Now, the next installment in Extreme Mortman’s regular feature: a peek inside the blog-reading habits of our nation’s top reporters and media celebrities. John Harwood is national political editor for the Wall Street Journal. He writes the paper’s regular political column Washington Wire. And he’s a smart, big-time TV commentator, offering political analysis on television programs including Meet the Press and Washington Week with Gwen Ifil and National Journal.

And now, John Harwood — here’s what he tells Extreme Mortman he reads:
My favorite and most frequent destination is realclearpolitics.com, which has a great collection of current polling data and links to smart commentators. I like Marshall Wittmann’s blog, bullmoose.blogger.blogspot.com. I tend to visit blogs not at a set time but rather because I’ve heard of something especially there or I want to sample activist reaction to a specific political development. Those include redstate, instapundit, huffingtonpost and dailykos.

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday” about the UAE/ports controversy, Joe Biden said: “The fact of the matter is that there are some people — I’m sure this is anti-Arab bashing.”

Perhaps he had in mind New York Post columnist Cindy Adams, who wrote:

“Those clever dudes from Dubai may not only change the composition of America’s harbors and ports but, next up, America’s poetry. Soon it’ll be: By the shores of Gitche Gumee, by the shining big sea water - stands an Arab. … But the United Arab Emirates, doorkeepers to the United States of America? Think a hungry Persian cat at the entrance to a mouse hole. Some say this has the aroma of a garbage truck stalled on a street in August. I, naturally, wouldn’t say that. I am too diplomatic to risk angering…”

SPOILER – THIS COLUMN WILL DEVULGE FUTURE POLITICAL TRENDS AND HAPPENINGS STOP

IF YOU WISH TO BE SURPRISED BY LIFE’S EVENTS DO NOT READ FURTHER FULL STOP

President Logan has a unique approach to fighting terrorism. Vacillation, weaselness, weakness, unsteadiness, spinelessness, lunacy — those are the tools of Logan’s trade when the pressure of evil doers gets to him on “24.” But in last night’s episode, President Logan did something no President, fictional or otherwise, has done in a while — pray. He directed top aide Michael Novick — who looks like he’s about one shot way from mistakenly nailing a hunter pal — to “pray with me.”

Where have we heard that before?

Nixon did it for real with Kissinger. But more fun was this skit from the first season of “Saturday Night Live,” with Dan Aykroyd as Nixon and John Belushi as Kissinger.

President Richard Nixon: Henry, get down on your knees and pray with me.

Henry Kissinger: Mr. President, you’ve got a big day tomorrow, why don’t ve get in our pajamas und go sleepy?

President Richard Nixon: Don’t you want to pray, you Christ-killer?

Henry Kissinger: I don’t vant to get into zat again, Mr. President

By the way, speaking of President Logan, quite a move not lifting a finger to save the iron-willed and full-spirited First Lady from certain doom. Think that’s based on reality, too?

Instapundit’s Glenn Reynolds gave a fascinating interview to C-SPAN’s Brian Lamb about the blogosphere. Here’s the whole transcript.

Glenn offered lots of important information and tidbits. I found this exchange about the number of blogs to be particularly insightful:

LAMB: Is that 27 million around the world?

REYNOLDS: Yes, yes, and they are not all English language. There are a lot of Chinese blogs, a lot of Farsi-language blogs, which the Iranian mullahs don’t like very much. But they don’t seem to be able to stamp it out.

Tracking Persian-language blogs might be the next frontier for American foreign policy and public diplomacy. Cheers to Instapundit for identifying it.

Washington Post today reports on the Bush Administration’s political response to the UAE/Ports controversy. The story begins:

…. From the other end of the political spectrum, even more outspoken conservative radio host Michael Savage was doing the same — and recruiting Republican lawmakers to his cause. To anyone listening, it was clear that President Bush had a problem on his hands. But Bush was not listening. And his political team had its attention elsewhere. By the time they noticed, Bush’s problem had grown a lot bigger.

Yes, Michael Savage had it first. And the first to report that Michael Savage had it first? Extreme Mortman, here.

If Lynn Swann becomes Pennsylvania’s next governor, he’d reach a rare milestone, becoming only the second African-American to be elected governor (Virginia’s Doug Wilder was the first.) But a pro athelete becoming governor? Even rarer still. Lots of pro athletes have won political office (Jack Kemp, Bill Bradley, Steve Largent, Jim Bunning, J.C. Watts, Tom McMillen). But none in the governor’s mansion. Not even Olympians turned politician (Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Bob Mathias, Ralph Metcalfe, Jim Ryun.)

