Gossip Roundup: Rush, Can You Spare a Little Blue Pill?

• Heard on the Hill: Sen. Hillary Clinton and her staffers felt “snubbed” when Clinton was kept out of the loop concerning a press conference about Democratic efforts to win an increase in the minimum wage. Clinton aide to spokesperson for Sen. Harry Reid: “You suck… How could you do this?” [Roll Call]
• Reliable Source: Valeisha Butterfield, daughter of Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), was briefly engaged to the rapper known as The Game…. Dick Cheney has a deer in his backyard. [WP]
• Rush & Molloy: Celebs turn out for the launch party for The Senator and the Socialite, Lawrence Otis Graham’s new book about Blanche Bruce, the first African-American elected to a full U.S. Senate term… Sen. Joe Biden can live without the presidency: “I’d rather be at home making love to my wife while my children are asleep.” [NYDN]
• Under the Dome: House Majority Leader John Boehner has had many crappy jobs over the years. [The Hill]

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Gossip Roundup: Hillary Now and Forever

• Reliable Source: First daughter Jenna Bush is popular with her students… Dick Cheney dodges questions about his daughter Mary Cheney’s new book. [WP]
• Lloyd Grove’s Lowdown: Anderson Cooper faces the challenges of his increased fame. [NYDN]
• Rush & Molloy: Rev. Al Sharpton is upset at Hillary, because Clintonistas Howard Wolfson and Gigi Georges are working against his favored congressional candidates. [NYDN]
• Page Six: Bill Clinton is worried that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg might run for president as a third-party candidate, spending $300 million of his own money, and siphoning votes away from Hillary. [NYP]

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Gossip Roundup: Be Our Guest

• Reliable Source: Matt Lauer hosts a dinner at Cafe Milano for Meredith Vieira… Sales of Ann Coulter’s new book are strong… Alberto Gonzales denies that his children download music illegally. [WP]
• Heard on the Hill: Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA) is boning up on the Ten Commandments, after being unable to name all of them on The Colbert Report… Rep. Howard Coble gets invited to the White House, takes a female staffer — picked through a lottery — as his guest. [Roll Call]
• Page Six: Celebs turn out to try and convince DNC executive director Tom McMahon that New York should be selected to host the Democratic national convention; Barbara Walters promises to take McMahon out and get him drunk. [NYP]

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Decoding the Note: Scratching Karl’s Hairy Back

There are ten people named in the byline — several of whom didn’t rely upon Karl Rove to write their new book.

But this is the best lede The Note crew could come up with:

Could it be that the Democrats’ inability to come up with a consensus “anti-war” position is more of a midterm problem for them than HarrietMiersDubaideficitsKatrinaearmarksimmigrationgasprices is for the Republicans?

After all the private meetings (including just endless ones in the Senate caucus), Democrats remain united in their disunity, defensiveness, and distraction.

Is Halperin really that worried about Rove not blurbing his book?

The Note: (Not) Cutting the Deck

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Team Party Crash: “The Good Fight” Book Party, Part Two

As we mentioned earlier, last night Team Wonkette found itself at the book party for Peter Beinart’s The Good Fight. The festivities took place at the elegant Georgetown home of Mark Penn and Nancy Jacobson, and numerous superstars attended — including Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Sen. Hillary Clinton chats it up with author Peter Beinart and his lovely wife, Diana Hartstein. Over Hillary’s shoulder: Third Way’s Matt Bennett.

A comprehensive report — plus more fabulous Liz Gorman photos — appears after the jump.

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Team Party Crash: “The Good Fight” Book Party, Part One

Last night, Team Wonkette attended the book party for The Good Fight, the new book by Peter Beinart. On a perfect June evening, in the garden of Mark Penn and Nancy Jacobson’s Georgetown mansion, we rubbed shoulders with numerous luminaries — including Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Don’t believe us? Well, we have eyewitnesses: Marc Ambinder and Patrick Gavin. And photos:

Yes, of course she wore a pantsuit. This one was pea green.

