White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of the most powerful city in the world — Washington, D.C. — and those who cover it.

The Rally To Restore Fear in DC Celebrity

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Republicans in Congress are more upset that a comedian cracked jokes at a hearing than the fact they invited a comedian to crack jokes at a hearing. Just making sure that’s clear before we get into the oddity that is celebrity endorsements.

The AP takes a crack at explaining the true nature of these press ops as those “famous-for-DC” meet with bold face names that grace the supermarket check-out lines.

Colbert’s celebrity is a commodity that California Democrat Zoe Lofgren, who chaired the subcommittee hearing, and the other witnesses that day sought to leverage. Lofgren joked at one point that the last time the hearing room was so crammed with audience members and cameras was for President Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings a dozen years ago.

Of course, Colbert’s appearance was a joke. He appeared the night prior on The Colbert Report explaining why he was qualified to speak, based on his time as a migrant worker. But the explanation that Congress is now against Colbert is so simple it’s been used in Hollywood for years: ratings and relevance.

At the kicker of the AP article, Carol Swain, a law professor who testified before Colbert, remarked “I have testified before” and credited that because of the high profile star following her, “people heard my testimony.” This is directly what Colbert and Jon Stewart bring to the political world that is mired in otherwise mundane events that just so happen to dictate our government.

Celebrity is intoxicating, but when you have informed satire hiding behind celebrity it becomes a problem for most glad-handing politicos. Even with the upcoming Rally To Restore Sanity now getting a free bus service from New York to DC thanks to Arianna Huffington (complete with Twitter) and even President Obama plugging the rally, according to MSNBC First Read, due to the event’s focus on not foaming at the mouth due to punditry.

Even if Congress bristles at being made fun of, it still secretly swoons over the fact it can say the Dr. Stephen T. Colbert made fun of them for a five-minute viral clip they can show their staffers.

CNN's Klein Knew He Was Fired Two Days Ago

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Jon Klein knew he was doomed on a Wednesday.

In his first interview since being taken out from CNN with New York Magazine’s Daily Intel, the former CNN/U.S. president reveals the meeting couldn’t have been more brief:

On Wednesday afternoon, CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton, who was in New York visiting from Atlanta, called a meeting with Klein, but ominously didn’t tell him what it was about. When Klein arrived, Walton cursorily told him he was being removed, to be replaced by HLN chief Ken Jautz. It was a brief conversation.

“People get shot in our business. I got shot,” Klein said in a phone interview.

Going further, Klein seems just as shocked that he was let go before his Piers Morgan-Spitzer gambit could even start:

“I’m a big proponent of accountability. But I thought a judgment would come on three levels: one, quality; two, ratings; three, profitability.”
As for now, Klein’s taking it in stride and, as Intel informs us, will take in the Yankees game since he’s got a whole lot of nothing to do.

Haus of Gaga Fails To Beat Senate

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In a tale as old as time, beauty can’t beat the beast with 100 backs–especially when it comes to legislation.

That’s exactly what the Internet learned upon today’s 56-43 vote to not pass $726 billion in defense spending, according to the AP, which also included language to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, or DADT as the official Twitter hashtag.

Lady Gaga gained a bit more steam last week after tweeting a Senate vote should be scheduled against “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” which picked up further press when Harry Reid re-tweeted her to explain there was an upcoming vote according to Politico; Gaga was referencing her recent appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards where her dates were all gay servicemen and women.

Since Gaga has adopted DADT as her rallying point–quite literally yesterday in Maine, as MTV reports. Her rallying speech (video above) called for an end to the practice. But today’s block doesn’t bode well for the repeal anytime soon, as the Times claims:

Congress has approved the annual Pentagon authorization bill for 48 consecutive years, and it seems likely that the measure will be brought up again after the election in the relatively calmer — if somewhat unpredictable — atmosphere of a lame-duck session.  The House has already approved legislation allowing the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” and the provision will likely be easier to pass in the Senate after Dec. 1 when a Pentagon study on the effects of ending the policy is due.

Still, the House has already passed legislation to repeal the act and December 1st is another day. Perhaps the Senate hasn’t heard the last from the Haus or Gaga.

Obama's Town Hall Tackles Economy and The Not-So-Dead American Dream

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President Obama’s town hall discussion took on the economy and Ted Brassfield’s loaded question.

