Things That Make You Go Hmmm

Read this, then this. Interesting factoid. We didn’t notice until Henry the Intern, who knows all there is to know about the media world, pointed it out to us.

Political journalism: it’s a small, small world. Welcome to the fisbowl, Savannah!

For Court TV’s Guthrie, A Change of Venue [WP]
WEDDINGS: Anne Kornblut, Mark Orchard [NYT]

READ MORE: Savannah Guthrie, anne kornblut, henry the intern, love, mark orchard, marriage, weddings

Today In Painfully Obvious Note-Fodder

Do you want to write a must-read? Sure, we all do! Guess what? It’s not as hard as you think! Here are some tips from your buddies at Wonkette:

• Write for either the Times or the Post.
• Be friends with or write about friends of The Note.

It’s that simple! Let’s take a look at two people who did it right this weekend:

Adam Nagourney’s Sunday piece on THE INTERNET (you know, “Wireless Telegraphy Injects Sweeping Change Into U.S. Politics”) was an insightfully boffo paradigm-shifting look at how THE INTERNET makes things DIFFERENT in NEW and EXCITING ways! Bam! Note link.

And in the snake-eating-its-own-tail-while-participating-in-the-biggest-circle-jerk-ever department, Campbell Brown maid-of-honor Anne Kornblut’s piece, “I Only Have Twenty Minutes to Write the Most Obvious Column Ever, Quick, Lemme Quote Everyone Else at the Palm,” was, according to some observers, crafted in a sterile, state-of-the-art laboratory staffed by scientists working day and night to perfect the Note must-read formula. It features:

• OED Citation
• Merriam-Webster expert quotation
• Safire with the political/historical context (and a “nattering nabobs” ref!)
• Halperin with the color
• Gang of 500! Gang of 500! Gang of 500!
• Further evidence that quoting Kos = the new quoting Carville

But sometimes, even platonically ideal obviousness isn’t enough — both of these pieces got their deserved links today, but the Note decided to go “quirky” and lead with a list of Bush’s first pitches. Like, baseball-wise. Ok, this Daylight Savings Time thing has thrown us off our A-Game too, guys, but seriously? And “NC2A”? THAT ACRONYM IS NOT ANY SHORTER THAN THE UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED ONE, GUYS. YOU’RE JUST DOING IT TO BUG US NOW, AREN’T YOU.

Politics Faces Sweeping Change via the Web [NYT]
The Peculiar Power of the Chattering Class [NYT]
The Note

READ MORE: Media, Personalities, adam nagourney, anne kornblut, gang of 500, james carville, kos, new york times, newspapers, pundits, the internet, the note, william safire

Dana Milbank Continues His Audition for Muppet Show

Wednesday night, WP columnist Dana Milbank acted out the probable outcome of the John Roberts confirmation hearings with stuffed animals. Today, he leads a description of journalists waiting for the release of Roberts documents with observation that it looked like the opening night line for “Star Wars,” “without the storm trooper costumes.” We’d point out that this is a rather major lacuna, but you never know what Pete Williams and Anne Kornblut might have in their closets back home. In any case, we understand the Post has been having trouble hanging on to younger readers, so we look forward to next week, when Milbank will explain how the Senate judiciary committee chairman Arlen Specter is like Thomas the Tank Engine. Biden is more like James.

Video of Milbank’s presentation here, courtesy of TVEyes.

Newshounds on the Paper Chase [WP]

READ MORE: ‘john, SCOTUS, anne kornblut, arlen specter, dana milbank, g., joe biden, pete williams, press corps, roberts”