Behind the Scenes

DAVID REMNICK, seated at his cluttered desk, chomps a large cigar and glowers at a back issue of USNews and World Report. A beat, then he pounds his intercom.

REMNICK: Get me Hertzberg!
INTERCOM: He’s been in the library all day, Mr. R — trying to find a copy of The American Commonwealth.
REMNICK: Liar! We’ve got a copy of that in the lobby, he’s at the track again! Get in here.

NICK PAUMGARTEN, steno pad in hand, enters.

REMNICK: Take a memo.
PAUMGARTEN: Yes, D.R.
REMNICK: To Mayer. USNews found another secret power behind the throne — where the hell were we? I need 10,000 words on David Addington on my desk yesterday, dammit! Lotsa color, too — guy keeps the constitution in his pocket, that’s golden! Call him Cheney’s Cheney or something. Get Schlesinger, he’s good for a couple grafs. And dammit, I want three more quiet, publicity-averse brilliant-but-evil legal minds pitched to me this week

Cheney’s Cheney [New Yorker]
Earlier: Clearly the Most Evil Member of the Administration. He Has a Beard!

READ MORE: White House, david addington, david remnick, dick cheney, the new yorker

Gossip Roundup: Bulletproof?

• Reliable Source: Laura Bush dropped two sizes after a year of private fitness classes; she works out three times a week at 8 a.m. [WP]
• Rush & Molloy: Bloomberg, David Remnick, Bob Schieffer, Lesley Stahl, Kurt Andersen, Richard Holbrooke, and Ron Silver attended Joe Klein’s New York book party… Actor Dennis Hopper defends Bush. [NYDN]
• Page Six: Cheney was accidentally shot on a hunting trip in the late ’90s… Emails from Aaron Sorkin to call girl are revealed in her new book. [NYP]

READ MORE: Personalities, aaron sorkin, bob schieffer, david remnick, dennis hopper, dick cheney, george w. bush, joe klein, kurt andersen, laura bush, lesley stahl, michael bloomberg, richard holbrooke, ron silver

Unclaimed-for-DC Property

It’s the trainspotting of “celebrity” journalism, but we can’t help it: Once someone pointed out that Maureen Dowd, David Remnick, Rep. Jim Moran, Nina Totenberg, Bob Franken and Roll Call all had listings in today’s “Notice of Unclaimed Property” in the WaPo, we couldn’t stop looking more Washington folks with, apparently, more money than time. (Clearly, not a problem for us.) Among those who are letting their tax refunds (or whatever) burn a hole in the District’s pocket: Postie Howie Kurtz and soon-to-be ex-Postie Mike Allen, Congressional Quarterly, John McLaughlin, investigative reporter “Murrey” Waas and — are you really surprised — “Governors, Board, O of the Federal Reserve.”

For some reason, none of these names turn up in searches of the official “missing money” website (missingmoney.com), but because we’re sticklers for hard-nosed reporting and documentary evidence, and because we did just finish the first draft of our book and thus have nothing better to do, we’ll post scans of the list in a bit. It is pretty much the even lamer version of scanning the program for the White House Correspondents’ dinner. Boy, is it August.

UPDATE: Sharp-eyed readers also spotted Style scribe “Leibovich Mark” — a fellow Cleveland Parker!

READ MORE: bob franken, congressional quarterly, david remnick, federal reserve board, howard kurtz, jim moran, john, maureen dowd, mclaughlin”, mike allen, murray waas, nina totenberg, roll call