FamousDC Jim Billimoria

Roll Call’s photographer superstar Tom Williams snapped Jim Billimoria at the top of the Rotunda.

Brian Montopoli vs. Glenn Beck #CrowdWars

The CBS News vs. Fox News battle heats up as Brian Montopoli explains the science behind their Glenn Beck rally crowd calculations.

CBS News: Glenn Beck “Restoring Honor” Rally Crowd Estimate Explained

What’s Wrong With This Screen Grab?

We’ll give you a hint: It doesn’t involve NASA.

h/t Treacher

Famously Quoteworthy: Nikki Schwab Dreams About Bristol

Some people dream of Jeannie, others dream about Bristol Palin …

“Had a dream about Bristol Palin last night. She lived in my closet with baby Tripp and asked me to get her a rum and coke.” She adds, “This is when you know your job has consumed your life…” – The Washington Examiner’s Yeas & Nays gossip writer Nikki Schwab on Twitter.

Nikki clearly works too hard, but at least the dream wasn’t about Levi.  He lives in her other closet.

h/t FishbowlDC

Politico Gods Shine Favor on Meredith Shiner

Meredith Shiner:

Today is the day the @politico gods are coming down and granting me a new BlackBerry. I have been waiting for this day forever.

Erin McPike’s Real Clear Politics

Congrats to Erin on her new gig with Real Clear Politics. Her first story showed up today.

Real Clear Politics: Portman Fine-Tunes Message in Key Senate Race

Congrats to Marc Ambinder

Marc Ambinder: After November, I’ll be joining National Journal as White House correspondent. A little less blogging, a lot more reporting. Very excited.

VandeHarris vs. Justin Smith

Have the Rex Ryan pep talks on Hard Knocks fired up the Politico folks?

Playbook put on its big boy pants and spent the weekend jacking people up.

On Sunday Playbook ran an advertisement (with no sponsor attribution to parent company Albritton) to pop Comcast and NBC:

** ADVERTISEMENT: A vast army of lobbyists is pushing hard to rush through the largest media merger in American history. The Comcast/NBC monopoly would present serious problems for local news in communities across our country. Washington’s decision makers must take the necessary time to carefully review this controversial merger to protect the public interest. **

And on Saturday, Playbook took a sly shot at Justin Smith’s huge hires at The Atlantic by calling the 153-year-old magazine “Atlantico”

Saturday’s Playbook:

LATEST FROM ATLANTICO – Ron Fournier: “I’m pleased to announce two more additions to our soon-to-be unified newsroom: Sue Davis of the Wall Street Journal and Fawn Johnson of the Dow Jones Newswires/Wall Street Journal. Sue will be one of two Congressional Correspondents for the National Journal Group, writing for the website and our print publications. She comes to National Journal Group from The Wall Street Journal, where she is the lead writer for the popular political blog, ‘Washington Wire.’ … Fawn Johnson will be General Assignment Correspondent, covering a range of issues including transportation and education. Johnson comes to National Journal from Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal, where she covered financial regulation and telecommunications.  This is a homecoming for both of our new colleagues. Earlier in her career, Fawn reported on health care, labor and immigration for CongressDaily. Sue previously worked for CongressDaily, covering the House, Senate, and campaign finance beats. Her first stint at National Journal Group began in the research department of the Almanac of American Politics. Please join me in welcoming them back.”

Get your popcorn.

Inside the Mind and Inbox of Charlie Rangel

Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives reconvened so Congressman Charlie Rangel could take to the House floor and defend the charges placed against him by the House Ethics Committee.

Today we were lucky enough to get a real-time look inside the Harlem Congressman’s Gmail inbox.

FamousDC Presents … Inside the Mind and Inbox of Charlie Rangel

Click on the picture in order to increase the size.

Related: Inbox of Rahm Emanuel

US House Reconvenes So Rangel Can Ramble

Rep. Charlie Rangel [D-Taxes] was just on the House floor speaking under a point of personal privilege.  [Note: That's fancy talk for "say whatever the f*ck you want to."]

Apparently Chuck went at it for several minutes, all the while stating his innocence.

If I can’t get my dignity back here, fire your best shot at getting rid of me by expulsion. [you go, boy]

Rangel concluded with this powerful statement:

“Thank you for your attention. Go home.”  [boom]

Word on the street is that this isn’t what Speaker Pelosi had in mind when she re-tweeted Congress back in session.

Reaction from the Twitterverse:

@KSpainNRCC RT @RussertXM_NBC One senior Dem aide to me re Rangel on the floor right now: “This is a trainwreck.”

