Another kind of ‘House’ wins vote — Patrick Gavin of Politico writes about a new Amazon.com TV series called “Alpha House” that will begin shooting this year in New York City and Washington. The show is a comedy about four Republican senators living as roommates and stars John Goodman, Clark Johnson, Mark Consuelos and Matt Mallow. The show was part of an Amazon contest that featured 14 pilots that viewers voted on to choose which ones would be made into a full season.

DOJ scandal deepens — WaPo’s Erik Wemple further examines the DOJ scandal today in a piece on Fox News host Shepard Smith’s statement that the Justice Department gained access to the news organization’s servers and took information from them. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said in a statement that DOJ is not identifying the “news organization or the reporter involved in the Stephen Kim investigation.”

Reporter’s computer compromised — Also on Politico today, Dylan Byers reports CBS News investigative reporter Sheryl Attkisson’s computer was compromised. Attkisson said she’s been looking into the intrusion for months but is “not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity today.” The reporter said suspicious activity was first seen in Feb. 2011 while she was reporting on the Fast and Furious scandal and the White House’s green energy spending.

Run Michele, Run! As Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) continues her crusade to bypass the media and any news of possible ethics violations, it continues to backfire on her. In stories this morning by the Minneapolis Star Tribune and  TPM‘s Tom Kludt, she has reportedly tried to actively avoid the Fourth Estate yet again at a presser in Minnesota. Some might recall the recent running through basement of the Capitol as CNN’s Dana Bash, somewhat breathlessly but with great determination, interviewed her about comments she made at CPAC. From TPM: She was “rushed out of the room by aides and shielded from reporters as soon as she was questioned about potential ethics violations.”

White House Chef faces possible furlough: Thanks to Obama Foodorama blogger  Eddie Gehman (and Politico‘s Patrick Gavin who aggregated the news this morning) we now know that the White House chef Sam Kass may soon be impacted by the sequester cuts. See Gehman’s piece on Kass’s Tuesday meeting with reporters here; Gavin’s here.

What does Mark Mazzetti read anway? This morning, The Atlantic Wire publishes the reading diet of the NYT national security correspondent. Turns out he wakes to NPR and then heads to the NYT, but he already knows what’s there so he doesn’t dwell on it. His general first order of business is to see who beat him on a given story. He likes the BBC website, Mad Men, etc… Read the full piece here.

Quotes of the Day

PICTURE FROM PETRA: CBS Chief White House Correspondent Major Garrett, who is traveling with President Obama, snapped this photograph from Petra. He describes it as “6 of 16.” FNC Chief White House Correspondent Ed Henry asks in a tweet, “Is it illegal to take rocks home from ancient city of Petra? Asking for a friend.”

Ouch!

“Wow, @HuffingtonPost, your website blows.” – Roll Call reporter Emily Cahn.

Marty bitch slaps Twitter troll 

“What is your Problem? No, I’m not a Pedo- I’m a Soap Opera Fan, you Idiot!” — Media fan favorite Marty Rudolph to Wayne Bevins, an Ohioan who watches “One Life to Live.”

Washington brunch topic: cucumber farmers, pickles

“Brunch discussion: Do cucumber farmers feel ambivalent about pickles? Good business, but also essentially saying cuke not good enough as is.” — Ry Rivard, technology reporter for Inside Higher Ed.

Politico Playbook Publish Time: 9:03 a.m.

From the Dept. of Bragiculture…

“I frequently end up on the lonely side of news stories; that means the factually correct side. Facts are not always that hip.” — Lee Stranahan.

This little piggy…

“Officially asking my editor on Monday if we can get a newsroom piglet.” — Digital First Media Project Thunderdome and Nieman Lab’s Adrienne LaFrance.  She links to this story by the NYT.

Signs of Spring…pundit and blogger Craig Crawford has a must-see picture of a couple of doves on his windowsill. View here.

Taxicab Confessions

Former The Daily reporter Myles Miller: “Here I Am To Worship by Passion is happening in this cab.” He links to this spiritual music.” To which Digital First Project Thunderdome’s Ryan Teague Beckwith remarked, “I would avoid both worship and passion in a cab.”

Unbelievable! Media Matters takes whack at Fox News…

Read more

Who are the most influential women in Washington?

According to Elle, two of the 10 “luminaries” are journalists.  In a feature, CNN’s Jessica Yellin and MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell were honored by the glam mag for “crashing DC’s old boys club – with style.” As part of Elle’s ‘Power List,’ Yellin and Mitchell joined the likes of Dr. Jill Biden, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, and Google’s Susan Molinari, among others.