“What I found was I simply–there weren’t jobs out there right now. I took advantage of the loans you were just speaking about, but I can’t make the interest payments on those loans today let alone think about getting a mortgage, having a family having a marriage–it’s awfully expensive,” Brassfield, the 30-year old “recent” law school graduate, said.

“Let me just say, whatever the expense, it’s worth it,” Obama said.

But the ultimate question–“Is the American Dream dead for me?”–prompted this response, via the CNBC live blog, from the President:

“The American dream is not dead. I think there’s no country in the world that would trade places with us. The single most important thing we can do is to grow our economy.”

Like that, the hour long discussion featured a suited Obama taking on questions about the economy, his stimulus plan and how the last few months have brought us to a point where we are seeing a turn-around. But he acknowledges that people will continue to be angry:

“I know how frustrated people are. I know in some cases how desperate people are,” he said, later adding, “I am confident that if we stay on a course that gets us back to old-fashioned values of hard work and responsibility and looking out for one another, that America will thrive.”

Video from the event can be found here.

Election 2010 Round-Up: 43 Days and Counting

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Six weeks until the 2010 election and the Tea Party remains the big discussion point for wonks across the country. Here’s what’s been happening over the weekend:

  • The Untied Nations Summit and Clinton Global Initiative begin today in New York City. [USA Today]
  • CNBC’s John Harwood hosts a town hall event in Washington DC with President Obama today at noon. [CNBC]
  • The New York Times cites Obama aides as prepping a united front against the Tea Party by tying them to the GOP…
  • …yet Politico‘s own White House sources say the Times is “100 percent wrong.”
  • And the Washington Post cites an AP poll claiming both Republicans and Democrats are disliked by voters, which always leaves a third-party option.

Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert Take DC

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The Daily Show and The Colbert Report will each march on Washington, DC on Saturday October 30th.

Both Jon Stewart and Stephe–sorry, Dr. Stephen T. Colbert announced their dueling rallies last night on each other’s programs (twice.) What reasoning could there be behind such events? Because it was the day before Halloween? Because it was 10/30/10 during an election year? Because there was a tornado in Brooklyn?

None of the above as Stewart sheepishly explained on last night’s show, “we were already filming there that week.”

The Daily Show’s Rally To Restore Sanity promises a venue “for the people who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive, and terrible for your throat; who feel that the loudest voices shouldn’t be the only ones that get heard; and who believe that the only time it’s appropriate to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler. Or Charlie Chaplin in certain roles.”

[Read more…]

Endorsements Pull Through While Incumbents Suffer on Primary Day

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In the primary aftermath, the only campaigns that seem to matter belong to the Tea Party. After Christine O’Donnell, one of Sarah Palin’s picks, took the Delaware GOP primary yesterday and Carl Paladino taking the GOP nod for New York Governor from the New York Times.

Politico brings the word of doom that O’Donnell as the GOP candidate could snatch an all-but-confirmed victory away in November: “In the wake of Tuesday’s results, a state that would have almost certainly been a pick-up for the GOP is now likely to stay with the Democrats, making it more difficult for Republicans to win the 10 seats necessary to take back control of the Senate. ”

And yet, Mitt Romney endorses her.

First Read sums up yesterday’s results as such:

How do we make sense of Christine O’Donnell’s stunning Mike Castle in Delaware, Carl Paladino crushing Rick Lazio in New York’s GOP gubernatorial primary, and Kelly Ayotte and Ovide Lamontagne still running neck-and-neck in New Hampshire’s Senate GOP contest? It’s simple: We’re witnessing a purge within the Republican Party.

On the local front, Adrian Fenty conceded to Vince Gray for the D.C. Mayorship according to TBD–and here’s a possible of explanation as to why Fenty’s campaign hit a snag.
And of course, Charlie Rangel “easily defeats” any and all comers from The New York Times thanks to NY voter apathy.
We’re 48 days away from election day. Who knows what’ll happen next–aside from speculation and analysts waiting to see whether or not the Republican party implodes on itself.

Checking In on Today's 2010 Primary

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If you’ve been living under a rock, good for you. If not, you know today is primary day for New Hampshire, Delaware, New York, Wisconsin, Maryland,Massachusetts, Rhode Island–and even Washington, D.C itself, but that’s only relevant if you’re inside inside the Beltway.

