I Luv Abbi Tatton

I went out for a ride and I never went back

2005-08-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

Ah, "Hungry Heart", by Bruce Springsteen, whence this post's title comes from. It attempts to capture the restlessness of the male spirit. You know, Giuseppe Verdi may have written the opera with the line "A woman is as fickle/as a feather in the wind" (for you philistines, it's probably the only bit of opera you can recall off the top of your head). But really it's men who are the changeable ones. You have fun for a while and then decide to move on. Why am I saying all this, here on the blog dedicated to Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of the internet reports on CNN's The Situation Room? It's because I think I might be moving on too. The time away recently was nice and I don't feel like going back, and I'm not sure if I will. This isn't to say I don't still think Ms. Tatton is the beginning and end of all that is good and holy in the world. But I might be getting tired of sorting through three hours of tv every day to wring out a post. That sounds horrible, I know, but it's true. Yes, I have so much I could write about: Ms. Tatton's Iron Maiden comments; how she looked in her tan skirt (hint - great); guessing her age, her background, her shoe size. Not to mention the fact I had promised a special event this weekend. It wasn't that big a deal; just a certain milestone on here. Maybe we'll still reach it. But I gotta say I think things are winding down. I know: you will be tempted to run out to those bastards at Abbi Tatton Rulez for your Abbi fix. Well, they wouldn't know a good post from a hole in the wall. I'll probably post a few more times, sporadically. But just know that whims come to ends eventually, and so must the one that made me start this blog.

Even Abbifans get the blues

2005-08-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

It's been almost two days since the last update here on the site devoted to the lovely, talented Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of the internet reports on the CNN show The Situation Room. Why? Well, yesterday I attended a work-related party at a Cuban restaurant downtown that was supposed to end at 8. While there, the new owner of the place announced that to celebrate his new acquisition, all drinks and food would be on the house till closing. So naturally,we sort of got waylaid. And today? Well, aside from the fact that my tape once again ran out (I still don't have the knack for taping a three hour show on a tape of indeterminate SLP length), I'm just plain tired. You heard me: I'm tired, and I don't feel like updating. I'm sorry, Ms. Tatton; even whims to dedicate a blog to you can wax and wane over time. I'm sure my enthusiasm will return. But right now, I'm taking a break, and all who want to know more about Ms. Tatton will have to read the transcripts at the CNN website. And remember: absence makes the heart grow fonder.

I hope this post finds you in good humour

2005-08-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome, to the one and only site dedicated to the only truly worthwhile activity in this life: praising the one and only Ms. Abbi Tatton, the fairest of all newscasters (and everyone else actually). She co-hosts the blog reports on CNN's show The Situation Room. In between doing that, she finds time for being the prettiest, smartest, and sweetest gal around. Quite a feat, huh?

So the regular process on here is for me to go through describing the day's segments, highlighting all notable aspects, all for your reading enjoyment. Good deal huh? So to begin: they had the briefest of teasers today as the camera panned by Ms. Tatton (who was mostly blocked by her co-host Jacki) as they came back from commercial right before the first segment. It started about 4:57, and was named Inside the Blogs. Ms. Tatton got to start; she usually doesn't. Today she had a white jacket that was open, not buttoned; I feel sure that's the first time I've seen her try that look. She also had a black top and black pants on, creating a nice contrast. No jewelry this time, either. The topic was Pat Robertson's remark. The first blog she quoted was Think Progress, who suggested Robertson read his own site's "Thou shall not murder" quote. She then noted CBN, and read off a quote about the Bible and the "sovereignty of nations" as illustration of more of Robertson's oddball remarks. Ms. Tatton then moved to Norbusiness (I think that's right), which named the top ten oddball remarks. Here, Ms. Tatton paused to explain that she didn't mean to gang up on Robertson, but she'd had an extremely hard time finding blogs in support. She did cite one she'd found, Erik's...Hmm..., who said "amen" to it. And finally, she showed us Captain's Quarters, which called it "insanity."

It was a jam-packed turn, but the nicest thing was the obvious good humor (humour?) that Ms. Tatton was in (inspiring this post's title). She tilted and tossed her head, as if to express her awareness at the silliness of her topic, smiling cutely throughout. Quite a nice sight.

That good mood continued for her second turn, in the second segment. This came around at, oh, maybe 5:46, and was called The Situation Online. Jacki started with the most popular stories on CNN.com, and Ms. Tatton picked up the theme with the story of the nun who got in trouble for dancing. Here Ms. Tatton showed a picture of it at The Huffington Post while recounting the story for us. Hearing the sweetly innocent Ms. Tatton explain how the nun had "wrapped her legs around a missionary" caused me to raise my eyebrows. Again, she had a sly smile and a would-you-believe-this manner that was very charming. She ended by quoting The Coalition of the Swilling, which wrote, "Paging Julie Andrews." Ms. Tatton passed it back to host Wolf Blitzer with a shake of her head and a bemused, "Dancing nun, Wolf..." that clearly told of the fun she was having.

So hopefully now you can see why watching Ms. Tatton is one of my favorite things. She warms one's heart, for sure. Well, now I bet you can't wait till tomorrow's segment, right? I never can either. And don't forget: special day coming up soon. It's no big deal really, but I think it'll be fun. See you soon.

So good to be back

2005-08-22T18:46:00.000-07:00

It's the kickoff of another week, filled with hope and promise of repeated sightings of the loveliest tv correspondent ever, Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of the blog reports on CNN's show The Situation Room. Ms. Tatton's parts usually are on towards the end of each hour, especially the second and third (but it's not set in stone). Seek her out; you'll be glad you did.

And me? Like the top of the blog says, I seek only to extoll the virtues of Dear Abbi. I could extoll all my life long and never really scratch the surface of those virtues, either. Oh, but how I'd like to try!

So let's get to it. First off, I forgot to mention last time that I noticed they have somewhat of a teaser by showing the two hosts on the screen along the wall as they're coming back from commercial. Friday's was just them standing there, and today there wasn't one. But I'll try to keep my eyes peeled for them from now on. Ok, the first segment, called Inside the Blogs (they alternate names), came on about 4:57 and was about the security measures in the London tube (mind the gap!). Only people who've been to the London tube will know what I'm talking about there. Anyway, after a long bit by the other host Jacki, Ms. Tatton got her turn. It was striking to see her bare neck, unadorned by necklace. Not that I'm complaining about seeing her neck. She cited Going Underground's Blog, which noted the security steps being taken in the Tube (is that supposed to be capitalized?), and then told of the new charity Freedom Bags, which sells clear backpacks to assure your suspicion-free travel comfort. Londonist, Ms. Tatton pointed out, questioned whether letting people see you're carrying an iPod is really a way to feel secure. And so Ms. Tatton handed it back to host Wolf Blitzer. As he thanked them, we got a nice sideways view of Ms. Tatton's sparkly, whitish shoe. Very royal-looking, if you ask me.

For the second segment, this one called the Situation Online (which came on at 5:44), the topic was an Australian model who got busted for drugs in Indonesia. Ms. Tatton compared the story to that of anoher Australian who'd been convicted of drug smuggling, showing us updates on her from Talk Left, which she described as following the story closely. She then called up HappyScrappy, naming the site then drolling saying, "obviously wins the blogpost name of the day there." Love those side comments. She showed how the site was comparing coverage of the two women and postulating reasons for the difference.

Were Ms. Tatton locked away in some foreign jail, I'd definitely put together a team of international adventurers to rescue her. I'd burst into her cell in a blaze of smoke and fire, and shout, "I'm here to rescue you!" Then she'd go, "Aren't you a little short for a blogger?" And I'd go, "I'm 5'6, what can I say?" Of course, Ms. Tatton is even prettier than Princess Leia. Actually, I bet the guards would spring her on their own, just for a smile from her.

Well, that was a nice start to the week. Be sure to tune in this weekend; I've got something special planned! It's not much, just my way of continuing to celebrate all that is good and beautiful, i.e. all that is Ms. Tatton. But we've got 4 whole days to go before then - what a wonderful thing to look forward to, don't you think?

Please forgive my appalling lateness

2005-08-21T19:46:00.000-07:00

I must start by begging for forgiveness for being so late with this post. Ms. Tatton deserves a lot of things, not least of which is punctuality. I could list excuses as to what happened, but they'd just be that: excuses. Actually, I always thought that kind of line was silly - I mean, what's wrong with having a good excuse? I could have been in a car accident or something. Not that I was. Ok, I'm getting off-track here.