As the sole female Chief White House Correspondent in the Briefing Room, Yellin earned her spot on the list for also being the only reporter to interview both the President and his wife last year. Of Mitchell, Elle says she is the living, breathing embodiment of the plucky heroines and fearless investigators (Nancy Drew and Brenda Starr) she idolized as a girl.

In the spread, Yellin and Mitchell are asked to pick their favorite fashion designers. While Mitchell picks Dior, Chanel and Jason Wu, Yellin mentions Theory and Tahari.

Read the full feature here. Politico‘s Patrick Gavin wrote up the mag’s evening at the Italian Embassy earlier in the week.

Wait. How did that happen so fast?

Mere hours had passed after the debut of CNN Jake Tapper’s The Lead, and already, Jeff Zucker was ecstatic. At a party for Tapper last night at the Sixth Engine, as reported by Politico‘s Patrick Gavin, CNN’s new President declared Tapper the face of the new CNN.

Zucker told the crowd, “I can tell you from the position that I was in, the prospect of Jake Tapper being the face of the new CNN had me more excited than anything, and I can tell you after today, I know it was absolutely the right thing. …I couldn’t hope for more than for Jake and his team to take CNN into our next place, into our next century.”

We can only imagine how Wolf and John (King) are feeling right now.

And wait…maybe Tapper gets that interview with WaPo‘s Bob Woodward after all. After saying this week that he didn’t understand how a reporter could receive a nasty call from the White House and then get on TV and complain about it, Woodward was among the guests at the party.

See the full story.

Quotes of the Day

SO FORGET ABOUT INTERVIEWING BOB WOODWARD? “I’ve never really understood the people who get a nasty phone call and get on TV and talk about it. It’s part of the job. You do a story that they don’t like, you’re going to get yelled at, you listen to them or you yell back and then you move on.” — CNN’s Jake Tapper, whose show, “The Lead,” debuts today at 4 p.m.

Journalist encounters swarm of ladybugs

“I like/admire ladybugs, but why do I suddenly have 500 of them swarming inside one of my windows? One use for a leafblower: shoo ‘em out.” — The Atlantic‘s James Fallows.

Liberal profanity at CPAC

“CPAC 2013 Unfiltered: ‘what a piece of shit’; ‘he’s a douche’; ‘she can blow me’; ‘no fucking way’ #liberaluseofprofanity” — Roll Call HOH writer Warren Rojas.

Journo watchdog complains about CPAC shuttle

“How many people have been stranded by the horrid CPAC 2013 shuttle service? Must have been set up by a liberal.” — Accuracy in Media’s Don Irvine.

Martin strikes out at Levin over Lil Wayne

“I see TMZ’s Harvey Levin deleted his tweet saying Lil Wayne was being given his ‘last rites.’ Talk about poor sourcing. Unbelievable!” — CNN and Washington Watch’s Roland Martin.

And a WaPo Express columnist defends TMZ

“Anyways, I hope Wayne is fine, obviously. But acting like TMZ doesn’t break news with regularity is pretty illogical.” — WaPo Express‘ Clinton Yates.

The Observer

“Interesting what the CPAC pols are getting defensive about: being crazy, being bigoted, being out of touch. Too close to home?” — Marketing writer Deborah Brody.

Oversharing Sherri

“Was so excited to get a great bra fit from Molly Hopkins & Cynthia Richards of @DoubleDivasTV that I went & ordered 6 bras 38Fheaven” — ABC “The View’s” Sherri Shepherd.

News after our own hearts

“Good news: Fish populations in the U.S. have been rebounding since 1996.” — WaPo‘s Brad Plumer with a link to this story.

“Just got news that my brother-in-law changed his name to Goldfish. GOLDFISH.” — @mastodfow.

Important Q to Ponder: “OK all you Rhodes scholars, I get it. I misspelled CYPRUS. Should I gouge out my eyeballs?” — Politico‘s Ben White.  Please, Ben, no. This is disturbing.

And speaking of gouged eyeballs… “Actual thing said at Saturday night party: ‘That was so kind of you to like my picture on Facebook.’ – Politico‘s Patrick Gavin.

High hopes

“Reactions to learning of tonight’s dinner plans: 1. I should wear some real clothes. 2. I should comb my hair.” — Vintage blogger Lisa Rowan.

Try to wrap your head around this… Read more

Book? What book?

This appears to be the attitude of Politico, who hasn’t written word one on the new book out by former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), who served time in the big house for his criminal dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Just think of it as their own quite f–k you to Ney.