As for Arnold Schwarzenegger being an athelete, I’ll let the folks with bodies buffer than mine make that case. Like Jesse Ventura.

Bloomberg News runs a story that begins:

Jewish groups have made Israel the top foreign destination for U.S. lawmakers on privately funded trips. Now, they’re fighting to make sure the fallout from the Jack Abramoff scandal doesn’t ground those flights.

You can read the full story here. Let’s cut right to a section featuring a friend of mine:

Representatives of Jewish groups say the educational value of the travel to the lawmakers is clear. “We are not bringing them to play golf,” said William Daroff, vice president for public policy at United Jewish Communities, a New York umbrella group that’s lobbying against a total travel ban.

William is right. I’ve been on one of those trips and I can tell you first-hand golf is not a part of Israeli life. Heck, in Israel, if you try to play the back nine, you’ll hit Gaza.

There’s a piece in the Indianapolis Star today about the single best photo in the history of politics. The story doesn’t add much insight — but it does give me an excuse to do this:

Of course, there’s probably someone looking for Jack Abramoff in the background.

Now, the next installment in Extreme Mortman’s regular feature: a peek inside the blog-reading habits of our nation’s top reporters and media celebrities. And hoooo boy, when you talk media celebrity, no one quite fits that description like Jake Tapper. The skyrocketing star of this lovely and talented ABC News Correspondent refuses to end. And attention fellow bloggers — he’s one of us. He’s got his own groovy blog now, and in the old days he wrote for salon.com. So stick with your craft. Some day soon you too might contribute regularly to “Good Morning America,” “Nightline,” “World News Tonight,” and “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”

And now, Jake Tapper — here’s what he tells Extreme Mortman he reads:
As a base tan, I start my day on the websites of MSM….ABCNews.com, the New York Times, the Washington Post, etc. Good preparation for general topics the blogs will be discussing. Also, of course, Drudge.

I see what folks have posted to my blog at abc (I have some very feisty post-ers), and see what my fellow-blogging ABC colleagues have posted…whether Jim Sciutto, Ned Potter, Manny Medrano or others….

Then it’s into the blogosphere.

Dive!! Dive!!

I tend to first check out Andrewsullivan.com and Kausfiles.com….I blog, therefore I am. Pals Andrew and Mickey, an iconoclastic conservative and an angst-filled Democrat, who seldom fail to have interesting links and thoughts as they deal with issues they have about their respective right/left “sides.” (Though I wish Mickey would post a bit more. And not so much about cars.)

In no particular order, I click on various favorites from the opinion or partisan field….

ATTEN-HUT!!!

RIGHT! I see what opinionjournal.com has come up with…instapundit… .littlegreenfootballs… .hugh hewitt… .National Review’s “The Corner”… .The Volokh Conspiracy (I put Prof Volokh on TV once, for his thoughts on abortion and the Constitution, which I’d first read on his blog)

LEFT! It’s TalkingPointsMemo… DailyKos… The Huffington Post… jameswolcott.com (interviewed Wolcott for a show on ABC News Now about his book “Attack Poodles”)… and the American Prospect’s “Tapped.”

Also check out the biz blogs — mediabistro.com and fishbowldc…..

Michael Yon is an embedded blogger whom I met through a Fred Friendly seminar I recently moderated on the media in a time of war. Fascinating stuff from the frontlines.

Met Craig Newmark (aka Craig from Craigslist) through a Nightline profile I did of him and I sometimes check his site out, too, though again — a too infrequent poster, IMHO.

There are a ton of others I peruse less regularly, including Powerline, Lileks, the post-Cox Wonkette, Michelle Malkin, et al.

The vitriol out there tends not to bother me too much, but it does often bore me. I seek new information, unique takes on things.

Gawker. Defamer.

When I was covernig the Terri Schiavo case I checked out the “How Appealing” blog several times a day. Ditto for SCOTUSblog when I’m checking out Supreme Court stuff.

They make up an ideological bouillabaisse, these blogs, and I indulge.

Also Read: Blogs The Famous Media Reads: Howard Fineman , Blogs The Famous Media Reads: Jeff Dufour

I admit it. Listening to Michael Savage on the drive home is a guilty pleasure of mine. So when all the news broke this week about a UAE company securing America’s ports, leaving America’s top officials bewildered, surprised, and unaware, I kept thinking — “I’ve been hearing about this story for what seems like weeks. I’m hardly surpised.” (Yes, I tend to use the word ‘hardly’ when I talk to myself). Savage has been all over what he calls Portgate from the beginning. It’s the mainstream media which finally caught up to him. Cheers to the non-mainstream media!