The right track is talking about the wonderful Abbi Tatton, co-host of the blog reports on CNN's The Situation Room. I should start paying attention to see if she ever makes appearances on other shows. Although I hope not on American Morning since I like to sleep in.

So let's get to the long-overdue posting. The first segment, called the Situation Online, consisted of Ms. Tatton and her co-host Jacki conducting an interview with a podcasting priest. Can you imagine the pure, unadulterated joy of having Ms. Tatton ask you a question and then wait smilingly for your reply? How warm the sunlight of her attention and curiousity must feel. I bet when she's out to eat with a friend (or with Beau, her Speculatively Existent Beau), she leans forward with her hands clasped together, elbows on the table, intent and engaged in conversation. What a gal. Anyway, the site was CatholicInsider (following on the report of the pope's recent trip). After Jacki's intro (with a very pretty sideways glance from Ms. Tatton), our subject got things underway by asking whom the site operator was trying to reach with his site; the answer was non-Catholics. Then she asked how many listeners he got, and that answer was (or sounded like) 15,000 per podcast. Unfortunately, there was a dearth of shots of Ms. Tatton (or Jacki) during the actual interview, even during the follow-ups. Tsk tsk. Finally, Ms. Tatton asked what kind of equipment one needed to do podcasts; the answer was less than $100 worth. Jacki also got in some questions and then wrapped it up.

The second segment was called Inside the Blogs (funny how they can't seem to decide which title they like better - personally I like Inside the Blogs due to its pedigree from the previous show). Here we got a full view of Ms. Tatton, so I'll take the opportunity now to describe the notable things about her appearance (well, everything's notable really). During the first segment, we found that Ms. Tatton chose to accessorize with red. She had a red top underneath her white jacket-type blouse, she had the red necklace that I am pretty sure I noted on her in an recent post, and she had a previously unseen (or unremarked-upon) red bracelet on her left wrist. From the way the light gleamed on it, it looked smooth and not grooved (if that makes sense). All three reds were the same - a true, simple red - which must have taken some doing to get the same hue. The red theme looked good - if Ms. Tatton were a fire engine, she'd be the prettiest one. People would be setting their houses on fire just to have her pay them a visit. Also, when they showed the two interviewing the podcast guy, one could see the tied belt ends hanging down in the back of her aforementioned blouse. It made a lovely accent for her outfit.

So the second segment, we got to see her legs and feet, which appeared to be in those slipper-shoes that have been fashionable of late, although it's just too hard to say. Substantively, the segment was about Cindy Sheehan. Ms. Tatton cited Power Line and their referencing people in Crawford who didn't support Sheehan. Then she picked up the story of MoveOn.org's pushing more protests, and Scout Prime's picking it up. She also noted another site's "Talk to Her" post without saying what the site was, before returning to Scout Prime and noting two pictures on it, which illustrated her point that some protesters were pro-Cindy and some were anti-Bush.

For the third segment (my my, three whole segments! how nice!), Jacki brought the topic around to the overturn of the word "mate" in the Australian parliament. Ms. Tatton clearly defended her British Commonwealth portfolio at CNN, saying, "I couldn't let Zain Verjee have all the fun with this." She quoted a blogger from Perth named (in the best guess of the transcript) Hami, which I can't find online; sorry. That person called the ban unaustralian. Ms. Tatton again showed another blog's comment without citing it specifically ( and also tossed off some down under slang like "pollies" for politicians), then ended on Digital Retrograde, which compared the thorough Australian-ness of "mate" to the Southern "y'all." Here, Ms. Tatton reached new heights of charm by saying the word "y'all" (perfectly well, too), and immediately protesting, "See, I can't make that noise; I just can't say that word" while breaking into a slight shy laugh. Sigh, what a sweetheart she is. She's just so cute! And like I said, she pronounced the word just fine.

Well, that was it for the week, and not a moment too soon, since we're about to start a new one. What magical wonders lie in store for us there? Only time will tell. Actually, time will just go by; you'll have to come back here so I can tell.

Roll me out into the street

2005-08-18T19:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not proud of what I've done. You see, I post here because I am drawn in by the gravitational pull of one Abbi Tatton, co-host of the blog segments on CNN's The Situation Room. I am but a poor boy, looking up at that great big gleaming white mansion that is Ms. Tatton's lot in life. I'm not jealous; I will live vicariously through knowing that she is prospering. My blog here - actually, it belongs to the world - is just my way of giving back. But today I won't be doing much giving.

That's because - I cringe just to say this - I didn't even think my tape might run out, especially since I rewound it a ways. But it did run out, and (here's where Fate takes the knife and just twists it) on a day with just Ms. Tatton reporting. I think that's the second time in a row I missed out on the pure, wholesome goodness that is a solo Abbi segment! And I call myself a blogger for Ms. Tatton! I should be dunked in a vat of cold water; pelted with eggs; Ms. Tatton herself should tie me up and whip me while forcing me to say, "I'm a bad blogger! A very bad blogger!" Ok, scratch that last one. But you know what I mean. I can just hear those bastards at Abbi Tatton Rulez laughing at me. Well, they can sod off. I may not be perfect, but I try. That can't take that away from me.

So anyway, I'll post from the transcripts, and you'll just have to take your prettiest sock and make a puppet and pretend it's Ms. Tatton. The topic was the Gaza pullout. She started with Joe Settler, about protesting the move, and then On the Face, with a less favorable impression of the protesters. And that was it. Oh, I forgot to mention that the whole show was truncated due to the BTK sentencing coverage, hence the brief appearance.

So obviously we have no way to know what new bracelets or necklaces Ms. Tatton displayed. A whole visual realm, lost forever. How sad. But tomorrow I promise I won't make the same mistake. Now who knows which mistake I will make. Ms. Tatton must roll her eyes and say, "Why did I have to get the world's most inept blogger?" I'm sorry, if I've hitched my ill-fated star to yours. I'll unhook it right away.

Welcome back

2005-08-17T19:42:00.000-07:00

Today's post title is extremely lame. However, the subject of the post certainly isn't. She's Abbi Tatton, co-host of the blog reports on CNN's show The Situation Room. Her segments can appear pretty much anywhere within the 3-hour show, although they are slightly more common in the 2nd and 3rd hours. But like sifting river mud to find gold is worth it ( or so I hear), so too is watching the Situation Room waiting for a different kind of gleam: that of the sparkling, radiant Ms. Tatton. Gee, the stuff that comes through my fingertips when I'm posting.

Today's segment had some interesting camerawork: as host Wolf Blitzer was introducing the first go-round, an anchor could be seen on the screen behind him, with a "Do I look at the camera or don't I?" look on her face. Then they didn't cut away quick enough and we got Wolf walking up to the camera lens a la David Letterman. And during Ms. Tatton's turn, her co-host Jacki could be seen in view. Jacki, as if you don't already get more turns than Ms. Tatton; now you're getting in her shots! Nah, no complaining about Jacki; we like her. I guess Ms. Tatton is just too rare and special a treat to be enjoyed as often as others. Sorry for the petulance.

In the accessory watch, Ms. Tatton had her necklace with the square silver ornament again - I think I have pointed out in previous posts that the square appears to have somewhat rounded corners. The mystery of its significance endures. My latest guess I'll throw out: when Ms. Tatton turned 18, her parents bought it for her as a symbolic expression of her passage through the "gate" of adulthood. Like I said, I'll take that guess and throw it out. She also had a wide, white bracelet. The white was quite white - it reminded me of a white plastic deck chair - you know, the kind that stack into each other. It seems like it may have had ridges, but it's too hard to really see. But I don't recall seeing it before, so that's fun. Tracking Ms. Tatton's accoutrements is a true delight.

For her first turn, she addressed the Able Danger story. She noted Powerline, which had written that anonymous sources were not to be trusted, and Intel Dump, which said that the story didn't pass the "smell test." Ms. Tatton then quoted from an anonymous post on that second site, which turned out to be from the person behind the story to begin with.

The second segment (called The Situation Online, while the first was Inside the Blogs) was about the Gaza pullout. Ms. Tatton cited one Israeli blog, Balagan, which was sad, and one Palestinian blog, Raising Yousuf, which was hopeful. CNN is definitely getting their international news quota in thanks to the dear Ms. Tatton. Good show.

Well, this post seems like it was over quick. I can't promise I'll post tomorrow - I know, I'm horrible. I'm a pretty poor excuse for a blogger. Ms. Tatton deserves better. But I'll keep trying, I swear.

