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The reporter, who goes unnamed in the book, is Laura Meckler from WSJ.

To be sure, Hastings went into great detail about what Meckler did at the party, which involved approaching Obama with a sock puppet, speaking in a squeaky voice and asking him for an interview. Answering for Obama, she had him say yes to her request.

The rules for the evening, according to a letter sent to all members of the White House Press Corps, were that no official or aide could be quoted. Which meant journalists like Meckler were fair game.

“You know that was off the record last night, right?” Meckler questioned Hastings the following day. Hastings, hilariously, wrote in the eBook, “Please, I thought, don’t let this be a journalist talking to me.” She repeated her question. “This perplexed me,” he continued. “Was it a reporter’s job to monitor me like the East German Stasi?” Hastings eventually responded to Meckler, saying, “Everything was off the record. Except what you did.” Ouch.

The chapter that features the scene is Chapter 6 and is called, “Potus High.”

There’s also a funny scene about the sometimes prickly Hastings having a “preemptive” dislike for journalists like FNC’s Ed Henry… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Stickler: CNN’s Blitzer kicks SNL’s Ass

“I hate to tell #SNL announcer it’s correctly pronounced Ree-Anna not Ree-Ahna. Just ask her to pronounce her name.” — Wolf Blitzer.

Doug Heye turns 40 today: Birthday wishes to House Maj. Leader Eric Cantor‘s (R-Va.) new Deputy Chief of Staff. He and a cadre of friends celebrated over the weekend in Manhattan. Names in the crowd: Sam Dealey, journalist/media-consultant, formerly with Qorvis, NRCC Spokesman Brian Walsh, Ron and Sara Bonjean, Dan Ronayne, NBC’s Erika Masonhall, CNN’s Matt Dornic, Sen. John Thune’s Spokesman Kyle Downey. Some 20 friends attended a Yankees home game Saturday afternoon. The evening was spent in the Village. Doug got a custom T-shirt at PJ Clarke’s. It read: “I am turning 40. If I am lost, call 911. Shots appreciated!”

Also in Manhattan this weekend: Politico‘s Jake Sherman attended a Furthur concert at the Beacon Theatre. Colleague Maggie Haberman remarked on Twitter, “Walked by the theater earlier…quite a scent.” Jake replied, “Must be from citarella [sic].” Yeah, riiiight!

Noteworthy: Politico‘s Mike Allen filed at some of the latest times we’ve seen in recent Playbook history. Saturday: 11:35 a.m. Sunday: 12:25 p.m.

Pooler burns calories during Pool Duty

“Your pooler was able to cover the family photo after all and is hoping the huge amount of running involved burnt off last night’s dinner.” — WSJ White House Correspondent Laura Meckler in a weekend Pool Report.

Spotted at the Nationals game Sunday: NBC Congressional Correspondent Luke Russert, Current TV’s Bill Press and WaPo‘s Tim Carman. A beleaguered Peter Ogburn, producer for the Bill Press Show and FBDC Contributor, begging with his gorilla children to stop kicking the seat of the man in front of them. When Ogburn left the children unattended for 5 minutes to get a beer, an old woman said that he should be “more careful” about leaving children alone in public. He asked her if she was a cop. She replied no and he asked her to please mind her own business.

Is Paul Wharton off his rocker?

Paul Wharton, whose new show “Paul Wharton Style” debuted on the CW Sunday. As many know, he was the wardrobe stylist/image expert on the Real Housewives of D.C. More on the first episode later, but meanwhile, read the crazy sh-t he has been tweeting as of late…Correction — we previously referred to him as a hairdresser. Sorry about that Paul!

From April 11: “Accidentally popped my Ambien, 10 mins before I got a call from my producer to send in a bunch of voiceovers! Omg, this can’t be good!”

From April 12: “My 6:30 hair appointment is on and poppin! Gotta get it in early and look like I woke up this way @salonlynne is a round brush genius!”

What’s Roland Tweeting?

“Fam, it’s a gorgeous day in DC. But prayers for the loss of life in Oklahoma due to the tornadoes.” — CNN Contributor and “Washington Watch” host Roland Martin over the weekend.

Unnecessary Tweets of the Day

“Watching 6 yr old nephew’s soccer game in rain. Think this phone may not last mugch llongffgfhjlnffc.” — NPR’s Steve Inskeep.

“Successfully made over easy eggs this morning.” — Greenwire’s Jessica Estepa.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

TIPS FROM THE POOL…INTO THE DEEP END

A White House Pool Report by WSJ‘s Laura Meckler involving a bus with black tinted windows caused some stir earlier today.

She wrote: “Air Force One touched down in St. Paul at 10:30 a.m. CT. An all-black bus with dark tinted windows awaited Potus at the bottom of the stairs. Even from the outside, the bus is not like any normal bus. The windows are so dark (except for those next to the driver) that it does not appear to have any windows at all. There is nothing painted on it whatsoever.”

West Wing Reports had this to say about it: “Standard talking points so far as President’s ‘economic bus tour’ (in a really scary looking all-black bus) gets underway in MN.”