Attention Patrick Healy: A tuxedo-clad Bill arrived separately from Hillary. Hillary left the premises at least 20 minutes prior to Bill’s arrival.

More great photos, by Intrepid Girl Reporter Liz Gorman, appear after the jump. A more detailed write-up of the party, with even more pictures, will follow shortly.

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Book Buyers Less Into Lesbianism Than Frat Boys

Poor Mary Cheney. PageOneQ reports:

Mary Cheney’s book, Now It’s My Turn, has sold less than 6,000 copies since it hit bookstores…. With a reported advance of $1 million, Simon and Schuster would need to realize a profit of $166.66 on each book sold so far in order to break even, an impossible goal for a book with a cover price of $25.00.

Sales numbers from Neilsen Bookscan, as reported by the Advocate, indicate that during the week of June 3, the books sold 574 nationwide. This number, the Advocate reported, is 77% less sales than the number sold during the book’s first week on the shelves, 2,445.

Sounds like Mary should leave literary lesbianism to her Mom.

An report on a recent book signing by Cheney, after the jump.

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Author Spam from John Podhoretz: Can It Be Stopped?

We gets lots of author spam around here, usually from authors of self-published conspiracy-theory books. But we weren’t cool enough to get spammed by John Podhoretz, whose new book on Hillary comes out tomorrow. Apparently Podhoretz is spamming prominent journalists and opinion leaders, here in D.C. and elsewhere — to snickering from some of them, of the “FW: !!!” variety. (Some might call this mockery; but Random House calls it a “viral marketing campaign.”)

Podhoretz’s author spam includes this plug for his book:

I think it’s full of surprising and unexpected observations and insights. I tried to make it a fun and fast read, and at least one early critic — Matt Drudge at the Drudge Report — described Can She Be Stopped? as “provocative” and “explosive” in a special report on the book last week.

Who needs a starred review from Publishers Weekly, once you’ve gotten a “flashing siren” review from Drudge?

After the jump, the full message from jPod, in all of its spammy glory.

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Team Party Crash: “This Is Our War” Book Party

Springtime in Washington isn’t just about the cherry blossoms; it’s also about the parties. Monday night found Wonkette at Viridian, for the launch party for THIS IS OUR WAR: Servicemen’s Photographs of Life in Iraq.

The party was thrown by GQ, with editor-in-chief Jim Nelson hosting, and it was just as glamorous and trendy as one might have expected. The crowd was exceptionally young, attractive, and stylish (at least by D.C. standards). One attendee quipped: “There is more Prada in this room right now than in the entire rest of the District!” Another guest speculated that Beauitful People had been brought in from New York to prettify the proceedings.

After the jump, our report card on the festivities — including an account of General Clark’s hand brushing against our crotch. That definitely made the evening complete!

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The Devil Wears Nankeen Breeches

Pity the once buttoned-up historian who, fresh from a harrowing plagiarism scandal, returns to the shelf with a little cleavage and some saucy shoptalk. This is Doris Kearns Goodwin on her latest biography:

“[Lincoln] looks vital, alive, even sexy. I dont want to sound embarassing, but he looks sensual. It’s more the Lincoln I came to know and love.

Those are Doris’s italics, and that’s her hand on your knee. She’s describing a photograph taken of the 16th president in 1857, wherein he appears beardless (in more ways than one, as Gore Vidal might say) and with rugged-gangly good looks.

In case you were wondering, Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln has already been optioned for film. The director is Spielberg and the star is that “towering sequoia of sex” Liam Neeson, playing the original lob cabin Republican. We kid. This Lincoln is an Absolute 0 on the Kinsey scale.

(Goodwin finds no evidence he was gay, unlike C.A. Tripp, author of The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln, published earlier this year.)

Uh oh. You know what that means: Four more years of George Bush. —MICHAEL WEISS

Getting Intimate with Lincoln [USA Today]
Was Lincoln Bisexual? [Vanity Fair]

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