The latest in a series of scandals rocked the Obama administration Thursday, when it was reported that the National Security Agency has been collecting hoards of Verizon phone records. Most people learned about that one, first reported by The Guardian‘s Glenn Greenwald, and other scandals by way of the news media.

But Breitbart News‘s John Nolte has other means of intercepting this type of intelligence, it seems.

“Media didn’t break IRS, AP, Libya, or Verizon stories — But we did learn Romney cut some kid’s hair a half-century ago!” Nolte tweeted Thursday, referencing a 2012 WaPo report on former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

We’ve requested comment from Nolte on how he learned about any of the scandals, if not for the news media. After all… Read more

Today we have another installment of: “Ask Piranhamous Anything.” And we do mean anything. Send your queries 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 and insightful.

1. Do you think CNN’s poop cruise coverage was excessive or just right?

That’s a question not asked nearly often enough, and some would say everything CNN covers is “poop,” but I’m straying. Why passengers “surviving” five days the way a large portion of the world’s population still lives (without indoor plumbing) deserves more coverage than the murder of four Americans in Benghazi will forever remain a mystery. But it was a slow news day, so who really cares?

2. Which journalists deserve big kisses for Valentine’s Day?

Can I say none? Because I don’t think any do. OK, Sharyl Attkisson from CBS News deserves a big, wet kiss for being the only journalist who is asking (and not getting answers to) tough questions on the issues of Fast and Furious and Benghazi, but she’s the only one.

See our third question regarding Rep. Steve Cohen’s weinering around on Twitter. Read more

Quotes of the Day — The Debate Edition

“Someone wrote me an email and said they thought the Secret Service was going to intervene.” — Politico‘s Mike Allen early this morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

By Far, Funniest Reaction of the Night

“Mitt shot his whole wad in the first debate.” — D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. Whoa, Eleanor, HUH?! WaPo‘s Mike DeBonis tried to come to her defense, saying, “To defend Eleanor Norton a bit, she’s an aficionado of antique muzzle loading firearms. I hope.”

Sweet and Sour Reaction to Candy

“Candy Crowley holding the reins tight tonight…no shenanigans in her house.” — NBC’s and E!’s Ryan Seacrest.

“Best & worst moment of debate was Candy correcting Romney – she was right, but I’m not sure she should have inserted herself in that way.” — Roll Call‘s Emily Pierce.

“Righties already trying to make this about the Qs and moderator.” — Politico‘s SENIOR political reporter Jonathan Martin in what may be his first understandable tweet in awhile. Congrats JMart!

“I’m terribly disappointed in Candy. I defended her today, and I was wrong.” — Houston Chronicle political blogger and Newsbusters’ Kathleen McKinley.

“Ok Candy, you better facilitate, not follow-up!” — Conservative blogger Matt Mackowiack.

“Candy Crowley proved why these media fact checkers are toxic liars.” — Breitbart.com’s John Nolte.

“(I worked with Candy Crowley at CNN and think she’s terrific)” — CBS News investigative journo Sharyl Attkisson.

“A lot of anger on the Twitters at Crowley for challenging Mitt. You see, that isn’t supposed to happen.” — WaPo lefty blogger Greg Sargent.

“I must say that if you aren’t drinking some Jack Daniels during this debate you really are missing something.” — Roll Call Columnist and Political Analyst Stuart Rothenberg.

“Who won the debate tonight? Candy Crowley. She knew her facts and made sure she pointed them out to her opponents. She’s got my vote.” — Author Jonathan Krohn.

Debate Recap: Top Quotes

“If Sec. Clinton is responsible for the security failure in Benghazi, who is responsible for 8 days of of b.s.about what happened that day?” — FNC’s Brit Hume.

“As a woman voter, I feel very wanted tonight!” — ABC talk show host Katie Couric.

“OMG. Panelist on FOX News just said ‘BULLSHIT!’” — ABC7′s Mike Conneen.

“I was filing during that Libya exchange, but holy living fuck.” — TPM‘s Brian Beutler.

“Candy Crowley halts Romney in his tracks, calling him out live in real time on an incorrect Libya statement.” — NYT‘s Ashley Parker.

“I’m excitable – but politics is about emotion as well as reason. My view is Obama halted Mitt’s momentum in its tracks.” — The Daily Beast‘s Andrew Sullivan.

“Watching the @politicolive show again on dc newschannell 8. Forget how fun it was to watch, albeit kind of a train wreck.” — QGA and longtime Senate flack Jim Manley.

