White House Correspondents Insider
Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.
Don’t listen to the Internet Troll: we can (and will) work it out online. Or at least, work out.
That’s the motivator behind Let’s Move, an initiative to promote physical activity and public health. First Lady Michelle Obama responded to questions from YouTube and a live web chat according to Politico.
Let’s Move follows the continuing trend of providing sites and the occasional web app to connect with a broader and more technologically savvy audience.
[picappgallerysingle id=”4987232″ align=”center”]The Beltway’s TV presence is going wider–if not global–in the coming weeks
TVNewser confirms August 1st as the start date for Christiane Amanpour’s premiere at This Week, which sadly ousts Jake Tapper from the temporary position. Meanwhile, Rick Sanchez is being bumped up to 8 pm on July 22nd until the Fall premiere of the Untitled Eliot Spitzer/Kathleen Parker Show.
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DC is coming out of a devastating heat wave, but we’re five days away from ending another event: which outlet inherits the seat that Helen Thomas built.
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Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), the longest-serving member of Congress in US history, died earlier this morning at a Virginia hospital. He was 92.
Politico leads off with Byrd’s rise through West Virginia and his time in the Ku Klux Klan before endorsing President Obama. They follow up with a collection of remembrances from the Senate, including Mitch McConnell:
“Sen. Byrd combined a devotion to the U.S. Constitution with a deep learning of history to defend the interests of his state and the traditions of the Senate. We will remember him for his fighter’s spirit, his abiding faith, and for the many times he recalled the Senate to its purposes.”
There are currently no plans for Byrd’s funeral, but a successor will be chosen shortly.
The New York Times leads off with the health care debate and Senator Byrd’s condition:
Mr. Byrd’s death comes as Senate Democrats are working to pass the final version of the financial overhaul bill and win other procedural battles in the week before the Independence Day recess. In the polarized atmosphere of Washington, President Obama’s agenda seemed to hinge on Mr. Byrd’s health. Earlier this year, in the final days of the health care debate, the ailing senator was pushed onto the Senate floor in his plaid wheelchair so he could cast his votes.
The Charleston Gazette brings up Senator Byrd’s infamous bid to move the CIA offices and reaction to being named Porker Of The Year in 2002 by Citizens Against Government Waste (“Such criticism rolled off me like water from a duck’s back,” Byrd wrote in his autobiography.)
At The Takeaway, Senator Byrd’s defiant and poetic attitude is clearly summed up in an exchange outside the Senate:
Once during the height of the Iraq War, Byrd slowly passed through a group of reporters on his way to the Senate floor. I remember him stopping, turning toward us and wagging his finger. “The Fourth Estate. The Fourth Estate! Defenders of liberty!” he shouted as he shot his index finger into the air. “Defend it,” he said, as he looked at each of us. “Defend it.”
C-SPAN taking its digital roots further into the District with Foursquare may not sound important, but it’s fantastic news for trivia nerds.
The cable channel’s reason for joining the geo-tagging service is simple enough: be ‘friends’ with C-SPAN. Check in at a certain D.C. venue and get a bit of history. If you check into the Washington Hilton, you’ll get a prompt to watch the 2010 White House Correspondents Dinner speech from President Obama. The plan, according to Fishbowl DC, is to further expand C-SPAN’s Digital Bus to tag political locations across its U.S. Tour.
Of course, it’d be just as nifty to learn some history depending on where you’re near–such as getting a nudge to go past the old Yenching Palace address in Cleveland Park that closed three years ago and helped end the Cuban Missile Crisis. Or if you happen to be at Good Guys, find out about the Russian spy who escaped through a bathroom window and ran up Wisconsin toward the Russian Embassy.
So friend C-Span and hope they start adding more of the fun side from the Beltway gang.
If your name happens to be Rolling Stone, Stanley McChrystal or David Petraeus, the last 48 hours have been a non-stop viral media roller coaster.
So long Daisy and Demon Sheep; hello mobile phones and faux-reports!
The Washington Post reports on Robert Ehrlich Jr.’s recent advertising campaign to take back the governor’s seat this year. Instead of a generic spot airing on the cable networks, the former Maryland governor provides on-location briefings via YouTube “covered” by Andy Barth, a former TV reporter and now acting as his press secretary.
Obama’s premiere Oval Office speech last week was the worst of social media and the best of social media.
Mashable ran “Obama Speech on BP Oil Not A Hit with Facebook and Twitter Users” after taking data provided by Crimson Hexagon from “83,000 Tweets and public Facebook comments” over a nine hour shift. But taking such things into account can provide little feedback, especially when 15 percent of the poll were annoyed they missed So You Think You Can Dance and the other five questioned why so many people would anonymously make fun of the president.
Who knew the iPad would become the unsung hero of Capitol Hill?
Politico reports that the gigantic iPhone–which is also making a steady increase around the Beltway–is becoming the go-to device for congressmen. Representitive Jason Chaffetz (R) neatly sums up the why: “It’s light; it’s portable. It’s accessible information. I love it.”
The iPad love is being supported among both parties, including Darrell Issa and Cliff Stearns, especially if it means an end to the backbreaking binders and committees swarmed by paper. Even better? It may kill the Blackberry addiction that has held D.C. in a vice grip for years.
DCist provides a round up of links to state the case that Apple is slowly encroaching on the nation’s capital. One day, it may even take the spot that Blackberries hold in the Beltway’s heart–presumably after the fears of leaked customer information that Valleywag reported earlier this month are taken care of. But like that matters if you’ve already sold 3 million of them, according to Mashable.
The iPad remains the ultimate staffer dream: a lighter, somewhat more portable crackberry that means an end to endless binders, show bibles and 50-lb drafts of legislation. Not to mention more people to play Words With Friends!
Jen Corey (Miss D.C. '09) with Stephanie Williams, Miss District of Columbia '10.
Your Miss District of Columbia has been crowned.
Stephanie Williams took home the title of top pageantista last night among 17 contestants at the Lincoln Theater.