Fascinating bit of history in the Post obituary of Republican Party leader Mary Dent Crisp:

She knew the end of her tenure was coming with Reagan’s nomination as the Republican candidate and the increasing activism of the party’s right wing. As various factions struggled for control of the party, Ms. Crisp suspected she was being bugged. She heard beeping sounds on her telephone line at the Shoreham Hotel, where she lived, and on her office phone at party headquarters.

The news that electronic experts found a “magnetic field” and a suspect wire in the wall electrified political Washington, which well remembered the Nixon administration’s wiretapping of its political enemies. After a seven-month investigation, D.C. police determined that the suspicious wire at her office was a leftover from an interoffice bell system and that the noise heard through the wire came from its contact with water pipes.

I always thought the only weird noises heard at the Shoreham Hotel was Mark Russell’s act.

With Tony Snow coming back to work next week, it’s worth now clearing up one matter involving Dana Perino and Jon Stewart.

Think Progress posted this two weeks ago:

At today’s White House press briefing, spokeswoman Dana Perino said that setting a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq is like sending a “save-the-date card to the Iraqis.” She added, “I stole that from Don Stewart,” referring to the host of the Daily Show.

Wrong.  Perino didn’t confuse Jon Stewart’s name.  She said “Don Stewart” and she meant “Don Stewart.”   Sources tell Extreme Mortman that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s spokesman Don Stewart was the first to use that line.

Poor Harry Reid. First he gets smacked around   (Instapundit, Mystery Pollster, Volokh ) for using mythical numbers for rhetorical excess in saying that only 9% of the American people like Dick Cheney.

But what’s worse than having 91% of the people hate you?  Having David Broder doubt you:

Reid is assuredly not a man who misses many opportunities to put his foot in his mouth. … The Democrats deserve better, and the country needs more, than Harry Reid has offered as Senate majority leader.

Today’s Broder column is the the OUCH! heard ’round the political world.

UPDATE: A point of clarification.  I missrepresented Volokh as among the smackers.  Here’s Volokh’s point:

I realize that some laypeople might miss the jocular hyperbole, but I suspect it will be very few. And Reid was apparently speaking to reporters, and in that context even someone who realizes he may be quoted might be pitching his off-the-cuff comments at the sophistication level of the audience that is present.

Rosie O’Donnell leaving “The View”?  Nope.  It’s this kids classic…

The classiest, non-alcoholic way to remember Boris Yeltsin?  These buttons from his early 1990’s Kansas visit, posted by NPR political editor Ken Rudin at his Political Junkie column:

Pop culture junkies take heed — you can get a quick fix at a Dana Perino press gathering.

Want to name drop The Boss? And we don’t mean President Bush.  Here’s today’s press gaggle:

Q A great Bruce Springsteen, “No Retreat, No Surrender.”
MS. PERINO: I don’t think he’d come.

Want Jon Stewart?  How about this press briefing:

Q:  … after the testimony you could call all over this town — I’m not just talking about the Jon Stewart’s of the world, the late night comics — I’m talking about Republican senators and congressmen and women who were saying, you know what, the Attorney General has no credibility, he did a lousy job on Capitol Hill yesterday. And now the President seems to be the only one saying, you know what, he’s doing a fantastic job.

MS. PERINO: Look, I understand that there are people who disagree, who are not supportive of the Attorney General. The President is. …

Or perhaps Jon Stewart’s evil twin, Don:

Q So you say save-the-date? So you –
MS. PERINO: I stole that from Don Stewart. (Laughter.)
Q I bet you just guaranteed yourself an appearance there. (Laughter.)
Q I don’t think that was Jon Stewart, I think it was Don Stewart. (Laughter.)

But would you believe, Alex Trebeck?

Q Yes, thank you, Dana. Two questions on American business. In the –
MS. PERINO: American business for 200. (Laughter.) I’ve always wanted to be on that show.

If the press corps could only buy a vowel from Vanna White.

Harry Reid saying this about Dick Cheney…

“I’m not going to get into a name-calling match with somebody who has a 9 percent approval rating.”

… leads the always fact-checking Mystery Pollster at Pollster.com to say this:

(Hat tip: Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit)

In today’s Washington Post, Tom Shales reviews Bill Moyers’ PBS show on Iraq called “Buying Iraq.”

This excerpt is stunning:

Pressures subtle and blatant were brought to bear. Phil Donahue’s nightly MSNBC talk show was virtually the only program of its type that gave antiwar voices a chance to be heard. Donahue was canceled 22 days before the invasion of Iraq, Moyers says. The reason was supposedly low ratings, but the New York Times intercepted an in-house memo in which a network executive complained: “Donahue represents a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war. At the same time, our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity.”

Making this the evidence for canceling Phil Donahue’s MSNBC show is about as flimsy as, well, using WMD as a basis for going to war.  Some might say.

The fact is, the Donahue show was lousy TV.  I worked at MSNBC at the time he was cancelled and was struck by how bad it was.  Why?  Because he plain came across as someone who hates America.  He probably doesn’t, but who wants to watch a show where it seems like America gets beat up every night?

Some MSNBCers doubted the war before it was launched, and presented those views on TV.  My old boss Chris Matthews among them.  I disagreed with them, but I’ve got no problem with reasonable fact-based debate.  Donahue, however, seemed to doubt America.  That’s why no one watched.

Yes, ratings obviously were part of the reason for Donahue’s cancellation.  But ratings weren’t the sole reason.  Heck, Alan Keyes ratings were actually going up when he got dumped by MSNBC.

There was lots of things wrong with Phil Donahue.  Starting with Phil Donahue himself — and his hiring.

First, last week’s trivia answer — Agronsky & Company — and the winning questions:

• RichardA: What was the first guest-less “talking head” TV show?
• Peter Roff: Channel Nine has cancelled Eye on Washington, its local public affairs program. What was the name of the program when it originally began airing?

Now, this week’s Extreme Trivia answer: Hal Riney. What’s the question?

With this week’s kick off of the presidential campaign season, it’s worth asking: Do debates this early matter?

For proof that first debates go unremembered, click here.

Not sure which is funnier nostalgia: That yours truly was a moderator, or that the debate “did not garner much media attention as it only drew two candidates.”

Heck, at least I got to meet Morry Taylor.  That’s A-morry!