On the heels of their recent electoral victories, and sensing an opportunity to take control of the House and/or Senate later this year, the Republican National Committee developed an ingenious plan to stroke the egos of their richest donors, and scare the shit out of the poorer ones.
And they would've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those meddling POLITICO editors.
Morning lineup:
Meet the Press: Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; Roundtable: Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT); Former Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. (D-TN), E.J. Dionne (Washington Post) and Rich Lowry (Weekly Standard).
Face the Nation: Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN); Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC); Dan Balz (Washington Post); Jim VendeHei (Politico).
This Week (Hosted by Matthew Dowd): Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius; Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY); Roundtable: George Will (Washington Post), Democratic Strategist Donna Brazile, Republican Strategist Torie Clark and Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich.
Fox News Sunday: Former Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney; Rep. John Adler (D-NJ); Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA); Roundtable: Bill Kristol (Weekly Standard), Mara Liasson (NPR/FNC), Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino and Juan Williams (NPR/FNC).
State of the Union: Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX); DCCC Chair/Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD); Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA); Reliable Sources: Barbara Walters (ABC); Margaret Carlson (TIME); Chris Stirewalt (Washington Examiner).
The Chris Matthews Show: Dan Rather (HDNet); Katty Kay (BBC); Andrea Mitchell (NBC News); Joe Klein (TIME).
Fareed Zakaria GPS: CENTCOM Commander Gen. David Petraeus.
Afternoon delight:
Amanpour: Israeli Spy/Son of a Founder of Hamas Mosab Hassan Yousef.
Primetime viewing:
60 Minutes will be pre-empted this week for a special edition of "60 Minutes Presents: Blood Brothers," which explores the world of Spanish bullfighting brothers Francisco and Cayetano Rivera-Ordonez, top matadors from one of Spain's most famous bullfighting families (preview).
On Comedy Central...
Jon Stewart surveyed the Chinese wall that separates Fox News Channel's reporting from its editorializing.
The Daily Show
Monday: Madoff Whistelblower/Author Harry Markopolos ("No One Would Listen")
Tuesday: Author Marc Thiessen ("Courting Disaster")
Wednesday: Comedian/Producer Jerry Seinfeld ("The Marriage Ref")
Thursday: Author Eamon Javers ("Broker, Trader, Lawyer, Spy")
And Stephen Colbert spliced together an interview with Sean Hannity to discuss James O'Keefe's pwnage of the mainstream media whores.
The Colbert Report
Monday: Actor/Producer Tom Hanks ("The Pacific")
Tuesday: Web-Based Filmmaker Annie Leonard ("The Story of Stuff")
Wednesday: Theoretical Physicist/Author Sean Carroll ("From Eternity to Here")
Thursday: Author David Aaronovitch ("Voodoo Histories")
Meanwhile, the Wasilla Hillbillies took their show on the road this week.
The first stop was The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, where Sarah tried her hand at stand-up comedy and explained what drew her to the Fox News Channel.
PALIN: I studied journalism, my college degree there in communications. And now I am back there wanting to build some trust back in our media. I think the mainstream media is quite broken and I think there needs to be the fairness, the balance in there — that’s why I joined Fox. Fair and balanced, yes. You know because, Jay, those years ago that I studied journalism it was all about the who, what, when, where, and why, it was not so much the opinion interjected in hard news stories. ... As long as there is not the opinion under the guise of hard news stories — I think there needs to be clear differentiation.
The Palin clan then descended on an Oscar gifting suite so that Sarah could grab some of the free swag that she loves to hate.
After cleaning out the joint, the best-selling "author" made the Hollywood rounds with reality TV über-producer Mark Burnett to pitch a show.
Palin and Burnett have been meeting this week to talk about the idea with executives at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, according to three broadcast executives, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the networks don't publicly discuss story pitches.
Burnett, one of TV's busiest producers best known for his "Survivor" series on CBS, said he approached the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate with the idea. It will be shot in the style of Discovery's "Planet Earth" show, feasting on the natural beauty of the state where Palin was governor.
I've got a better idea — Palin's Believe It or Not!, hosted by Andrew Sullivan.
- Trix