@murphymike Rangel on House floor… Sounds exactly like Frank Pantageli in Godfather 2…

@markos Rangel, please resign.

@EmilyMillerDC MUST WATCH TV NOW — Charlie Rangel giving his defense on House floor. Already a political classic.

@pwire: Rangel: “If I was you I might want me to go away too.” – Thanks Cap’N’ Obvious

@andylevy How do you get back something you never had? #dignity #rangel

Loving Levi: The Road to the Mayor’s Office

Levi Johnston might get his very own reality teevee show.  [who's surprised?]

Johnston will run for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska — yes, the same job that propelled Sarah Palin to governor of that state (and later, the vice presidential nomination) — in a new reality project being pitched by Stone and Co.

“Loving Levi: The Road to the Mayor’s Office” will center on Johnston’s newfound fame as the baby daddy to Palin’s grandson, Tripp…

Johnston’s candidacy isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds: Wasilla’s current mayor, lawyer Verne E. Rupright, won the seat in 2008 with 466 votes — less than 100 from his nearest competitor, who received 373…

This has train wreck written all over it and America couldn’t be more excited.

Guess Who’s Turning 30?

Now there is time and Time is young.
~ May Sarton

Be sure to tell Mr. Matt Dornic Happy Birthday tomorrow.

Rick Klein Takes His Coffee Famous

Mr. Rick Klein of ABC News is known to be quite the collector. Now he has a FamousDC mug to add to his impressive baseball card collection.

C-SPAN, Page Six JESS3, and now ABC News

Where will the next FamousDC mug show up?

PREVIOUS: Extreme Famous Morning Coffee

PREVIOUS: Page Six Famous Morning Coffee

PREVIOUS: Jess3 Takes Their Coffee Famous

Jon Stewart Explains the Ridiculousness Surrounding the Media Coverage of Chelsea’s Wedding

Jon Stewart breaks down why Chelsea Clinton’s wedding set a new record for the most media coverage gaining the least amount of information. [hilarious]

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Wedding of the Decade of the Century of the Millennium
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Nick Jonas: Ronald Reagan is a personal hero of mine

CBS News: Nick Jonas + Jordin Sparks ♥ Ronald Reagan

Jonas and Sparks are among the 35 young people who are on the committee, many of whom had not been born before Mr. Reagan left office in 1989.

Shira Toeplitz on Fire

Election season is heating up and the hill journos are in high demand.

Shira Toeplitz:

After my WJLA hit at 11pm, I will have done TV hits on 3 networks/ affiliates today: WJLA-ABC, MSNBC and CBS. Welcome to campaign season!

We  wanted to give Shira some positive coverage before the NFL season starts. It must be tough to be a Steelers fan these days.

Christiane Amanpour’s ABC Debut @RickKlein & Top Line

Roll Call Crushing On Patrick O’Connor

Roll Call has the former Hill & Politico reporter – and current Bloomberg News reporter – front and center on RollCall.com

Mediaite Doesn’t Miss a Trick #SnookiGate

NOT THE ONION: John McCain tweets to Snooki and later President Obama says he doesn’t know her … during an interview with The View.

Steven Jessop: Snooki-Gate? Obama Tells The View “He Has No Idea” Who Snooki Is, After Joking About Her At White House Correspondents Dinner

Page Six Famous Morning Coffee

NY Post’s “Page Six Palmeri” takes her morning coffee Famous.

We hope Tara continues to keep her coffee classy in the Big Apple.

C-SPAN, Page Six … where will the next FamousDC mug show up?

PREVIOUS: Extreme Famous Morning Coffee

So Ambitious: Meet JESS3

Are we still on for coffee Mr. Thomas?

Mashable: Inside the Mind of One of the Web’s Hottest Designers [INTERVIEW]

So ambitious …

Rick Klein > Jonathan Karl

A little DC trash talk at the end of today’s “Top Line.”

The fleet-footed Rick Klein ribbed Jonathan Karl for finishing behind him during the National Press Club 5K.

Wale, Bob Schieffer & FamousDC

Wale:

Dmv quaken…but never shaken

Daily Caller Owns Keith Olbermann [Seriously, They Own Him]

Or at least his URL.  [weird, but funny]

USA Today Page Editor Fail…Or Secretly Sending a Message

Does this make you picture them in bed together?

WaPo, Bloomberg get more intimate

Tara Palmeri’s First Byline [Page Six]

Page Six Palmeri is all growns up…

via Emily Miller

Not the Onion: Bristol Palin, Levi Johnston are Engaged [To Each Other]

There are no words to describe this.  Actually, there are words, but none of the ones we attempted to use were even remotely appropriate.