Rough week

2005-08-16T18:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks ever so much for stopping by this humble little site devoted to the co-host of CNN's Inside the Blogs segments, which appear on its show The Situation Room. The co-host in question? Her name is Abbi Tatton. Psst - she's special.

Sadly, this is going to be a rough week, due to my schedule. There might even be some late postings like a few weeks ago. Not only that, but I once again missed a segment today due to my late tape recording. I set the VCR for 3:35ish, and just missed a solo spot by our dear lady of the tv tubes. A worse rubbing-my-face-in-my-error could not have occurred. I don't know why I don't tape the whole show; I guess I feel like I should limit the amount of tape used and also be able to home in on the segments in question. But it's increasingly clear I have no clue. But you knew that going in, right? I know: those bastards at Abbi Tatton Rulez may not have these problems, but hey, I'm still miles ahead of them. They have no appreciation of what Ms. Tatton is all about.

So let's get to what I did see. Ms. Tatton appeared to be wearing a new outfit; the top/jacket was black with white buttons. Judging by the color, it didn't look like it made a complete outfit with her pants, so I think just the top was new. It looked good. She also - duh duh! - had another necklace - I'm fairly certain she's worn it before. This one was apparently the same type as the one yesterday, except it was red. Not brick red, or orange red, or whatever red - just a straight red. Just so we're clear, it was made of largish beads (but they weren't really beads - they weren't perfectly round, I didn't think - and they got progressively smaller from the center out) on a tight strand around her swanlike neck. I bet she has the most delicate bit of down on her neck, too. Hey, if Tolstoy described it that way, so can I. [Hmm, I didn't intend that to be a follow-on to the swan comment. Funny how it came out that way.] Oh, and she also had a red bracelet on her left wrist - the bracelet was pretty wide, but further details were hard to come by. Incidentally, she doesn't seem to be too big on earrings or rings, does she?

There was also the briefest of a teaser, as the camera swung from a half-view of Ms. Tatton across co-host Jacki to main host Wolf Blitzer to start the segment. Half a Tatton is better than none! By the way, there had been an entire segment of just her, at like 3:30. It was about the Japan earthquake. From the transcript, it doesn't appear that she actually quoted any blogs; apparently she just showed their pages on the screen. We can only dream how she looked doing that. But the first full segment was about Iraq. Ms. Tatton noted Back to Iraq, which asserted a disconnect between reporters talking about the constitution and ordinary Iraqis wanting power (as in electricity). She also noted some Iraqi bloggers, such as Iraq the Model (Ed. note: modeling is Ms. Tatton's fallback line of work) and also Days of My Life, which apologized for irregular posting due to power outages.

After Jacki's second turn, Wolf asked how viewers could find military bloggers, and Ms. Tatton (standing primly by) suggested Mudville Gazette.

I thought perhaps Jacki would get her own turn in the 5 o'clock hour, but there was another appearance by both of them, this time about the computer worm. Ms. Tatton directed viewers to Trend Micro and its compendium of virus information. After Jacki's turn (she still gets two for Ms. Tatton's one on many days - but I don't want to stir up trouble), Wolf told them to hold on while he talked to other correspondents, leading me to believe they'd be back. I had to consult the transcripts again, since my tape ended at 6, but despite Wolf's promise, there was no more Ms. Tatton (or Jacki). Oh well.

So a pretty challenging day to keep track of. And Ms. Tatton cited foreign blogs exclusively today; I for one plan to read those Iraq blogs - who woulda thunk they'd have some there? Ms. Tatton outdid herself in her reports today. Hopefully, my attempts at simply describing them will live up to her example.

I like Mondays

2005-08-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

You're back in the Tatton Zone, the place where the laws of physics have no meaning. That's because Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of the blog segment on CNN's The Situation Room, defies all known laws of nature, displaying a heretofore impossible beauty. Just as nature abhors a vacuum, so too should such perfection normally be dispersed into the ether. Yet somehow Ms. Tatton maintains her delicately balanced form, driving scientists to madness trying to find out how. It's like cold fusion or something: it's just not supposed to happen like that. But in her, it does.

Ah, that was an interesting bit that came out of me. I am but a conduit for some higher power, drawn to pay tribute to Ms. Tatton. But it feels good to get back to my good old-fashioned over-the-top statements, after yesterday's somewhat personal post. It was fitting and necessary, but still, my taciturn Yankee sensibilities are put off by such expressions. That why we have such a work ethic: we say forget it to all that introspection, and just try to do something practical (like 12 hours of labor!). Maybe I'm not such a Yankee after all; after all, I am uncommonly lazy.

Ok, enough foolishness: let's get to the good stuff. And the only thing I'll say about yesterday's post is that my offer will remain open. So, who hates Mondays? Not me, since they mean we get another view of you-know-who. Today, as my gaze fell upon her as she and her comrade Jacki were introduced, guess what I saw? A new necklace?! Hmm, do ya think I'll pay any attention to it? Seeing it was like a reporter seeing Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie kissing; the newsworthy buzzer just starts ringing. Unfortunately, I was having a hard time getting much of a look at it - it looked brown to me. I thought how unfortunate it was that, unlike the old segments, now we rarely got close-ups of Ms. Tatton. All seemed hopeless. But you'll have to wait to hear how it turned out. By the way, I also noticed that Ms. Tatton appeared to have some black sandal-type shoes. I'm quite sure that's the first time I've seen her in those.

Substantively, the first segment was about Cindy Sheehan. Ms. Tatton once again showed off her command of the world blogosphere by citing Iraq the Model, which expressed the thought that Sheehan should not feel her son died for nothing. Jacki has another turn, then host Wolf Blitzer asked a question, with Jacki answering, before she said, "Abbi found a really cool story by the way." It was a delightfully conversational bit of dialogue. Ms. Tatton then told us about an LA councilwoman whose car was parked in a handicapped zone, with pictures at Mayor Sam's Sister City. This lead her to say, directly into the camera and looking cute as a button, "You can't get away with anything anymore." A wonderfully roguish observation - I bet Ms. Tatton is not adverse to a little bit of naughtiness every now and again. I could see her pulling a Chinese firedrill with her friends.

Now, to resolve the suspense of the necklace: during this turn, they had a close-up of her. From this, I learned the necklace was comprised of largish lime-green beads (so much for my powers of observation), strung in a relatively tight strand around her graceful neck. It matched quite well the top with the low decolletage she had on. Somehow, this necklace strikes me as something bought as a bit of summertime whimsy. Or at least it would, if I didn't suddenly realize I had seen it on her before. Still, I bet Ms. Tatton bought it on some informal, at ease, relaxed, lazy kind of day that she was spending just for herself (may she get to spend many days like that).

The second segment, called The Situation Online again (first time they brought back that term since the show's first day, I think), was about the Gaza pullout. Ms. Tatton (worldliness again) cited Raising Yousuf, about a Palestinian woman's efforts to raise her son in Gaza. And she was done. When Jacki handed it back to Wolf, there was some sound issue, and Ms. Tatton could be seen seemingly looking far off in front of her, perhaps at the sound guy. She managed to look very pretty doing this. She does that effortlessly.

So we're back for the week - here's hoping it's a good one! It's off to a good start already, at least.

Now she knows I know she knows I blog about her

2005-08-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

I'm so glad you found your way here, to the leading site dedicated to extolling the charms of Ms. Abbi Tatton. Who is Ms. Abbi Tatton, you ask? Well, there's a lot you have to catch up on (such as the fact that men have walked on the moon, that we live on a planet we call earth, that there's this big hot thing called the sun - that type of stuff). But if I were you, I'd skip to the important stuff: namely, that Ms. Tatton is the co-host of the segment Inside the Blogs, which appears within the CNN show The Situation Room. It's good stuff; you should watch and find out what you're missing.

Now, today's post is one I've been planning on for a while, and fortuitously there was a very interesting thing I stumbled across last week that works out perfectly for it. You see, I came across this. It's an interview by a media type with Ms. Tatton and her co-host Jacki. Funnily enough, I didn't read the title, so I scrolled down wondering whether a certain topic might get raised, and whaddya know, it was in the last question. The topic, obviously, is this blog. Actually, when I started this blog I speculated that something like this might happen. Anyway, you can read all about it at the link.