CBS News White House radio reporter Mark Knoller has more details on the bus. For one thing, it’s as mammoth as it is to accommodate the Secret Service. For another, the $1.1 million bus is part of a new fleet.

We reached out to WhiteHouseDossier.com’s Keith Koffler about what effect he thinks the bus might have on ordinary Minnesotans. “It’s going to cause an accident,” Koffler said. “If I saw that thing, I’d drive right off the road, get out my car, and beg the Lord for mercy.” He continued, “I fully expect Obama to get off the bus and instead of kissing babies say to them, ‘Luke, I am your father.’”

On a somewhat more serious note, he said, “It would seem, you know, not to exactly be in the populist spirit of a bus tour. It looks like it was designed by some of the best political consultants over at DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency].”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

WSJ’s White House Pooler Laura Meckler is the lucky scribe who gets to be at the Oprah show today with POTUS and FLOTUS. But she won’t be able to report on much because she’s not allowed since most of the material has been embargoed. The Oprah show will release one clip today and two tomorrow.

For anyone who needs explanation, the show has embargoed all material from the taping until it airs, with exception of what the show chooses to release. The White House has explained their enforcement of this policy by explaining that if/when one of us gets a potus interview, the WH will not let the pool report on that interview ahead of time either. (Complaints should be directed to the White House and/or Oprah Winfrey.)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Slate

He details a phone briefing for reporters held by “senior White House officials” which gave next to no details about budget specifics. One brave reporter, Laura Meckler of WSJ, asked why no details were being given, considering the budget will be released in two weeks. Surely, these senior officials knew what was in the budget?

But she was told she’d have to wait the two weeks: “There’ll be plenty of details about these proposals and lots of other proposals when the budget actually comes out.”

Dickerson says there isn’t only one way to be unspecific about deficit reduction, and he details some others. This is just a sampling:

• the Diet Tomorrow: “Suggest new programs but don’t say how you’ll pay for them.”
• Fear: “Say that any spending reductions beyond those you like will shut down the government.”
• and, of course, the Blue Ribbon Dodge: “Call for a commission and when it offers suggestions, ignore them.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Ben Feller, AP
Savannah Guthrie, NBC
Mike Emanuel, Fox News
Chip Reid, CBS News
Peter Baker, NYT
Jake Tapper, ABC
Laura Meckler, WSJ
Ed Henry, CNN
Han Nichols, Bloomberg (asked if Obama would invite Speaker presumptive John Boehner (R-Ohio) over for a Slurpee, referencing a line Obama used on the campaign trail over and over again this cycle)
Matt Spetalnick, Reuters

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The July 15 race for the at-large seat of the White House Correspondents’ Association is reaching a fevered pitch. The race has gotten so competitive that all three candidates — Politico‘s Carol Lee, Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols and WSJ‘s Laura Meckler — are being accused of a ballot box stuffing form of campaigning.

An e-mail letter circulating the past few days from the Washington Examiner‘s White House correspondent and WHCA at-large board member Julie Mason says all three candidates have been making sure that reporters and editors from their own publications get signed up for the WHCA to garner more votes.

Among those who have signed up in the course of the election: Bloomberg’s Al Hunt is now a member, as are Politico’s top Editors, Jim VandeHei and John Harris. WSJ‘s Gerald Seib is also now a member.

Sources tell FishbowlDC that each candidate has signed up several new WHCA members during this election. According to those familiar with the WHCA, the organization is supposed to be for grunty White House reporters who need a larger entity to give them a voice — not those they charge will do little more than give their own reporter a vote. Sources have also told FishbowlDC that all of the candidates have their downsides — with at least two of the candidates — Nichols and Meckler — having personality deficits that would make them unpalatable to voters.

Nichols had no comment, but instead this automatic e-mail response: “I am out today. Please contact White House editor Joe Sobczyk if it’s urgent.”

Meckler said she didn’t start the practice of encouraging journalists to sign up until she saw other candidates doing it: “I think membership in the WHCA should be limited to people who actually cover the White House,” she wrote in a statement to FishbowlDC. “However, in recent days and weeks, the membership requirements evidently have been relaxed, and many editors and others from Bloomberg and Politico were cleared for membership in the association. I reluctantly concluded that to say competitive in the race, I should inquire whether editors and others at my news organization who are involved in White House coverage were interested in joining the association, and a handful of them joined in the last day or so. I only did this after seeing that others had done it first, and I sincerely wish that none of this had occurred. It’s a huge waste of time and energy.”

Lee, in an e-mail: “Everyone who works at Politico and is a member of the Correspondents’ Association covers the White House, either as an editor or a reporter. The association has a process for approving members and renewing dues, and they went through that process.”

The e-mail written by Mason, who has two years remaining on the board, has been circulating around the bureaus. In it, she expresses her distaste for the campaign…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

UPDATE: We hear from a tipster that the reporter is WSJ’s Laura Meckler, who is expecting. You can imagine why she’s tired. Congratulations Laura!

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.