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston are back together and plan to get married.

Mama Grizzly apparently doesn’t know.

“We got engaged two weeks ago,” Bristol, 19, tells Us Weekly. “It felt right, even though we don’t have the approval of our parents.” In other words, Sarah Palin didn’t know Bristol and Levi and baby Tripp were breaking the news on the cover of Us.

Who loves the cover of US Magazine more, Levi or Bristol?   And how long will this engagement last? Our crystal ball says about 4-5 weeks.

Japanese Dolphins Reenact Michael Steele’s RNC Chairmanship

In what’s likely the best dolphin show since Ron Bonjean’s days on the mic at the Milwaukee Aquarium, a group of dolphins in Japan have choreographed and performed a true-to-life reenactment of Michael Steele’s Chairmanship of the RNC.

Personages:

Dolphin # 1 (AKA, the Jumper): Michael Steele

Dolphin #2: Haley Barbour

Dolphin #3: John Boehner

Dolphin #4: Mitch McConnell

Dolphin #5: Eric Cantor

Trainer #1: The News Media

Other Trainers: RNC Staff

The Crowd: All of us.

As the curtain rises, Dolphin Michael Steele has just been elected Chairman. The crowd is excited, and anticipates a good show with the potential to end the supermajority of the Sea Lion Show next door. Other Dolphin Republican leaders are doing their thing–fundraising, entertaining crowds, turning tricks for mackerel, etc. 18 seconds in, Dolphin Michael Steele makes his first gaffe, calling Whale Rush Limbaugh “incendiary” and “ugly.” It looks like he might lose his chairmanship, but he recovers, and relative calm is restored.

40 seconds in, Dolphin Michael Steele makes his next gaffe, claiming the war in Tank 5 is one of Dolphin President Obama’s choosing. Unable to recover, he falls out of the pool. The crowd’s first reaction is surprise, then laughter. RNC staff scramble to save Dolphin Michael Steele, while other Dolphin Party leaders observe and do nothing to help (but to be fair, they don’t do anything to hurt, either…they just kind of stay there, resigned to the fact that this charade will repeat itself until the next show, after which they’ll get a new Dolphin Chairman). During the chaos, Dolphin Eric Cantor announces a book  tour, and leaves. The crowd begins to show moderate concern, which eventually turns to horror.

What happens next? Not sure, but we heard Beluga Karl Rove is set to make an appearance.

Extreme Famous Morning Coffee

C-SPAN’s Howard Mortman takes his morning coffee Famous.

We hope Mr. Extreme continues to keep his coffee classy. We’re sure that he has no idea what we had to go through to get our gift over to C-SPAN world headquarters.

And the Academy Award for Headline Pun Usage Goes to …

Eliza Krigman

Tech Daily Dose:  Microsoft’s Ballmer: We’re ‘Cirrus’ About Cloud Computing’s Potential

Can we use a Tech Daily Dose headline to pivot to a Big Pun video?

Yes We Can!

Famously Quoteworthy: We Want to Play Cards With Robert Gibbs

Someone might want to teach Gibbs the definition of a good poker face.

Gibbs Admits Republicans Could ‘Gain Control’ of House

And now FamousDC will be the first blog to transition an update from Robert Gibbs to a performance by Lady Gaga.

Famous Friday [Round Up]

John Kerry launched a fashion movement, the @Twitter #DC  gov’t liaison job is still available, 50 Cent still hasn’t been invited to the White House, despicable, Alvin Greene action figures are this year’s Tickle Me Elmo, Chad Pergram business time, a year older and none the wiser, awkward, accidentally check into Cap Lounge on Foursquare, the Fourth of July as seen through the lens of John Shinkle, the Senate Radio – TV Gallery as seen through the lens of Christopher Gindlesperger, Who needs a bottle of Thunderbird?, Ron Artest wouldn’t tell anyone where King James was going, Apple Bottom Robes, Gavels with the Fur, Paul Kane turns one year hansome-r, Clevelanders were so angry they set the river on fire again … not really … but they were pretty pissed, #Heatmaggedon hit DC, and stop by L2 tonight to wish Tara “Page Six Palmeri” good luck as she heads to NYC.

A Day in the Life of a Congressional Staffer … During Recess

Recess. It’s a busy time back in the district. But in THE District, it’s about as slow as Doris counting the pennies the latest tourist decided to use to pay for their buffalo wrap.