Naturally I was curious about whether she ever strayed across here, although I'm sure she's not so vain that she keeps googling herself (I do it and I only come up around page 11). So I broke out laughing when I saw it, even though they had misspelled my username (and it was a little short). It's nice to see Ms. Tatton is such a good sport. But it's hard to tell just what reaction she truly had, what with the electronic interview format. At the mention of the topic, did she look skyward, rolling her eyes and groaning (yet grinning) in mock exasperated fashion? Did she mutter an "ugh" at having to bother with such a stupid topic? Or did a frown appear on her face, and her mood disrupted, at a topic she finds disturbing and wishes would go away? It's impossible to know, especially since the interview wasn't face-to-face, and also was "filtered through CNN's public relations department." I don't like the sound of that. From the random bits of good humor she has dropped over the course of her segments, we know that Ms. Tatton is certainly capable of jokes like her "Mum having too much time on her hands" crack (I had just been thinking of that song, too). But I wonder if maybe the PR people could have "suggested" it. If so, there's basically no clues in the interview to her reaction. Guess I'll have to wait till that interview in People.

But since this blog rises and falls based on the whims of Ms. Tatton, I thought I'd take this opportunity to re-post my pledge to stop blogging about her if she so desires. All she has to do is send an e-mail to the account here and let me know. Since she already writes to bloggers asking them if they want to get mentioned on her show (or something like that), I figure this isn't too different. I'd just need to know it was really her. And to make it easier, I'll provide some sample messages she can use:

#1: Nice version:

Dear iluvabbitatton,

Thank you very very much for your very very nice posts about me. The attention is very very sweet. But actually, I would kinda sorta rather that, um, well, ... you didn't. Is that ok? I reeeeealllly hope so. But be sure to keep watching the show, ok? Your friend, Abbi

#2: Mean version:

Hey weirdo,

What the heck is your problem, anyway? Why do you write a blog about me? Do you even have a life? I want you to stop, right now. Or else I'll get my friends at the FBI to track down your URL and come beat you up. They'd do it, too. So do you hear me, creep? Quit it - you have been warned.

Signed, Someone you never had a shot with

#3: Moderate version:

To iluvabbitatton:

I guess it's flattering that you would write a blog about me. But I'd prefer if you wouldn't. Thanks.

Ms. Tatton

Any version she chooses is fine, or perhaps she'd compose her own. Like I said, I admit I would be curious to know how she found out about this - I imagine a good chuckle and some minor teasing in the newsroom about it, and then Anderson Cooper got caught starting his own - but she's under no obligation to say anything. In response, I'd pass along the password to the blog, so she could keep control over it. Actually, I'd give her the password even if she didn't ask me to quit. Anyway, the point is, this blog is really just at her beck and call. And being in her service is truly a high calling.

Almost perfect

2005-08-12T19:58:00.000-07:00

Well, we had a pretty good week. It was the first days of the new Situation Room on CNN, and a certain newscaster who we are excessively fond of was featured in the show, to great effect. That newscaster's name is Abbi Tatton, and she sends us over the moon. Previously she had hosted the Inside the Blogs segment (with her friend Jacki) on Inside Politics, where they sat at a table. Now, Ms. Tatton stands and addresses the camera in the fashion of a weather reporter. For those of us Abbi connoisseurs, it was exquisite. But now I had to go and screw up what was shaping up to be a perfect week.

You see, I missed the first segment because I didn't set the VCR to record until 4:20, and the segment came on around 3:50. I know, stupid. But they had seemed to be moving toward leaving the segments, however many they have, in the last two hours. So just to make things a little more convenient, I only taped the latter half or so. So of Ms. Tatton's two appearances today, I can only speak firsthand of one. Again, stupid, but I do think they could try to set up a regular schedule - after all, the show is 3 hours long. Then again, Ms. Tatton, like any woman worth pursuing, is at heart unpredictable. Guessing her next whim is as impossible as jumping on your own shadow - no matter how you try, you won't do it. So small wonder that I am merely the latest in what must surely be a long line of men to make the mistake of thinking I could.

So my report on the first segment will have to come from the trusty transcripts. It seems the topic was the wildfires out west. Ms. Tatton, who spoke first, suggested people could watch online at Gomac.gov, and noted all the neat little tricks they could do there. Sadly, that was all there was to it, substance-wise anway. Stylistically, who knows what mysteries will forever lie hidden from us, lost into the ether. Did Ms. Tatton point sarcastically (sounds hard but I've seen her do it)? Did her eyes widen as emphasis to a particular point she made? The world (at least us losers who missed it) will never know.

As for the segment I did see, it too was too brief. Ms. Tatton waited patiently while Jacki took the floor, then embarked onto a new topic, that of Justice Sunday II. The only blog she noted was Charmaine Yoest, who was looking for bloggers to do live reports from the event. That was it, although Jacki got another go-round in the 5 o'clock hour.

The news is not all spare, though. I have noticed, now that Ms. Tatton stands instead of sits, and speaks to the camera instead of to Jacki, that she is wonderfully expressive and animated in a way that conveys how much fun she's having doing reports. She cocks her head to the side in a way that suggests a wink without actually winking; she turns her head to the side and looks across her nose, in a look that is commonly used by models on magazine covers; she uses her hands to puncuate her reporting, but never in an overly demonstrative way; she swings and leans and tilts her body as the situation merits. All in all, she spreads some real joy and feminine charm. She's like the pretty young woman at the family reunion who's only too happy to sit and chat with all the elderly relatives, never flagging in her wholesome good cheer. Ah, a rare vintage indeed, and one to be savored.

So that was Friday. Ms. Tatton hopefully is kicking back with friends celebrating her new-found reporterness. And well she should. We at this site will celebrate it as well.

Fourth time around

2005-08-11T18:41:00.000-07:00

It's time to check in on what's new with the world's greatest internet reporter - heck, greatest anything - Ms. Abbi Tatton. You see, she co-hosts the Inside the Blogs segment, formerly on CNN's Inside Politics, now on CNN's the Situation Room. Apologies to her co-host Jacki, but hey, this is Ms. Tatton's site after all.

We've been tracking the evolution of the segment in its new home, and while on Monday they had 4 segments spread over all three hours, they seem to be slowly settling for two segments in the last two hours, usually starting past the halfway mark. I think that's a good way of doing it since, let's face it, internet-related stories can be hard to come by, unless you're talking about blogs or Amazon.com. Maybe Ms. Tatton will branch out into general correspondence, but perhaps it's not her cup of tea.

So let's get on with it, "it" being relating the highlights of today's show. There was a nice surprise: as I fast-forwarded through my tape looking for the start of the segment, I saw the clear signs of a teaser! Even as a blur, Ms. Tatton stands out. The teaser wasn't even a real one, since host Wolf Blitzer made no mention of it; the camera just panned around and happened to capture Ms. Tatton and Jacki standing there waiting for their turns. Ms. Tatton seemed to be chuckling at something off-camera, then turned and began moving towards where she'd be reporting from. I noticed how slim she looked, and also wondered how much her open-toe platform sandal shoes added to her height. She had her black capri pants, which generally drive me to shame, and did.

After a long piece by Jacki, we got a long intro by Ms. Tatton, which was wonderful. Usually she is relatively brief before going to the screen, but this time she set up the story (Cindy Sheehan) quite extensively. As she was yesterday, she was quite expressive, leaning in towards the camera during one moment, and sticking out a hip in another (oh what a hip). The blogs she cited were Joe Trippi and Michael Moore, both of which were helping Sheehan get out her message. Ms. Tatton also cited Michelle Malkin as a conservative site with another view.

And that was that. But not long after that segment concluded (close to 5), they had another one, at about 5:13. Now that's more like it. And the best thing? This segment was only Ms. Tatton. I'd feel bad that Jacki didn't get one, but she had her own earlier this week. So it was Tatton tv. Actually, I think the whole thing was shorter than Ms. Tatton's intro in the previous segment, but whatever. The topic was the current smog problem in Malaysia. Ms. Tatton showed us Haze Haters in KL, which was organizing an online petition to try to stop the cause of the smog. Now that is some far-afield reporting, I must say. Foreign reporting must be hard enough, what with all the cultural and language differences, but finding a blog is really going the extra mile. Of course, we know not to expect anything less from dear Ms. Tatton. Although I will add that I'm unsure of the necessity of a blog report on that as opposed to another topic, like Palmiero.

So this new portfolio of Ms. Tatton's - that of internet reporting - is working out pretty well. I hope they keep up the political reports (since let's face it, 90% of blogs seem to talk about that), but they also range over whatever areas the internet beat takes them. Seeing more of Ms. Tatton's reports will assuredly be a good thing.

