Pulitzer-destined Jim Mills has done it again. The seasoned veteran of C-SPAN, Fox News, and now his current perch at The Hill shows why he’s America’s top investigative and entrepreneurial reporter. How? He sniffed out this sizzling and exclusive interview: the role of comedy in presidential politics as explained by …. Extreme Mortman.

Click on The Hill Tube page — you’ll see it somewhere there.  UPDATE:  Click here for the direct link to glory.
And while you’re over The Hill, make sure you read Jim’s Pundits Blog. You’ll come away similarly convinced — Jim Mills is an American treasure.

Why would anyone write this?

John Adams once inspired this country to greatness. More than 230 years later, our second president is doing it again.

Just ask Ashlee Simpson.

Find out by clicking on this Politico piece.

A photoshopping fiend of an Extreme Mortman loyalist saw our post yesterday about Roger Stone’s shoulder bladed Nixon tattoo and suggests the image of another beloved American giant:

Hugh Hewitt headline:

Fred Barnes, Morton Kondracke, Larry Kudlow, Howard Mortman

And the answer, as Johnny Carson’s bit would have put it:

Hugh talks politics with the Beltway Boys, economics with Larry Kudlow, and media and politics with fellow Hoover visiting fellow and blogger, Howard Mortman.

Click here for the exclusive.

Extreme Mortman wraps up our stay at the fabulous Hoover Institution with an interview with the lovely and talented Hugh Hewitt.  Click here later to hear the exchange.  Spoiler alert: Hugh Hewitt shows why he is a wonderful human being and deserves the Nobel Prize for Blogging.

We’ll be away from blogging for a bit as we try to figure out how to get the Extreme Family from Palo Alto back to DC.  Soon as our Greyhound gets in, we’ll be back at the keyboard.

PALO ALTO — actually. dateline BEEYOOTIFUL SUNNY PALO ALTO — Where the glass-enclosed nerve center of Extreme Mortman is stationed this week, blogging from the wonderful accomodations provided by the fabulous folks who run the Hoover Institution’s Media Fellows program.  Surrounded by palm trees, of course.
Hoover is hosting Extreme Mortman for the week on the Stanford campus.  We’ll be sitting next to the lovely and talented Hugh Hewitt, who we publicly thank for this kind plug:

I will be visiting the Hoover Institution as a Media Fellow next week, and am watching Peter Robinson’s magnificent interview with Thomas Wolfe as prep.  I will dragoon Peter to co-host as much of the show as he can be persuaded to do next week.  Howard Mortman and Victor Davis Hanson will also be about, so a fine week of broadcasts ahead.

Barack Obama doesn’t think a gas tax holiday is a good idea:

Obama, who as a state senator supported temporarily suspending the Illinois gas tax in 2000, cast Clinton’s proposal as a ploy that would, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, save the average family about $30 for the summer — or, he said yesterday, “30 cents a day, which is less than you can buy a cup of coffee for at 7-Eleven.”

But what’s right next door to the 7-Eleven?  Much more affordable prices at McDonalds, where you can still read audaciously hopeful blogs for free.  They’ve even done away with the never happy meal.

OK, you fans of digital photography.

Looking for a great camera to crisply capture those once-in-a-lifetime moments?

Then you might want to consider the Canon Power Shot S D870.

Here’s an example of its excellence in digital photography: A picture taken by Canon-owner celeb photog Leslie Bradshaw at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner Saturday night.  That’s Miss Universe, clearly thrilled beyond words to have her picture taken with Extreme Mortman (I’m the shorter one, without heels, on your right).
Indeed, a good camera.  I don’t own one.  But if it keeps taking my picture with Miss Universe, maybe I should.

For the same price as visiting the Newseum — $20 — you can just as easily park across the street from the Washington Hilton, which, when the annual White House Correspondents Association dinner rolls around, is as much a wax museum to living journalists as the Newseum is a mausoleum for dead journalists.

So it’s with rare excitement and thrill for the annual dinner that we proclaim last night’s Craig Ferguson performance to be the best comedy act we’ve ever seen in front of that crowd in the International Ballroom. A standing ovation. How delicious that the best comedy was delivered by someone who’s been an American citizen for only two months. Take that, Lou Dobbs!

Ferguson singed both sides of the angle. Vice President Dick Cheney, he said, “is already moving out of his residence. It takes longer than you think to pack up an entire dungeon.” But he also made pointed observation of the far larger number of Democrats in the room than Republicans.

Even more groundbreaking — and perhaps more important for leading our country to greatness and improving the overall lot humanity– is a ground-breaking photo taken by my colleague Leslie Bradshaw (Leslie’s full real-time Twitter coverage of the dinner here) of Miss Universe.  We’ll have that photo posted here later today. But here’s a hint as to what you’ll see: No doubt the biggest thrill of this young star’s life was having her picture taken with Extreme Mortman.

Other thrills, of course, were had by Charlie Wilson (yes, that Charlie Wilson) who had the distinct privilege to be interviewed by Leslie Bradshaw and Howard Mortman. How rare is that! Listen to the interview here. But beware: full swoon ahead.
We were also impressed to see tenured TV personalities Larry King and John McLaughlin working the room, both surprisingly ambulatory in their golden years of broadcast. No doubt they downed a few shots of prune juice together. What a week it’s been for John McLaughlin: He moved from DC’s Channel 4 to Channel 9. A man of his age needs to be careful with moves like that. Don’t want to break a hip.
Meantime, in his last appearance, President Bush also went on a high note, conducting the United State Marine Corps Band. But, sadly for him, no photo with Miss USA.

Why would anyone write this?

The White House Correspondents’ Association is in a pickle. A kosher pickle. This year’s annual huge spring dinner falls during Passover — on Saturday, April 26.

A show stopper? Hardly. The show must go on — but not without a significant recognition of the event’s timing on the Jewish lunar calendar. After all, it’s not every year that matzo is served at this dinner.

…

If I might be so bold, I’ve come up with a Passover routine that President Bush could use.

Find out by clicking on this Politico piece.