Politico provides the complete rundown for what to watch for today and how November could shape itself:

Several marquee House and Senate primaries are on tap. In Delaware, Rep. Mike Castle, the establishment favorite and the most popular Republican in the state, is fending off an insurgent challenge from the right in his bid to win the state’s open Senate seat. In New Hampshire, a crowded field is seeking the GOP nomination in order to face Democratic Rep. Paul Hodes in November in another open Senate contest.

The most closely watched House race will take place in New York, where Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, the embattled former Ways and Means Committee chairman, faces a handful of challengers in his bid for a 21st term.

The New Hampshire, Maryland and Delaware’s races provide more of a microcosm, as both of those races represent the first main battle between so-called “fringe” tea-partiers and traditional Republicans. MSNBC stresses the losses that incumbents have suffered this election year and wonders if we’ll see the promised tea party/”traditional GOP” brawl Democrats have been speculating for the last few weeks. The brunt of this focus in Maryland falls to Brian Murphy, endorsed by Sarah Palin, and struggling with a race that he can’t seem to win–literally as Bloomberg reports–and the Washington Post’s live-blog of Maryland is here.

In New York, Rep. Charlie Rangel may be making his last dance amid speculation of fraud and investiagations. But it won’t be rage and revolution in the streets of Albany, according to the New York Times. It seems everyone’s just fed up and tired of the political system that inspired a bagel tax.

For anything related to D.C. politics, we turn to TBD who break down the big local race: incumbent Adrian Fenty vs. Vince Gray. On one hand, things look rather dire for Mayor Fenty and TBD even wonders how he’ll fare in the current job market.

Washington City Paper’s Loose Lips spoke with Fenty earlier today after the age-old “faulty voting machine” rumor leaked out. To see how this started, look no further than City Paper’s late July profile on Gray’s rise as a threat to Mayor Fenty’s campaign.

Polls will close tonight at 8 pm in DC and stagger elsewhere, allowing for the proper speculation and nail-biting that live-blogs and Twitter thrive on.

Then again, it’s never too soon to air colorful ads referencing fighter jets, The Wizard of Oz and…god knows what else John Dennis is thinking per the Washington Wire.

50 Days Until The Election…

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So what’s happening? So glad you asked.

  • Jusitn Bieber is proof you can market anything with his name and it will become popular. For example, “WHAT IF BIEBER WAS A REPUBLICAN?! THEN WHAT WOULD HAPPEN?!!” (Politico)
  • Sharon Angle’s last-minute departure from a debate prompts Jon Ralston to point out this is a Senate, not a High School, race. [CNN]
  • The Delaware race for Mike Castle’s seat is becoming TEA PARTY V. REPUBLICANS rather than about the candidates. (Washington Post)
  • This election will be rough for Dems, but there’re seven races that could lessen any blows. (Washington Post)
  • Not tied to an election per se, but The Atlantic Media Company is shifting Hotline, National Journal and Congress Daily to be free. Thanks, Politico! (NYTimes)

Regina Hopper Joins Miss America Board of Directors

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The Miss America Organization has a new set of high-powered Washington hands to help prepare for its 90th anniversary and return to network television. Regina Hopper, President and CEO of America’s Natural Gas Alliance and Miss Arkansas 1983 has joined the Miss America Board of Directors.

“Regina’s unique experiences and expertise at the crossroads of law, business, political advocacy and media will add an important dimension to the diverse group of influential professionals serving on the Miss America Board of Directors,” said Board Chairman Sam Haskell, III.

Hopper has served as executive vice president of the United States Telecom Association and the American Trucking Associations, and won an Emmy while at CBS News for her work on 48 Hours. Prior to her time in media, she practiced corporate and securities law and litigation communications.

“I am honored to be joining this remarkable American institution,” said Hopper. “The Miss America Scholarship Program has advanced my many educational and work opportunities. I am now privileged to further these opportunities for today’s intelligent, giving and talented young women and to recognize the thousands who are a part of this incredible program.”

Hopper joins fellow Board members John Bermingham, Miss America 1971 Phyllis George, Tammy Haddad, Miss New Jersey 1973 Sue Lowden, Ed Peterson, Corinne Sparenberg, Barrie Jane Tracy, Paul Turcotte, Miss New Jersey 1971 Lynn Hackerman Weidner, Miss America 1964 Donna Axum Whitworth, and Ryan Wuerch.

As the world’s largest scholarship program for women, last year the Miss America Organization and its state and local organizations made available more than $45 million in cash and scholarship assistance. The pageant is returning to network television in January under an exclusive multi-year deal with ABC.