Ok, that's it for today. Tomorrow will mark the conclusion of the first week of the new show; here's hoping Ms. Tatton lets herself celebrate a job well-done.

Three times a lady

2005-08-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

It's the third day of the new CNN show the Situation Room, and we are here to report on the reporters. Specifically, one "internet reporter." He name is Abbi Tatton - have I ever said how I have always liked the name Abbi? It's so pretty; I think it's the "ee" sound at the end, which makes it seem like the familiar form, such as Jimmy or Billy, but it's not, so it combines both formal and informal at once. Sort of like Ms. Tatton herself, who manages to combine a mature feminine professionalism with a girlish joy and brightness, for a positively intoxicating effect. And no, I do not exaggerate in the slightest.

Ms. Tatton participates as a co-host for the Inside the Blogs segment on the show (which initially was called the Situation Online). She and her compatriot Jacki stand by video screens and explain the goings-on in cyberspace. The screens, formerly gigantic, have now been replaced with large but appropiate size versions. Actually, with the two gesticulating towards them, it is vaguely reminiscent of the Barker Beauties from the Price Is Right (although Ms. Tatton is leagues ahead of the lovely Diane et. al.).

One other thing I notice: how to put it? I bet the phrase "What do I do with my hands?" crosses the minds of our erstwhile hosts, as they wait for their respective turns and present their material. There's the "hand by the side" pose, which actually looks fine as long as the entire body isn't wooden - Ronald Reagan was good at it. Then there's the "talk with your hands" or the "hold something" approach. Ms. Tatton seems to favor the former while waiting, and the latter while talking - I guess everyone would for that. And the two have differing approaches to their stance while waiting for their turn, which are emblematic of their personalities. Jacki, who reminds me of a person I know (and gets ascribed her attributes because of it), seems like she'd be more experienced in the affairs of the heart, and chooses a confident forward point of the foot. Ms. Tatton, whose charm is partly derived from the aura she has of being a sweet, innocent type who probably is less lucky in love and just waiting to be swept away, adopts a slightly awkward and therefore endearing lean-on-one-leg-while-the-other-is-slightly-bent pose.

Getting to the important stuff, after a long turn by Jacki, Ms. Tatton switched to the topic of a conservative interest group opposing Roberts. She cited The Blue State, which noted how rare it is for some interest groups to be on the same side, and then displayed her finely-honed sense of symmetry by going to RedState.org, which wondered just who this conservative group was. Ms. Tatton then changed gears, noting how there were lots of stories out there, and, addressing host Wolf Blitzer, said, "I know, Wolf, that you're very interested in how we're finding these stories." Imagine the unadulterated joy of having Ms. Tatton suddenly address you personally. I wonder: "I know, iluvabbitatton, that you're very weird in how you write endlessly about how great I supposedly am." I bet even Ms. Tatton has days when she cuts loose like that to people, and that's fine. Anyway, she let us in on the secret by showing us Patrick Ruffini and his compendium of Roberts stories, with the more popular ones higher up the page. While demonstrating this site, they had a great close-up of her leaning over to press the screen, then straightening and speaking right into the camera. This allowed a view of her necklace (the quest continues). This time, I saw the flat round ornaments, which seemed to be deliberately without pattern, and also the fish-like link I described in an earlier post. The almost-clutter of the necklace is very appealing; such a design conveys a carefree spirit while the material - a very shiny gold, apparently - balances it with an undeniable class, for an overall effect of an cool, arty elegance. In truth I can't find the right words.

Ms. Tatton got to pass it back to Wolf for the first segment. For the second (around 5:40 p.m.), Ms. Tatton was in an exceptionally happy mood, judging by her happy-go-lucky smile. She reported that Microsoft had to pay several million to settle a suit involving spam, and she showed a page from an online auction that AOL was conducting of a spammer's seized assets. It was a nice bit of general internet reporting, not necessarily blog stuff. I expect we'll be seeing more of that.

So it was a pretty good day. I guess they will be doing their reports in the second and third hours; hopefully they'll get to a regular schedule so we'll know when to raise our heads from our desks, gaze off into space wistfully, and sigh at the knowledge that somewhere, people are being cheered by a vision named Ms. Tatton.

Second helping

2005-08-09T18:26:00.000-07:00

It's Day #2 of the new CNN show the Situation Room, and we are here to update about the highlights. How can one tell what the highlights are? Simple: whatever segment includes an appearance by the lovely, talented Ms. Abbi Tatton, newscaster extraordinaire, is by definition a highlight.

Unfortunately, as we'll see, there was only one highlight today. After the more substantive appearances yesterday, which included such favorites as Ms. Tatton answering questions from host Wolf Blitzer and asking them to a blogger (no word if she also has swivel-arm battle grip), she only got one turn today. Perhaps this is the way things will be now: no "set" segment; they'll have more or less depending on the, ahem, "situation." I guess I can go along with that, as long as they are sure to maintain a minimum level of Tattonness. After all, she clearly steals the show whenever she's on camera. Today was definitely a low point in terms of Tatton per minute (Tpm). They need to get back up around the average of Inside Politics, which was probably around - um - well, I'll figure it out later.

So anyway, the segment (which was called Inside the Blogs this time - and the intros are long gone, apparently) was about that mom whose son was killed in Iraq. Ms. Tatton cited Michelle Malkin as an example. She finished by quoting the Vacaville Reporter, which noted that the mom's story hadn't changed, and those who said it did were taking her words out of context.

After Jacki's turn, she got asked a brief question by host Wolf Blitzer, who then said "We'll be checking back with you." Unfortunately, when he did it was only with Jacki, for a blurb about Guiliani. Real fair (nothing against you, Jacki, of course). And since this time Ms. Tatton was described as an "Internet Reporter" (the same as Jacki), there is no reason for it (besides Ms. Tatton's own selflessness, of course). Considering her new title (the second change in as many days), I wonder if more on-air reports are in the offing. Definitely something to look forward to. And since today they had the transcripts, I'll be able to find them should they be there.

By the way, Ms. Tatton again had what appeared to be her great new necklace. The camera shots were pretty far away, but you could see reflections from some flat round discs around her neck. Quite flattering, as was her tan ankle-length skirt that brought the words "mademoiselle" and "fraulein" to my mind. I also have noticed some guy standing between Wolf Blitzer and the cameraman, who looks like he's just standing there. Is he the studio security? Is his job to intercede should anyone in the audience leap up and attempt to deliver a bouquet of roses and a note that was agonized over to Ms. Tatton? I can see it clearly: the guard pins the interloper as he shouts, "Abbi! Abbi! Be mine!" while Ms. Tatton shakes her finger in a scolding motion.

Well, the first day things were so new it was hard to know quite what to think, and today was too brief. Hopefully tomorrow I will be getting used to the new format and be able to appreciate Ms. Tatton's appearances without distraction. Tune in then - I sure as heck will be.

I just stopped in to see what situation the Situation Room was in

2005-08-08T19:22:00.000-07:00

Big day today: it's the first time updating on CNN's new show the Situation Room. Why do we care, you ask? Because buried within the 3 hour show is the most exquisite jewel of a newscaster named Abbi Tatton. She had been co-hosting the Inside the Blogs segment on the previous show Inside Politics, and now she will be continuing in a similar role on the Situation Room.

I mist say I was a tad annoyed to find they did not publish the transcript of the show, which would have helped locate said jewel's appearances. So I had to zip through the tape till I found them. I had located three spots in the final two hours when I decided I might as well check the first hour, even though I was sure there wouldn't be any. But guess what? There was, causing me to exclaim "Good Lord!" at the munificence of 4 whole appearances by Ms. Tatton in one day.

So let's get to them. The anchor Wolf Blitzer announced the segment, around 3:40 p.m., called the Situation Online. Then he handed it to Ms. Tatton and her erstwhile cohort Jacki. The biggest change from the old show was obvious: the co-hosts stand next to giant screens and point to them as they talk. "They're standing?!?" I exclaimed. The topic was the grieving mother who was protesting the Iraq war. Ms. Tatton balanced Jacki's report of the mother with a cite of Sgt. C. J. Grisham (I think this is the link) and his open letter to her. Ms. Tatton was wearing her necklace with the squarish ornament, and when they were about to cut away, she could be seen twisting her right foot up on her toes and tilting her head to the right, looking ever so sweetly demure.