“The town hall debate format makes me feel bad about the human condition, like that “What Would You Do” hidden camera show. #sighbinder” — Digital media exec Kenny Day.

“Bottom line: Obama was far more aggressive this time, these 2 men don’t like each other and this race is still a toss-up.” — The Hill‘s Managing Editor Bob Cusack.

“No one puts baby in a binder.” — National Journal‘s Chris Frates.

“Ok, goodnight everyone. tucking myself into my binder for some shuteye.” — AtlanticWire Senior Writer Jen Doll.

“Chris Matthews is wetting his pants in joy, gibbering like a meth freak on laughing gas.” — Conservative blogger and former TWTer Robert Stacy McCain.

“Bottom bottom line: Obama shows up big timme and wins. Is it enough to reverse the polarities?” — HuffPost‘s Howard Fineman.

“MSNBC fawning. Fox News fuming. A pox on both your houses.” — WaPo‘s Dan Zak.

“Love switching channels. MSNBC says clr Obama win, CNN, eh, slight Obama edge. Fox still talking about Benghazi.” — NYT‘s Jonathan Weisman.

“Did Van Jones just call Mitt Romney a ‘DOUCHE’ on CNN – @CNNSituationRoom? Wow, didn’t think that was permitted.” — former Eric Cantor Spokesman Brad Dayspring, who now works as senior adviser to the YG Action Fund.

Greta sees hot pink and blue

“Yes, it is true…both wives in a hot pink (or at least on my monitor it looks like hot pink but faces can be bluish on my tv monitor)” — FNC’s Greta Van Susteren.

Important Q to Ponder: “Do I have time to make pierogies before this debate? Yes, yes I do!” — The Washington Examiner‘s Nikki Schwab.

Something else to Ponder: “How, in a country as powerful and dynamic as ours, could bindersfullofwomen.com not already be taken?” — WSJ‘s Neil King.

The Observer

“You keep it crazy, Bobby Jindal.” — Ronan Farrow, son of Mia and Woody Allen, reacting to post debate interviews from Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Farrow is a writer, human rights lawyer and formerly Sec. of State Hillary Clinton‘s Special Adviser for Global Youth issues.

And another journo eats chicken…

“Chicken in pot, my debate night tradition. Thanks, Herbert Hoover!” — blogger and pundit Craig Crawford. Anonymous writes in, “That’s a sweet tradition, but his shicken looks like a dog’s dinner.”

Good rap quote from whitest guy in Washington

“Mystikal: That’s right my meat and potatoes come from my lyrical label I throw my rhymes for No Limit like Jeff George throw for the Raiders” — NBC’s Luke Russert.

Ouch!

“Joe Scarborough will suck-up to a guest, then trash-talk them 24 hours later. Tells you all you need to know…#MSNBCfail” — The Daily Caller TV Reporter Jeff Poor.

Peter Ogburn and Eddie Scarry contributed to this report.

This morning WhiteHouseDossier.com’s Keith Koffler casts the White House press office in a dark light as he writes about the “petty treatment” WaPo allegedly received for writing a story they disliked. He says White House press aides all but ensured the pub would get scooped.

Koffler points to a story WaPo published today that says President Obama didn’t fulfill his promises regarding the housing market. As a result, he writes, the press office appeared to give news of a Las Vegas jaunt today to outline borrowers refinance to “chief” WaPo competitors such as WSJ and NYT.

The incident hit home for the former longtime White House reporter, who had his own rough experiences. What happens to a reporter who crosses them? An excerpt: “I assume Post White House Reporter Zachary Goldfarb reporter, who wrote the story, got the full fusillade of profanity-laced fake fury from the White House press office, which is routinely served up to those who write articles the White House doesn’t like. The purpose of such treatment, and the denial of the housing ‘scoop’ to the Post, would be to get inside Goldfarb’s head so that he doesn’t try this again.”

Koffler told FishbowlDC that he believes White House press aides continue to bully reporters into reporting what they want. He recalled his own bad memories, saying, “Some of it was funny. One told me, ‘You’re really going to win a fucking Pulitzer Prize for this one.’ Another, less funny, remarked that my article was ‘horseshit,’ demanding to know sources.”

We requested comment from the White House Press Office. Deputy Press Secretary Joshua Earnest replied blandly, “I talked to Keith occasionally when he worked for Roll Call, but I haven’t really heard from him since he left to start his own blog a year or so ago.”

