Poor Hillary Clinton.  This Dan Balz article appears in the Washington Post, describing how her campaign is downplaying the two new sensational books about her and Bill Clinton:

Clinton advisers say the early reaction confirms their belief that Americans long ago digested those controversies, drew whatever conclusions they wanted and moved on.

Fair enough.  But how unfortunate is this paragraph in the story?

She spent part of the day shaking hands and signing autographs, and by the time she visited a pizza parlor after an event in Algona, her hands were stained blue from the pen she was using.

What happened to moving on?  Oh, those were her hands stained blue, not a blue stained dress.

The good, wise folks at Blog P.I. tell me that if I write a nasty blog post about Ron Paul, I might get lots of comments.  So let’s take that theory out for a test drive.

First, let’s get their attention: Ron Paul Ron Paul Ron Paul Ron Paul Ron Paul.  And, for good measure,  Ron Pall.

Second, let’s say this: Ron Paul is not a real Republican.

Third, let’s wonder this: Is Ron Paul crazy?

Fourth, let’s make fun of the gold standard: Oh wait, I can’t do that.  I used to work for Jack Kemp.

First, last week’s trivia answer — “The Clinton Chronicles” — and the winning questions:

• Peter Roff: Name the “smash and grab” style documentary promoted heavily by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell that purported to reveal all the dirty dealings of President and Mrs. Bill Clinton and their Arkansas cronies.
• Quin: It was made by a guy named Pat Matrisciana. But the truly scary question would be: How would historians refer to this entire era if Hillary Clinton were elected president?

Now, this week’s Extreme Trivia answer — Late in the second quarter in a 1971 game against the San Francisco 49ers, the Washington Redskins run a reverse play that loses three yards.  What’s the question?

Quite an interesting debate brewing.  How similar is Jack Murtha to Tony Soprano?

Today Dana Milbank reports this from the Monica Goodling hearing:

Rep. Chris Cannon (Utah) opted to read into the record a lengthy editorial comparing Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) to Tony Soprano.

But yesterday’s Los Angeles Times editorialized this:

Actually, Tony Soprano is a less likely role model for Murtha than Lyndon B. Johnson, but that’s part of the problem for Pelosi.

How about this compromise.  Let’s rework that classic ’60s chant: “Hey,  hey LBJ, how many earmarks for mobbed-up New Jersey waste management projects did you fund today?”

Hand it to the Washington Post. They’re getting quite dilgent about correcting fictional facts.

Last month we spotted this in the corrections box:

A Reliable Source item in the April 17 Style section incorrectly said that actor Nicolas Cage’s son Kal-El was named for Superman’s father. Kal-El is an alternate name for the comic-book superhero himself; Superman’s father was Jor-El.

The super-sensitive hyper-ventilating cartoon geeks might be drunk with their power over the Post.  They surely flexed their flabby muscles again to force today’s correction:

The May 23 KidsPost page incorrectly said that a line by the character Obi-Wan Kenobi from “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” was from “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.”

Hey, yoda know such things!

A rare night out for Extreme Mortman yesterday as we headed to the big city for Reason magazine’s grand opening of its breathtaking new Dupont Circle offices — a mixture of “Real World,” “Blade Runner,” and, only because it’s two of our favorite movies and really has nothing to do with Reason’s new offices, “Dr. Strangelove” and “Blazing Saddles.”

Imagine our excitement to start off our journey – then imagine our anger/frustration at the end of that journey when we took a curb too tight and slashed our rear passenger side tire.  Triple A did come out to help — and demanded a tip.  The wait for roadside assistance gave us enough time to pop by the party, say hello to such boldface media celebrities as Nick Gillespie, Mike Alissi, David Weigel, Shira Toeplitz, and Terry Michael.  Then back to the car, a spare tire, a drive home — and a longing for what could’ve been.

As Maxwell Smart might say, would you believe this note is now circulating around the International Broadcasting Bureau/Voice of America?

Warner Brothers Studios will be filming two scenes to their upcoming movie, Get Smart, at the Humphrey Building on Friday May 25th.  Set up for this shoot will be tomorrow, the 24th.  The scenes involve up to twelve actors simulating SWAT team members who will be carrying fake sniper rifle and fake Glock handguns.  The weapons are plastic replicas that are solid throughout and have no firing mechanisms.  The crew will comply with all Metropolitan Police procedures.  HHS/OS Security staff will accompany these actors at all times.

From my old days working there, I remember the VOA building, which is next door to the Humphrey HHS building, is called the Cohen building.  So in tribute to the Get Smart fiming, I sure hope they change its name to the Cohen of Silence.

If John McCain’s [expletive deleted] exchange with John Cornyn has taught us anything, it’s the Washington Post’s policy on [expletive deleted] and what not and shit.

Here’s today’s Post story on McCain:

His absence from backroom negotiations over the immigration bill sparked a heated exchange last week with Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), who accused him of “parachuting in” at the last minute.

“[Expletive] you,” McCain replied, according to several people who witnessed the exchange.

[Expletive] for some naughty words. But not for others.  Here’s a Washingtonpost.com story by Peter Baker story about President Bush cursing at the G-8 summit last July:

“What they need to do is get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit, and it’s over,” Bush says with his mouth full as he buttered a piece of bread.

And from the Washingtonpost.com’s transcripts of Richard Nixon phone conversations, a 1973 conversation between Nixon and William P. Rogers:

Nixon: Hello.
Rogers: Hi, Mr. President.
N: Hi, Bill.
R: Gee, that was terrific. Really superb.
N: Don’t give me that shit, you know.

As we’ve pointed out before, things were a little tamer with the Washington Post before the Internet — when Harry Truman was stopping bucks in the White House.

In response to Washington Post Music Critic Paul Hume’s harsh December 6, 1950, review of Margaret Truman’s singing performance at Constitution Hall, President Truman wrote: “you write such poppy-cock.”

These days, that might translate to, “you wrtie such [expletive] poppy-cock.”

Best response to Al Gore’s book?  Tony Snow:

Unfortunately, the former Vice President probably has been listening to people who have deliberately misled him. The President has made it clear over and over and over that there was no relationship between Saddam Hussein and September 11th. And again, from my own personal experience, when we would go on the day of the State of the Union address — the State of the Union address in 2002 I guess, or 2003, the question arose, “Do you think that Saddam is linked to September 11th?” The President said, no, we have no intelligence to link Saddam directly to September 11th. So he has never tried to make that tie.

And what the Vice President is doing — it’s been tried by a lot of other people — which is to take something the President hasn’t said, expose it as a “lie” and then beat him up for it. The President told the truth. So I don’t know — I don’t know if they’re going to do a reprinting of the book to try to get the facts straight; fact checkers may have to take a look at it. These are highly complex publishing issues, and I can’t be an expert on them.

The approaching September 11th anniversary — the last before presidential campaign voting begns — surely will be a day of candidates trying to outdo each other on terrorism, Afghanistan, Iraq, and pro/anti-Bush rhetoric. So who will get the most press that day?

Janet Jackson.

We learn from Broadcasting & Cable (via Fishbowl DC):

A decision on Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl half-time reveal won’t come until close to the end of the year, at the earliest. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has set Sept. 11, 2007, as the date for oral argument in the case, CBS confirms.

Oh you nasty girl.