At 4:19 there was the second segment. This time the topic was Pirro running against Clinton. Ms. Tatton got to go first this time, showing us Fresh Politics and PoliBlog as supporters of Pirro. When the segment was done, Wolf Blitzer thanked the "guys." Also, here I realized why they were having so many segments: each one appeared to be exceedingly brief - both Ms. Tatton and Jacki got about one turn each.

At 4:57 came #3, about Peter Jennings. This time (and only this time) the segment was called Inside the Blogs. Ms. Tatton quoted Wizbang and FishbowlDC as sites, media and non-media, that were paying tribute. She also noted that the latter had posted on Saturday asking for prayers for Jennings, suggesting they were privy to some of the rumors that she said had been circulating. After Jacki's turn, Wolf engaged the two in questioning. He basically asked Ms. Tatton another version of the question he'd just asked Jacki: what do hits on a website really mean? Ms. Tatton replied that they could just be someone clicking on a site "many many times", but they were counters to show how much traffic a site got, and she used Daily Kos as an example. Well done! By the way, I have never repeatedly clicked on this site, although I have occasionally checked back on it 4 or 5 times in one day.

At 5:46 came the final round. This time they began by explaining what a webshot was, then Ms. Tatton turned and began interviewing a Japanese blogger. "They're doing interviews!?!" I exclaimed. Ms. Tatton noted that with webshots they could "talk to people in their homes" - who wouldn't want to let Ms. Tatton into their home? She then asked Joichi Ito if what he said about Japanese being slightly uncomfortable with the whole atomic bomb remembrances was true. He answered that many Japanese saw it only as a historical event with no connection to them personally. During this segment I also noted her title was "Internet Producer" instead of "Political Producer."

So that was the format of the new segments. I somehow feel like I shouldn't but I will weigh in on what I thought (and Ms. Tatton, if I wonder about something that was your doing, I apologize for my cluelessness in advance). I must say it was striking to see Ms. Tatton standing, and standing there gesturing to the giant screen, and then taking and asking questions. This new gig clearly requires more substantive screen time, and that's great. There were some great shots of Ms. Tatton standing there. But I do think they could let them sit down; otherwise, they'll look like two students giving oral reports in history class. And I'm not sure the web is newsworthy enough to keep going back to it, even if only for little snippets; the way they did it before with two segments of several turns each was a good approach. Of course, I'll look at Ms. Tatton no matter what she's doing, and for however long they like. What do I know anyway? By the way, there were no teasers that I saw; I guess we get enough "at ease" views of Ms. Tatton as she waits for her turn to speak.

The show itself looked ok, from what I saw as I fast-forwarded. Again, there seemed to be a lot of standing going on in the show; what happened to anchor desks? Also, does anyone else think Jack Cafferty reminds them of that overdue library book cop from that episode of Seinfeld? I remember his name was Bookman.

Well, those are my first impressions. I'm sure the show will evolve slightly as it goes along, and I'll be sure to track all Tatton-related evolving faithfully. Hey, it's what I do.

There she is, Miss CNN

2005-08-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

This is something I just couldn't wait to post about, so I'm not. It seems some bright person at mediabistro had the idea to hold a contest for "Hottest Female On-Airs" (as in newscasters). Obviously, Ms. Tatton, co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on the late, great CNN show Inside Politics, had to be included, and she was. Unfortunately for Ms. Tatton's vast fandom, the poll closed shortly after I posted the link. Curse this inferior posting of mine! So the results are in, and our dear Ms. Tatton placed 4th. Which upon closer look, is really quite respectable. You see, the top three finishers were from the Big 3 networks ABC, CBS, and NBC, but Ms. Tatton beat everyone else. Also, there were a whopping 4 entries from CNN, which surely split their in-house vote; all the other organizations only had one entry except ABC, which had just two. If the CNN people had been able to vote as a block, their votes would have totalled 18%, or second place. So Abbi, the dice was loaded from the start. Not to mention the suspiciously numerous votes of the winner; methinks an in-house e-mail directing employees to vote might have been sent to "protect the brand name." So I say: not too "shabbi", especially since it's only been a short while that she's been reporting. So let me make it official and crown Ms. Tatton "Miss CNN." She gets a company apartment and car, and has to tour news bureaus the world over, and Ted Turner is hoping for a dinner date.

In other news, I somehow forgot to mention in yesterday's post that on Friday, Ms. Tatton again displayed the necklace that I am obsessed with describing properly. You may recall my earlier pathetic attempts at capturing its lustre (not unlike my pathetic attempts to capture Ms. Tatton's). Friday it was even more difficult, due to the fact that Ms. Tatton wore a red vest-top that had a very tight V opening by the neck, barely allowing any viewing of said necklace. From what I saw of it, it looked like only one strand, not two (but maybe they were just bunched together), and this time there were indeed ornaments strung around it, although not necessarily in pairs like before. What with the reflections from the klieg lights and its hiding behind her collar, it was well-nigh impossible to get much of a look. Better luck next time, I guess.

Last of the summer wine

2005-08-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

This is a very special post today: it's the last ever update on the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics. Why? No, not because I have decided to call it a day, but because Inside Politics has. Yes, it seems Friday was the last episode of Inside Politics, soon to be replaced by the Situation Room (which I incorrectly called the Security Council in an earlier post). There have been assurances that the blogger coverage which they had been doing will continue, but since I don't know the exact format, I guess I'll be taping the entire show for the first few days until I figure out the new format. Of course, I couldn't care less if blogger coverage continued; I just want to make sure one particular person keeps doing coverage. Hint: her name is written above. You see, Ms. Tatton, who until recently co-hosted the Inside the Blogs segment on Inside Politics, is pretty nifty. I know I'm not the only one who thinks so.

So let's get to the last-ever update, and see what we find. It seems there were two teasers on Friday. The first, shot from the other side of the room apparently, showed Ms. Tatton glancing in the direction of the camera and laying what looked like a pen to her mouth. Oh, that I might be that pen, that I might touch that mouth! Hey, that's a pretty good line; I'll have to remember it and maybe use it like a poem or something. The second teaser showed her resting her elbows (oh, that I might be - ok, I'll cut it out now) on the table, then sitting back nodding at something her co-host Jacki said. Sure, some people might wonder why I spend time describing all this, since very little ever happens in the teasers, but Ms. Tatton is such a beguiling figure that the teasers are some of the best parts of the show. You should see the funk I go into when I realize my tape recording missed one.

On to the main segment. After the new intro, they turned to the proposal to rename 16th Street after Ronald Reagan. Ms. Tatton quoted TPMCafe saying it was stupid and lamenting that DC had to rely on some other representative to help them. She also read from The Corner, which said the idea was one of government highhandness.

After Jacki's brief turn on the same subject, the two moved to a new topic with the help of the following colloquy, taken from the transcripts:

TATTON: But there was -- wasn't there something else we were going to talk about?SCHECHNER: No. TATTON: We were. There was something yesterday that happened. SCHECHNER: Gosh, what was that? TATTON: What was that? SCHECHNER: Oh, the Novak incident. You didn't think that we were not going to actually talk about it, did you? We are going to.

During this, Ms. Tatton laid her chin upon her left hand in mock wonderment at what that subject could have been, with matching bewilderment in her voice. I think she might have a career as an actress. Tell Julia Roberts to hit the road. All in all, it's obviously more evidence of Ms. Tatton's fun side. Quite a gal. And to top it all off, when Jacki continued speaking, we got to see a sultry sight: Ms. Tatton running her hand through her hair. Talk about going out with a bang.

She used her next turn to note how Crooks and Liars had put up videos of the incident and had gotten a very high volume of traffic for them. In her last ever (EVER!) turn on Inside Politics, Ms. Tatton explained that, as some bloggers had postulated, it was indeed a copy of Who's Who in America on the desk on the fateful day, waiting to be referred to.

Host Candy Crowley, who I hope gets a prominent role in whatever new format they have, said at the end of the segment, "Talk to you later." But it was not to be. There was only one segment Friday; the last few minutes were devoted to a look back (briefly) at the show's history and an explanation of the upcoming new show.

So we'll have to wait and see how things go. I'm sure CNN will know enough not to be stingy with their prize talent. So I'm pretty unconcerned about getting a good Abbi fix. It's been fun updating about Inside Politics; here's to having fun updating about the Security Council. See you then.

Vote for Abbi

2005-08-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

I hadn't checked my e-mail for this account in a while, but I did Friday afternoon, and lo and behold, I received a notice on Wednesday about an online poll of "Hottest On-Airs" (among other categories), with hometown fave Ms. Abbi Tatton a contender. The poll is at mediabistro, down the page a bit; this link right to it may work as well. You and your friends should definitely go there and start voting. Ms. Tatton's honor is at stake! I can't quite tell when or if the poll is over, but should it turn out that she does not finish first, we can console ourselves that she will always finish first in our hearts. But you should still vote for her.

