just like the rest of us” …

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Here’s some bad publicity (if there’s such a thing) for an author who’s doing pretty well at the moment.

National Review‘s Jonah Goldberg published his second book Tyranny of Cliche’s: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas at the start of this month. It’s currently listed at No. 56 on Amazon’s Bestsellers list. On the book’s jacket, Goldberg’s bio says he has “twice been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.” But as msnbc.com points out, Goldberg has never been nominated for a Pulitzer.

“His publisher, Penguin Group (USA), said the error was unintentional and it would remove the Pulitzer word from his book jacket when it’s time for the first reprint, ‘just like any other innocent mistake brought to our attention.’”

In a chain of emails accidentally forwarded to msnbc from Penguin with comment from the publisher, Goldberg calls the whole thing a “bull@!$%# story.” When asked for comment, Goldberg told FishbowlDC by email that he’s sure he read the bio on the book before it came out, but that he “didn’t know it was a “mistake” when he saw it. “It’s a pretty dumb story if you ask me — which I suppose you are. As [msnbc] notes, lots of people have made the mistake. I’m glad to correct it, of course. But it was an honest error.”

Goldberg has had work submitted for a Prize (which is simply a matter of filling out an application and paying a $50 fee) but has never been selected by the Pulitzer committee as a finalist.

The good news: Both Goldberg and his publisher were forthcoming on the matter. “We will submit the correction to online retailers like Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com, which use our flap copy for their descriptive copy,” the publisher told msnbc. “Jonah is also correcting any other bios that have the error.”

And now for the bad news: msnbc.com reports that this isn’t Goldberg’s first brush with embellishing details. In 2008, National Review reported that Tribune Media Services, which runs his column, “nominated” him for a Pulitzer. Who knows, maybe Goldberg will seek pr advice from a well-known literary agent (and his mother) Lucianne Goldberg, who once advised ex-Clinton aide Linda Tripp to tape record conversations with Monica Lewinksy.

Then again, maybe not.

From the Dept. of Bragiculture…Today’s Washington bragging comes from NationalReviewOnline‘s Jonah Goldberg. This isn’t typical of him, which is why it jumped out at us. Goldberg, who often tweets about his mundane and annoying experiences on airplanes, recently came out with THE TYRANNY OF CLICHÉS: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas. The book, which hit bookshelves on May 1, picks apart what he considers to be the shallow reasoning and distortions behind the Left’s most popular clichés. His point: most liberals aren’t thinking at all.

In the wee hours of the morning Jonah must have been pretty pumped to receive this. So much so, the whole world had to know. Now that‘s brain candy.

#TOC @JonahNRO i started your new book. Fantastic! You research and pen the sorts of things that roll around my head. Brain candy.

— dzdent (@dzdent) May 3, 2012