Extreme Mortman

Washington Post readers who feel the Post is out to get Sen. George Allen can get comfort from the unlikeliest of sources: the Post itself.

Actually, from Post ombudsman Deborah Howell, who writes for Sunday’s paper:

the (macaca) coverage went on for too long after he apologized. The news stories, handled by the paper’s Virginia political reporters, did not go overboard. An editorial was well done. Then the columnists weighed in, along with Style reporters and editorial cartoonist Tom Toles. No one piece was over the line. But when you put it all together, it looked like piling on. …

… the story from Salon that said he used the N-word in his college days. … The Post couldn’t ignore the story, but it should have noted that Salon is a liberal-oriented Web site.

From Howard Kurtz’s look at Bob Woodward’s book “State of Denial”:

In the new book, Woodward attributes the lack of a presidential interview — which has the effect of removing a strong counterweight to criticism of the White House — to Bush’s declining popularity.

Isn’t there already a book out called “Hubris”?

By the way, Leonard Downie Jr., The Post’s executive editor, provides one the most clueless admissions in a long time: “I’m somewhat surprised at how much commotion the release of the book has caused.”

Really?  Downie’s got to be the only one in town who feels that way.  Or he’s in denial, too.

From today’s White House press briefing with press secretary Tony Snow:

There’s a whole lot of stuff here. You know, in a lot of ways, the book is sort of like cotton candy, it kind of melts on contact. And, If somebody says, I wish to strategically redeploy to Okinawa, I think that would be construed as not being on the offense. And, the average Washington memoir ought to be subtitled, “if only they’d listened to me.”

Best part of the 1980 Jack Murtha FBI video that Spectator.org is screening?

The foulest language this side of “Deadwood”? (How about Rep. Jack Murtha D-Deadwood)

Close.  I’d say it’s the opening scene where they complain about the price of housing in Washington.

The D.C. townhouse where the FBI sting is conducted cost $250,000-$300,000 — then.  That staggering figure leads to lots of expletives.

Expensive then, cheap now.  But the [expletive deleted] reaction is timeless.

By the way, wanna hear my impression of Jack Murtha in 1980?  OK, here it is: “$&#@*!”

How tough is it serving in Congress if your last name is Foley?

Washingtonpost.com:

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned from Congress on Friday, effective immediately, in the wake of questions about e-mails he wrote a former male page.

Washingtonpost.com:

House Speaker James. C. Wright’s resignation was only the first of several acts in the 1989 House degradation play. Wright’s natural successor as speaker, Democratic Majority Leader Thomas S. Foley, had hoped for a glorious consecration but instead received a baptism of smear.

For weeks unsubstantiated rumors of Foley’s homosexuality had been circulating in the corridors of Capitol Hill, spread by a few Wright supporters – hoping to make the alternative to Wright less palatable – as well as by some Republicans. Several news outlets, including The New Republic and CBS News, had stoked the fires by offering their own teases about Foley’s potential problem in print or over the airwaves.

The allegations finally broke into full public view with the release of a Republican National Committee memo comparing Foley’s record to that of avowedly gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) under the headline, “Out of the Liberal Closet.” The author of the memo, Mark Goodin, was fired in the subsequent uproar, and top Republicans including President George Bush and party chairman Lee Atwater apologized, but Foley, who ultimately served as speaker until 1995, was forced to declare on national television his devotion to heterosexuality.

UPDATE:  Potomac Flacks shows us a poorly-timed photo.

Bob Woodward writes in his book “State of Denial” that former secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger has played a key role as an outside adviser to Bush on the Iraq war.  Of course, that part of the book is tough to understand because it’s written in a thick German accent.

The U.S. House is voting tonight to refer the Rep. Mark Foley matter to the Ethics Committee.

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi sported a broad smile when she asked for a recorded vote this way: “As a mother and a grandmother, I ask for a recorded vote.”