P.S. Thanks for that e-mail!

Clearing my inbox

2005-08-06T18:49:00.000-07:00

You've come to the sweetest place on earth: no, not Hershey, Pennsylvania. It's the site devoted to endlessly going on about how great a certain newscaster is. Her name? Ms. Abbi Tatton. She co-hosts the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics, and she's pretty special.

Unfortunately, as I have been explaining, I have been unable to do up-to-the-minute posts this week. I am wailing and lamenting, I assure you. Yes, I know some of you are tapping your foot and wondering why you should keep tuning in here. I can hear it now: "Tsk tsk - you know, the site Abbi Tatton Rulez doesn't miss days!" Well, those bastards at that site wouldn't know a quality post if it bit them. Sure, I sometimes take a while, but my posts are infinitely richer and more expressive of Ms. Tatton's charms.

So let's get to posting. In case you have lost track, I'm on Wednesday's show. That day, the first teaser was a pan around the back of Jacki. The second showed Ms. Tatton apparently taking some last minute notes. After the old intro, the show got to the topic of the Ohio special election. Ms. Tatton, looking utterly regal in purple, noted MyDD and its suggestion that the defeated Democratic candidate run for governor or senator. She then turned to RedState.org, which noted that despite all the money raised by bloggers, all their candidates had lost. Ms. Tatton concluded with another posting on the same site, which urged the Ohio GOP to "wake up." In her next turn, the topic was the rapid growth of the blogosphere. She highlighted Technorati, which tracks the exponential growth.

The teaser for the second segment was an under-the-table shot up at the two co-hosts. The topic was a blogger from Iraq who had been killed named Stephen Vincent. Ms. Tatton directed viewers to his blog, In the Red Zone, and also to Chrenkoff, who praised the reporting he had been doing.

The segment concluded, as had the first one, with host Joe Johns thanking the "guys." Get your eyes checked, pal.

On to Thursday. I missed the first (and apparently only) teaser - stupid, stupid! The segment started after another report, instead of right after a commercial like usual. They showed the original intro (the one with the eye); the topic was Roberts. Ms. Tatton, looking cute in baby blue, showed Ruffini and its aggregator of Roberts-related stories. Then she turned to the story about Roberts giving help to a gay rights group, noting Malcontent's comments, then introducing one, saying, "This one I love: 'Not only did he help us out, he helped us out for free.' " Oh really? You love it? Tell us, what else do you love?

Her next turn continued the storyline. She quoted Pejmanesque saying it showed he (Roberts) had a fair mind, and Ezra Klein saying his good judgment must have won out over his convictions. Ms. Tatton's third crack at the bat was devoted to Katherine Harris complaining about her photo retouching (no photo of Ms. Tatton would ever need to be retouched, and no amount of retouching could make her look bad). By the way, this was where Jacki, the co-host, made the comment about loving a good visual that I used for a post title last time. Anyway, said Ms. Tatton (who makes a great visual) displayed Zenyenta and its demand that the media stop retouching Harris's photo, and also quit putting "that ridiculous mustache on John Bolton." Then she handed it back to host Ed Henry.

The teaser for the second segment showed Ms. Tatton clearly grinning, perhaps at the newsworthiness of what had transpired immediately before. Jacki alluded to it by saying as the segment began (after the new intro), "We know exactly what bloggers are going to be talking about just a few minutes from now." When I saw this Thursday night, I had no idea what she was talking about; Friday I learned it referred to Bob Novak storming off the set in the segment immediately preceding theirs. Wait till I get to Friday's post for more.

The topic of this segment was a suit for libel against an anonymous blogger. Ms. Tatton quoted the Electronic Frontier Foundation and its argument that free speech had always included anonymous speakers. Ms. Tatton then cited the Smyrna/Clayton Issues Blog (the one involved in the suit), noting one poster's argument that the person allegedly libeled had privacy rights.

So that's this site's first double post (at least that I can remember). I'll get to Friday's show, the last ever of Inside Politics, tomorrow. Thanks for being such a patient audience. Drive home safely.

We love a good visual

2005-08-04T19:10:00.000-07:00

It was promised, and here it is: finally, this is a fresh post here on the leading fansite for Ms. Abbi Tatton, who is a co-host on CNN's show Inside Politics (technically, she's a co-host of a segment on the show, which is called Inside the Blogs). You should make an effort to watch if you don't already; she's worth a missed phone call or two.

So it has been kinda a while since I have been able to update, which I'm deeply embarassed about. Were I cooking a big dinner for Ms. Tatton, I'd end up burning it or something. But I do my best; that is all one can ask.

So let's down to it: first up is Monday's segment [I may not get through all three days in one sitting so bear with me]. The first teaser was a shot of their desk - we got an extreme close-up of co-host Jacki's hand. The camera in the second teaser swung around behind Ms. Tatton, allowing for a view of her shoe bottom - how nice it must feel to have her walk on one's back.

The segment proper got underway and, as I mentioned earlier, Ms. Tatton was wearing what seemed to be the same necklace I remarked upon last week. But this time it seemed different. You will recall I described it before as having two matched flat circular gold ornaments arrayed along two concentric gold chains, with the top center ornament bigger than the others. This time, that bigger ornament looked in the same place, but the others were gone. The chains, which I guessed must join up in a clasp in back, now looked suffiently un-concentric that I think it must just be one long chain doubled over. Also, the chain itself did not look like a simple band: I thought I saw a pattern (forgive me) like those fish decorations people put on their bumpers. I mean, there were symmetric arcs, one on top and one on bottom, that seemed to form part of the chain. Hopefully I described it enough to enable you to figure out what it was like. Anyway, so I speculate that the ornaments must have been removable. Either that, or Ms. Tatton couldn't make up her mind and her beau bought her two similar necklaces, both of which are very flattering. Also flattering: the close-ups of her that allowed for views of her pretty eyes (which I'm still 85% sure are green).

The substance of the first segment dealt with the Bolton appointment (seems so long ago Abbi). Ms. Tatton quoted Roger L. Simon as saying the U.N. needs some rudeness, and noted conservatives like Outside the Beltway and Poliblogger who think Bolton is a mistake and too tarnished now. In her next turn, she quoted liberal The Washington Note saying that at least liberals came together and showed Bush wasn't omnipotent.

The teaser for the second segment showed Ms. Tatton tidying up her desk area - what a neat gal. When they came back, the center ornament on her necklace had moved to the bottom chain - maybe she was playing with it during the commercial break and daydreaming about the wonderful circumstances by which she was given it.

The second topic was making dough on your blog, and Ms. Tatton cited BlogAds, Roger L. Simon (again), and Crooks and Liars as having thoughts on how to make money blogging, although the last site warned it's "not making a living." During this bit, we got another to-die-for glimpse of the unscripted side of Ms. Tatton, when the last site took a while to download. She dealt smoothly with the delay, pointing and saying cheerily, "Sometimes it takes a little longer!" As always, the glimpse showed her bouyant personality, even in that brief second.

Well, that was Monday's show. Tuesday's transcript is linked in a post below, so you can do-it-yourself (that will help you appreciate things a little more). By the way, today's title comes from a comment Jacki made during today's show, which I'd like to get to but it's too hot and I'm too tired (get ready to throw something).

Yes, I won't be getting to the other two posts today, nor tomorrow. Seems we're heading to some mega-complex out in the 'burbs that offers lots of games to play. By the time I get back, I won't be feeling like posting. Sorry. Actually, I think the whole thing is sort of humorous - who knew I'd miss out on virtually the whole week?

Tomorrow, if I'm not mistaken, is the last episode of Inside Politics, since the Security Council show starts on the 8th. So I'll be sure to pay suitable tribute to it when I finally get to that post (which should be Saturday sometime). Until then, true believers, keep the faith.

Guess what I didn't get a chance to do?

2005-08-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

You guessed it: if you tuned in to find the latest update on Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics and general wunderkind of the broadcasting world, it ain't here. For the third time this week, I wasn't able to post. Pretty poor effort, huh? I know what you're thinking - Sasha Johnson's blogger doesn't miss three whole days in a row. Well, Ms. Tatton is a rarer, more delicate bird, and while it can be more frustrating to pursue, it is also more rewarding when sighted. Besides, it seems I was invited to spend time with people playing board games - very wholesome, huh? And since I got home late, I guess I'll have to wait yet another day to post. By the time I finally do, there'll be three, count 'em, three days' worth of material stacked up (I'm gonna let the link to Tuesday's transcripts suffice for that day). A triple posting? It might be too much to handle, but I'll try. Just thinking of all that Tattoniciousness is overwhelming.