No doubt the book, Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capitol Hill., wasn’t a joy ride for Politico, so it’ll be surprising if Politico reporters show up to Ney’s book party tonight at the Monocle. After all, Ney devotes an entire chapter to skewering Politico‘s own John Bresnahan, a longtime Washington political reporter covering Capitol Hill. Which is probably why you didn’t see excerpts of it in this morning’s Playbook.

Even so, you’d think they’d print the criticisms and strong accusations Ney had for House Maj. Leader John Boehner, painting him as a heavy drinker and someone who allegedly promised him funding if he dropped out of his congressional race, which he did. Boehner’s office has, of course, denied the charges and accusations in Ney’s book.

Nope. To Politico, Ney is a has been. Why bother? Except that Politico always bothers with tell-all tomes. Not this time.

UPDATE: Politico finally got around to writing about Ney’s book on March 8. Uncharacteristically late for them, indeed. But to their credit, they do mention the Bresnahan chapter. In the story, Patrick Gavin quotes Editor-in-Chief John Harris as saying, “John’s reputation for toughness and journalistic integrity is universally known and respected by his colleagues at POLITICO, at competing news organizations, and among lawmakers and staffers in both parties on Capitol Hill.” It’s unclear why Harris didn’t say this two days earlier when asked about the scathing chapter on Bresnahan.

(A Sprinkling of Things we Think you Ought to Know…)

Weingarten Defends D.C. – WaPo “humorist” Gene Weingarten uses his weekend column to defend the honor of Washington, D.C. from NYP’s Cindy Adams. Adams famously bashed Washington a few weeks ago, calling it “a sewer.” While Adams doesn’t return Weingarten’s requests for an interview, Gene tries interviewing her anyway. He writes, “Cindy, I make fun of Washington all the time, but I do it because it is the opposite of dirty. It’s as though we took a city and surgically removed all the grit. Washington is spit-shined. People are annoyingly polite and genteel. Nobody jaywalks. The homeless wear spats. You can eat off the sidewalk; indeed, many fine restaurants encourage it. Whereas — and I mean no disrespect to your city — New York smells of stale pee, with a fresh pee chaser.” Is Gene trying to start ANOTHER DC-NYC turf war? Good for Gene for taking on a tired, hack writer for a major market newspaper. Where on EARTH could he have come up with such an idea?

Ashley Judd bares it all and Diplomat Dennis Rodman… Read more

From Politico Playbook and reporter Patrick Gavin‘s Facebook page, “Bryn Aserna Gavin was born Saturday night at Sibley Hospital in Washington, DC, clocking in at 7.5 lbs.”

Congratulations to Gavin and Anne Bracken, who have another daughter, Scout.

Most of all, welcome Bryn to the Fishbowl! We can already tell you have a keen eye for reporting. You have a standing internship anytime you want it.

To look at Washington D.C. publications today, you’d think tonight’s State of the Union was the Shit of the Union. You’d also think it was already Wednesday considering the way Debbie Downer news outlets are trashing it before it even happens.

“Expect to Hear an Absolutely Forgettable State of the Union Speech” blares a headline from National Journal. George Condon writes, “When President Obama takes to the speaker’s rostrum on the floor of the House of Representatives Tuesday evening, you can expect him to speak for more than an hour. But don’t bet on him saying anything you’ll remember a month later.” He continues, “Don’t blame the speechwriters, though. Blame the occasion.” Party at Jayson Blair’s house? Newsbusters Tim Graham reports that NYT‘s persona non grata Jayson Blair (who left the publication in a haze of plagiarism a decade ago) is hosting a SOTU watch party tonight in Centreville, Va. They say he now works as (no joke) a life coach. And Politico‘s Patrick Gavin just cobbled together “10 SOTU Gripes Hours Before the Speech.” They include third-tier Boybander, Slate‘s Matt Yglesias, already saying “the speech doesn’t accomplish anything.” USA Today, meanwhile, looks at six State of the Union addresses they believe made a lick of difference in American life. Three occurred in the 1800s. The last one they think mattered happened in 2002. It was former President George W. Bush‘s “Axis of Evil” speech. And if this tells you anything, The Daily Caller‘s only story on tonight’s SOTU address is a drinking game they posted at 2:25 a.m. this morning. A sampling: 1. “If Obama says ‘Let me be clear,’ take a shot of vodka or translucent alcohol of your choice.” 2. What’s SOTU without a joke about House Speaker John Boehner‘s orange-hued tan? “If Speaker of the House John Boehner’s complexion looks particularly orange, pour a screw driver.”

Where’s MSNBC resident loudmouth Chris Matthews and CNN wax figure contributor David Gergen when we need them to blather on? It’s just after noon. The speech happens in nine hours. Don’t they have thoughts on the SOTU 2013?