Excerpt from Frank Rich's Op-Ed mentioned by Denning, below.

Before there was a Woodward and Bernstein, there was Halberstam, still not yet 30 in the early 1960s, calling those in power to account for lying about our “progress” in Vietnam. He did so even though J.F.K. told the publisher of The Times, “I wish like hell that you’d get Halberstam out of there.” He did so despite public ridicule from the dean of that era’s Georgetown punditocracy, the now forgotten columnist (and Vietnam War cheerleader) Joseph Alsop.

It was Alsop’s spirit, not Halberstam’s, that could be seen in C-Span’s live broadcast of the correspondents’ dinner last Saturday, two days before Halberstam’s death in a car crash in California. This fete is a crystallization of the press’s failures in the post-9/11 era: it illustrates how easily a propaganda-driven White House can enlist the Washington news media in its shows. Such is literally the case at the annual dinner, where journalists serve as a supporting cast, but it has been figuratively true year-round. The press has enabled stunts from the manufactured threat of imminent “mushroom clouds” to “Saving Private Lynch” to “Mission Accomplished,” whose fourth anniversary arrives on Tuesday. For all the recrimination, self-flagellation and reforms that followed these journalistic failures, it’s far from clear that the entire profession yet understands why it has lost the public’s faith....

The current White House, weakened as it is, can still establish story lines as fake as “Mission Accomplished” and get a free pass.

http://donkeyod.wordpress.com/2007/04/28/all-the-president%e2%80%99s-press

Did they ask any questions about hair? Because they're really, really into hair over there at Politico.

Romney, about his own hair: “It’s a little long. … I’m going to get it cut before tomorrow’s debate.”

A small breeze blows out of the mountains and moves across the corral, gently disturbing the flowing mane of the horse and Reagan's own hair. (Simon)

Romney has chiseled-out-of-granite features, a full, dark head of hair going a distinguished gray at the temples, and a barrel chest. (Simon)

But the Yankees' Republican image is also about style -- in part from its traditions regarding players' appearance. "Steinbrenner doesn't let players have long hair," Cowlishaw said, citing Johnny Damon, the former Boston Red Sox player, who was forced to cut his hair when he joined the Yankees.

His long white hair is combed straight back. (Simon)

His campaign's as slick as Sinatra's hair.

Dressed in a dark suit, checkered shirt and plain blue tie, his mostly gray hair, which lately seems to be thinning in the back, was combed straight back.

The media was howling for Libby's head for months, while leaving unfettered every hair on the head of Richard Armitage...

Sampson, wearing a brown suit and thick, rimless glasses, his cropped hair shining with gel, sat alone before them.

Ryan was also a Riggs board member: http://www.nndb.com/company/707/000053548

Apologies of someone has mentioned this already. Ryan was President of Allbritton (as of Jan 05, at least): http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A14114-2005Jan16?language=printer

Riggs Bank was used as a case study by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations

In February 2003, the Subcommittee initiated a followup investigation to evaluate the enforcement and effectiveness of key anti-money laundering provisions of the Patriot Act, using Riggs Bank, a prominent bank that held the accounts of most of the foreign embassies in Washington, as a case study. A report released by Senator Levin’s Subcommittee staff in July 2004, revealed that Riggs Bank maintained a dysfunctional anti-money laundering program and allowed or, at times, actively facilitated suspicious financial activity, using case histories involving Augusto Pinochet [Riggs involved from 1994-2002], the former President of Chile, and Teodoro Obiang [Riggs involved from 1995-2004], the President of Equatorial Guinea. The report detailed serious shortcomings in federal oversight of Riggs Bank, a regulatory failure particularly troubling in light of the potential for criminals and corrupt officials to misuse the U.S. financial system. http://tinyurl.com/385cdj

That Schiff-Flake amendment is as useless as a non-binding war resolution. What's the point of making a law that says another law can't be broken, especially when that law has been broken for years? Is that supposed to make investigations unnecessary? Is that supposed to make it all better?

I didn't mean it to sound like you or your letter was off topic - just the amendment. I am against any legislative action now because it might mislead people into thinking that we don't need investigations. But we do, badly - the lawbreakers need to be held accountable.

The transcript of today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the US attorney firings is available now at WaPo. Comey dramatically recounts (page 2) the visit to Ashcroft's hospital room by Gonzales, Card, and himself, regarding authorization of the warrantless wiretap program.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051501032.html

Yes, I believe they are listening...

Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM): “The majority today voted to maintain the status quo. The statute is being stretched like a single sheet to cover a king-sized bed.”

The Democrat majority in the House Intelligence Committee today voted to keep the status quo on eavesdropping even though they know that the law isn’t working and needs to be modernized.

Congresswoman Heather Wilson offered an amendment to the Intelligence Authorization Act based on legislation that passed the House in 2006 on a bipartisan basis. The amendment failed on a party line vote of 11 to 9.

May 2, 2007, http://wilson.house.gov/NewsAction.asp?FormMode=Releases&ID=1413