Back home, the boss is kissing babies (and goodness knows who else) while office work productivity slows as the march towards August continues. So what exactly happens in a Congressional office during this time?

We asked a Hill staffer to walk us through a day in the life. What we got didn’t shock us…but it did make us think twice about paying our taxes.

FamousDC Presents …

A Day in the Life of a Hill Staffer – During Recess

10 a.m. – Wake up on the bathroom floor.

10:02 a.m. – Attempt to recount the drinks you had last night.  Give up at 9…but think about how awesome it would be if Katherine Harris could make a ruling.

10:05 a.m. – Hear noise from bedroom. Realize you are not alone.

10:07 a.m.- Commence self-loathing.

10:08 a.m. – Realize it’s your intern calling you back to bed.

10:09 a.m. – Transition from self-loathing to self-congratulation.

10:10 a.m. – Round 2…because why not? The damage is done.

10:15 a.m. – Convince intern to leave through back door and to “play it cool” when at the office.

10:30 a.m. – Enjoy heart healthy breakfast at Jimmy T’s

11:00 a.m. – Arrive at work

11:05 a.m. – Thank the IT dude for finally giving you two monitors.

11:07 a.m. – Apologize to the confused IT dude that you’re still drunk and seeing double.

11:08 -  11:45 a.m. – Scan emails, shuffle papers on desk, nap, line-up lunch plans, check FamousDC, write snazzy Facebook recess status update

11:46 a.m. – Is it lunch time yet?

11:55 a.m. – On your way to lunch, ignore intern sitting at the front desk, even though you’re now legally married in three states.

12:00 – 2 p.m. – Lunch at Tortilla Coast; drop a few lines from FamousDC and chat about why Howard Kurtz sold out Patrick Gavin.

2:45 – 3:45 p.m. – Scan emails, use auto-pen to approve August vacation requests, scan Congress Daily PM, check FamousDC again, try to answer LastCall! Swizzle, answer comments on Facebook status update

3:50 p.m. – Tell co-workers you’re headed to an afternoon “workshop.”

4 p.m. – Leave work

4:15 p.m. – Accidentally check into Cap Lounge on Foursquare

6:00 p.m. – Six deep

7 p.m. – Text intern and request the return of your staff ID from yesterday.

10 p.m. – Text intern (again).

10:30 p.m. – Apologize for being “weird,” and explain to the intern that things “are just tough at work now,” and that you’d like to keep seeing each another, but only at non-Hill locations (and your C St. SE basement apartment).

11:30 p.m. – Briefly consider the consequences of your actions.

11:31 p.m. – Take intern home, share your etchings.

Next day: repeat

Lebron James vs. Sarah Palin

The world is watching …

ESPN will host a one-hour special tonight to reveal where King James will land.

Sarah Palin releases her new presidential campaign video on the same day.

Coincidence?

We just bought www.PalinLebron2012.com

Happy Hump Day: Press Secretaries Only

We hope you’re enjoying recess.

Photo by: Christopher Gindlesperger, aka NotNotGindy

Chad Pergram Gets His Business Done Between Classes

You’ll need to read all of the article to understand why Diane Edwards is getting crazy Google alerts today.

The Speaker’s Lobby: The Bell System

Congress is a lot like high school. That’s true. Right down to the bells that signal class.

Like nearly every school, my high school had a bell system. An over modulated, tone would bleat through loudspeakers that hung in every room, springing us from class.

We had four minutes to walk from one classroom to another, use the restroom, or swap out books at our lockers. But multiply four minutes by seven periods and you suddenly have a lot of time on your hands.

Which is when I’d get my business done.

Sure, I’d hit my locker. But this was when I went to find people I needed to chat with. Maybe make plans for the weekend. Chat about the play we were rehearsing. Handicap our basketball team’s chances against Miamisburg. Check out the cheerleading squad.

Diane Edwards even sought me out between classes to accept my prom invitation.

Continue reading

Between classes for Mr. Pergram = business time

Please Take a Minute Today

And tell Chris Paulitz happy birthday.

Welcome Back

We hope you enjoyed the holiday break.

Photo by: John Shinkle

Famous Friday [Round Up]

Hey, love turned 1, Anthony Weiner = ESPN, Senator Byrd left us, we want to hire this writer, we owe Drew Curtis lots of beer, TIME for lobbying, chipwiches, high volume of interns led to an increase  of check on check crimes in DC,  Andrew Breitbart is throwing money around, Emily Heil is about to be Famous, absinthe on H Street, put on your Derek Jeter costume, one day at a time, keep your shirt on and your bacon to yourself.

Next Page »