More on Koffler’s charges against the WH press office…

Read more

Hide the toddlers. We’re counting up the number of trouser snakes on the Sunday morning political talk show panels again this week and the picture is actually significantly hopeful. Program note: CNN’s “State of the Union” with Candy Crowley is pre-empting Howie’s “Reliable Sources” so that program will not be included in our weekly roundup. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews has a panel that’s 50 percent female as usual. Enjoy!

NBC’s “Meet the Press”: 1

This week NBC’s “MTP” is broken into three segments. The First is Herman Cain, then Gov.’s Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty and finally NBC’s Chuck Todd and BBC’s Katty Kay. We’re considering the last panel as the one to most comparably count.

ABC’s “This Week”: 2

ABC’s Jonathan Karl, Ruth Marcus, WaPo, GOP pundit Mary Matalin, WaPo‘s George Will

CBS’s “Face the Nation”: 2

Norah O’Donnell, CBS News Chief White House Correspondent
John Dickerson, CBS News Political Analyst
Julianna Goldman, White House Correspondent, Bloomberg Television

(Also significant to note that Sharyl Attkisson, CBS News Investigative Correspondent, will be a guest.)

FNC’s “Fox News Sunday”: Proudly blacklisted by Fox News PR since June 2010. We’ll update this when we hunt it down.

WETA’s “Washington Week With Gwen Ifill and NJ” (Airs on Friday, repeats on Saturday): 2

Karen Tumulty, WaPo, Michael Duffy, TIME
Alexis Simendinger, RCP
James Kitfield, NJ

NBC’s “The Chris Matthews Show”: 2

Joe Klein, TIME
Major Garrett, NJ
Katty Kay, BBC
Nia-Malika Henderson, WaPo

CBS’s Washington bureau is getting ready for tonight’s cocktail party at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza hotel. The party celebrates the one-year anniversary of their daily political webcast, “Washington Unplugged”.

The segment began with Bob Schieffer hosting. It was a weekly webcast that soon expanded to daily. Today CBS News Political Analyst John Dickerson and correspondents such as congressional reporter Nancy Cordes, investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson and national security correspondent Bob Orr share hosting duties with Schieffer.

Guests on “Washington Unplugged have been a mix of bigwigs in Washington and Hollywood – including Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Goldie Hawn, and Woody Harrelson. Favorite guests: Elmo (Schieffer interviewed the popular red fuzzy animal himself) and Cheech and Chong (they offered anchor Bill Plante a joint).

Tonight’s party is sure to attract reporters from publications such as NYT, WaPo, HuffPost, and TPM to Daily Caller, Politico and more.

From CBS: Chief White House correspondent Chip Reid, Dickerson, Atlantic reporter Marc Ambinder, bureau chief Chris Isham, web producers Michelle Levi and Lauren Seifert, digital journalist Fernando Suarez, Christine DeLargy and Kaylee Hartung, who has been doing the “Unplugged, Under 40″ pieces.

And there will be cupcakes. Fresh off their appearance on “Washington Unplugged”, Georgetown Cupcakes is making cupcakes specially for CBS’s party – and the girls will attend.

Remarked Schieffer: “What’s great about Washington Unplugged is that it gives us a place to report those little stories, the delicious little nuggets of news that there is no room for on television.”

Former CNN producer and current Department of Transportation press secretary Sasha Johnson appeared in a Sharyl Attkisson “Follow the Money” piece on last night’s Evening News.

CBS News announced “Washington Unplugged,” the network’s political webcast anchored by Bob Schieffer and based out of the DC bureau, will expand from a weekly to a daily broadcast online. The webcast will air everyday at 12:30pm at CBSNews.com/WashingtonUnplugged and will include newsmaker interviews and roundtable discussions. The webcast streams live right from the bureau’s newsroom.

Yesterday’s kickoff daily “Washington Unplugged” was moderated by CBS News political analyst and contributor John Dickerson. Various DC-based correspondents will share moderating duties with Schieffer, including Bob Orr, Sharyl Attkisson and congressional correspondent Nancy Cordes from the Hill.

CBSNews.com also revealed a new look on the web today. Check it out after the jump…

Read more

What we almost missed today…

“Mr. Definitely, can I call you that?” -Christopher Hitchens to Mos Def on Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher. Watch here.

CBS’ Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson was a guest on yesterday’s C-SPAN’s Q&A with Brian Lamb. Did you know she’s a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do?

Good morning Washington.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

Read more