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Washington Under Attack? No, It's Just a TV Show
Tweet Share on Facebook March 23, 2009 Comment (4)By Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers
A big blast on the Potomac River might look a tad like terrorism, which is why Washington businesses and schools located nearby were warned today via E-mail about a simulated explosion to take place Wednesday morning while film crews are in town for the pilot of an FBI television drama, Washington Field. The E-mail from the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments said: "The explosion will produce a 20 to 30' fireball that will last for approximately 2 minutes."
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Mike Huckabee Filling Paul Harvey's Slot?
Tweet Share on Facebook March 22, 2009 Comment (14)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
He's not replacing Paul Harvey on the deceased radio giant's near 1,200 stations, but Mike Huckabee will be getting his 15 minutes of fame. ABC Radio, wowed by listener reaction to the former Arkansas guv, says the stations Harvey fed will now get the Huckabee Report, a five-minute mix of Harvey-esque news and commentary, three times a day. It could be a platform for another presidential run. Huck says he isn't scheming to be the next Harvey. "The only person who can fill Paul Harvey's slot is Paul Harvey," he tells us.
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Smile, You're on 'Lobbyist Camera'
Tweet Share on Facebook March 21, 2009 Comment (2)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
Washington's antilobbyist frenzy is about to get a) tougher or b) sillier. Here's what's under consideration: Meetings between lobbyists and administration officials would be filmed and posted on the Internet. The goal, of course, is transparency. The impact, say lobbyists, is they'll just shift to phones or E-mail to Obama aides' private accounts on Gmail and Yahoo. "What's next," asks a lobbyist friendly to the White House, "public phone recordings with us?"
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Mitch McConnell's March Madness Dream Job
Tweet Share on Facebook March 21, 2009 CommentBy Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
He was student body president as an undergrad at the University of Louisville. And later, as a law student at the University of Kentucky, he was president of the student bar association. So when it comes to college basketball, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell goes all in for the Bluegrass State. "Basketball in all of Kentucky," he tells Whispers, "is a very big deal." But he has a solid fave: U of L. "I follow them both," he says of his college teams. "But you tend to develop more of an allegiance to where you went to undergraduate school, and this has been a particularly sweet year for U of L."
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Joe the Plumber Steals the Show From Brit Hume
Tweet Share on Facebook March 20, 2009 Comment (17)By Nikki Schwab, Washington Whispers
It was supposed to be Brit Hume's big night, but the Fox Newser got outshone by another conservative darling—Joe the Plumber. Hume, the retired host of Fox News's Special Report , was receiving the William F. Buckley Jr. Award for Media Excellence at the Media Research Center's annual gala, but it was Samuel Joseph "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher who stole the show. Wurzelbacher got a standing ovation and was called a folk hero when he sauntered on stage, dressed in flannel and denim, to accept one of right-leaning MRC's DisHonors awards, the less serious awards of the evening that roast the most "outrageously biased liberal reporting of the year." Wurzelbacher grabbed the Obamagasm Award on behalf of ABC's Bill Weir, who had made flowery comments about President Obama on Inauguration Day. Other winners included MSNBC's Chris Matthews and HBO's Bill Maher.
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GOP Irked With Barney Frank's Slap at Boehner Over Geithner
Tweet Share on Facebook March 20, 2009 Comment (23)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
A verbal slap from Rep. Barney Frank at House Minority Leader John Boehner over the Republican's criticism of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has prompted House Republicans to rally around their leader. "This is going to do wonders for Boehner's popularity among the base," said one associate. Frank's comment came in Politico in reaction to Boehner's suggestion that Geithner is on "thin ice" and that his performance in the next two days could determine his future. Frank, say Republicans, reacted with a personal attack when he said there was no justification for Boehner's comment. "Does Boehner need any justification? It says it right there on his partisan hack license that he can say anything that he wants," said Frank. GOP-ers called that an "ugly, personal" attack and plan to rally around Boehner and focus more on Frank's handling of the banking and economic crisis as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Republican officials also said the flare-up will likely lead to more calls for Geithner to quit as well as sneers at the treasury secretary, such as those calling him "Tiny Tim" in E-mails between members and staffers yesterday.
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Bush Bad, Obama Good, Says Olivia Wilde, TV's Dr. Remy 'Thirteen' Hadley
Tweet Share on Facebook March 19, 2009 Comment (14)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
She's a Georgetown preppy who's made it big in Hollywood, but actress Olivia Wilde hasn't forgotten her District roots. "I think everyone grew up with a sense of political awareness that was really healthy," she tells the glossy Capitol File of her childhood in Washington, D.C., where she was a student at Georgetown Day School before going on to Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass. And that education, she says in the interview provided to Washington Whispers in advance of its publication, helped give her a perspective on the Bush presidency. And not a good one. "It left everyone well equipped for what we didn't know would come—the dark ages under the Bush presidency," says the 25-year-old most known for her role on House as Dr. Remy "Thirteen" Hadley, the foil to star Hugh Laurie.
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Roger Ailes on His 'Date' With Courtney Friel
Tweet Share on Facebook March 18, 2009 CommentBy Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
A funny little comment from Fox News Channel entertainment reporter Courtney Friel about how she got her gig—dating the boss—has gotten messy on the Web, and now that boss, Roger Ailes, is weighing in with a little kidding of his own.
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Democrats Hope GOP's Michael Steele Survives
Tweet Share on Facebook March 18, 2009 Comment (1)By Paul Bedard, Washington Whispers
Democrats are pulling back on criticizing embattled Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele, eager to see the gaffe-prone GOP spokesman survive. He's the "gift that keeps on giving," said one top Obama adviser. While those Steele has attacked, such as the White House or individual Democrats, are urged to respond, the Democratic Party and its operatives are suggesting that supporters be quiet and not detract from the sometimes controversial or embarrassing things Steele says. "If you looked over the past days, we haven't put out any press releases or statements on Steele," says a party insider. The reason: The party doesn't want to draw attention away from Steele's recent comments on abortion or conservative Rush Limbaugh. "We hope Steele survived because he's helping us," said another Obama ally. Republicans suggested this week that Steele is safe in his post, now that he has begun to staff up the Republican National Committee. However, there were unsubstantiated rumors earlier this week that Republicans were looking for a replacement. One name that surfaced was Norm Coleman, who is in a fight with Al Franken to keep his Minnesota Senate seat.
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Woodward and Bernstein Swore Off Talking About Nixon Impeachment
Tweet Share on Facebook March 17, 2009 Comment (3)By Amanda Ruggeri, Washington Whispers
Just 10 weeks after the 1972 Watergate break-in, Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward had a feeling that President Nixon was going to be impeached. So says Bernstein, who revealed their suspicions at last night's Newseum screening of All the President's Men. The first big tip-off was a notebook found on one of the burglars with a notation in it: "W House."