Bad mood edition

2005-08-02T19:23:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the site dedicated to the one and only Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics. That's the good news.

The bad news is the grumpy mood I am in. Here's a tip: don't eat at Grillfish. We ordered from there and not only did they screw up half the orders, there was a live bug in one of the salads. If you are the beau of Ms. Abbi Tatton, and Friday night she says she feels like eating out, don't take her there.

Then while I was reading the transcripts of the show, a creeping feeling of dread began to come over me. I realized that I had not set the VCR to record the segment. I clung to the hope that setting it had been so mechanical that it didn't register. It happens; sometimes in the shower, I can't remember if I've already washed my hair or not. Anyway, upon coming home (an hour and a half late due to above-named restaurant), I discovered it was indeed true. Stunningly, I had forgotten. Guess it at least shows I don't have as much trouble thinking of other things as I say I do.

So what could I have missed? Why do I get the awful sensation that today was the day Ms. Tatton decided to try out a shoulder-baring top? Or playfully kicked out her legs toward the camera? Or winked knowingly at said camera, as if for some in-joke with the whole national audience? There's so many fascinating things about her; even just seeing her spin a pen between her pretty fingers would have been a treat, and it burns not to be treated.

So out of pure spite at the parade of irritations, I am not posting about yesterday or today. Well, being tired has something to do with it. Ok, since Ms. Tatton surely would never do anything in spite, I guess I could link to the CNN transcripts for today, since that's the best I'll ever do of knowing what it was like. Here you go - be forewarned: it cuts off two-thirds of the way through. So the second segment is forever lost. How sad. Today has not gone well, huh? But with Ms. Tatton in the world, one can always look forward to tomorrow, and another day knowing that beauty and grace still survive. That is more than enough to brighten any bad mood. See you tomorrow (with two postings).

The waiting is the hardest part

2005-08-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

So sorry to have to do this, but I'm going to have to postpone today's post till tomorrow, due to a heavier-than-expected workload. A post about the dear Ms. Abbi Tatton demands full attention and space to allow for full consideration of all salient details. I will wait until I can dedicate the time to do just that.

However, since I couldn't resist running through the show once (hey, I have so little else), I'll give a little teaser - and why not, since they do it to us? Ms. Tatton wore her new necklace again! Woo-hoo! And I apparently got the description of it wrong in some notable ways, judging by the way it looked today. Either that, or she has yet another one, which is entirely possible. I know if I were her beau, I'd be showering her with gifts. Who wouldn't?

So tomorrow I'll have a double post - it should be good. See you then.

A happy medium

2005-07-31T10:47:00.000-07:00

Aficionados of Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of Inside the Blogs, which appears within CNN's Inside Politics around 4:25 and 4:55 p.m. weekdays, will know, if they've read along with my attempts at maintaining a fan site, that my approach to posting has changed since I first began.

At first I tried, with varying success, to describe in full detail (as best as I could get it) what Ms. Tatton wore during the daily segments. These posts often consisted of me attempting to describe the spread of her collar, or the angle of the cut of her vest top, and frequently included noting whether her sleeves were full- or half-length.

Then I decided that I was giving short shrift to Ms. Tatton's hard work, by paying such detail to her (admittedly hard-to-ignore) looks. So I embarked on a regimen of leaving off all mention of appearances, in order to draw attention to the material Ms. Tatton was trying to draw attention to. I knew, as I let on at the time, that it was a debatable thing to do (the reasons for which I'm getting to).

After being interrupted by some tech problems, I got back on track, and have eschewed the kind of discussions of clothing that I previously indulged in. However, I have occasionally noted things that were, well, notable. So that's where things stand as of now.

So I finally want to express what I had occasionally alluded to before, when I said the whole "no paying attention to looks" would be a temporary experiment. You see, Ms. Tatton's extreme good looks are as much a part of her as is her dedication to providing cutting-edge, incisive reporting on the blogosphere. Treating those looks as if they are something to be ashamed of or embarrassed about does a tremendous disservice to Ms. Tatton. The truth is, Ms. Tatton is the compleat woman: one who can knock your socks off with her excellence at her chosen craft (and Ms. Tatton sets the standard for hers), all while managing to look effortlessly flawless. By not recognizing that, I failed to pay tribute to the infinite richness of her charms, and I regret that.

So it is that I have found a happy medium. Gone are the days of focusing only on what she says (actually, I've let things slip out in the recent weeks already). But there won't be a return to the in-depth (amateurish) attempts at describing her wardrobe. That must have been mortifying; I know I would be mortified if someone kept track of what I wore everyday (I wish I were a superhero so I could get away with the same outfit all the time).

So from now on, I'll mention notable things that happen during the teasers, I'll describe what Ms. Tatton discussed during her turns in the segments, I'll mention if she appears to be wearing something especially attractive or new; but otherwise I'll leave off the full fashion reports. What will these posts be like? Well, I've basically been doing it like this for the past week or two, so hopefully that will be satisfying enough.

Perhaps it is strange to spend so much time weighing the proper way to post about Ms. Tatton. But Ms. Tatton is to women what Shakespeare is to playwrights: she's worthy of the highest form of consideration, and deserves nothing but the most appropriate methods of attention. So all this hand-wringing is entirely in order.

Hopefully I have found the right formula. I guess the only way to know is to keep testing it out. What a happy duty that is...

Utterly Regal Loveliness

2005-07-30T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello, you're at the site that has the good sense to devote itself to praise of Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment (which appears within the CNN show Inside Politics). Since Ms. Tatton deals with URLs as her stock-in-trade, I was inspired to come up with this post's title, which fits her to a "T."

My apologies for the post being a day late; I went to a crab shack with some friends last night. Sitting there, I pondered what sort of places Ms. Tatton might get taken by her (speculatively existent) beau. She doesn't seem like the type to complain about how "smelly" and "gross" a crab place is; she generally seems very down-to-earth and no doubt lots of fun. I could picture her whooping it up while slamming the mallet onto some shell. But it was just a momentary diversion.

I also had a somewhat surprising thing happen: I completely forgot to look at the transcripts from the show when they came up (which I do since I can't stand waiting till I get home and watching the tapes). This reassured me that maybe I wasn't having so much trouble paying attention to work as I'd thought.

Sadly, I missed the first teaser. I have to push back my "start record" time. For some reason I keep picturing Ms. Tatton tossing her head back as if looking behind her, with her hair swinging around like some shampoo commercial (quite an evocative way of putting it, huh?). But it probably just showed her clicking away on her mouse. The second teaser showed her sitting nonchalantly with arms semi-crossed, before zooming in on the table's logo, allowing views of Ms. Tatton's dainty foot and crisply white skirt edge.

The topic started on John Bolton. Ms. Tatton noted the whole recess appointment rumor and cited Dr. Steven Taylor and Outside the Beltway as conservative bloggers who suggested that Bolton might be damaged goods and perhaps should be withdrawn. For her next turn, Ms. Tatton switched to the London raids, quoting My Alter Ego, who managed to live next door to one of the places being raided.

The teaser for the second part of the segment was a rather faraway camera shot, and also one at a Batmanesque tilt. The tilt continued for Ms. Tatton's introduction, confirming what I had suspected: Ms. Tatton looks cute slanted as well. She continued the theme (started by co-host Jacki) of Air America's funding issues with Boy Scout money, citing Michelle Malkin and Daily Kos and their links to Air America's statements about it. Then it was over.

It's so nice to have 5 days of good, solid shows to write about. We need our Abbi fix, after all. And Abbi (excuse me - Ms. Tatton) fixes all.

I gotta say it was a good day

2005-07-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

It's time again for the Wonderful World of Abbi Tatton. For those of you airheads, Ms. Tatton is the co-host of the segment Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics, and she's something to see. You should tune in. Seeing Ms. Tatton now is like listening to Edward R. Murrow during the Blitz. Some day, you can pull your grandchildren up on your knee and say, "I used to watch her back when she hosted that show about blogs!" And the wee ones will say, "Ooooo!"

Today was an especially notable day, the reason for which I'll get to in a minute. But first the teasers. The first one showed Ms. Tatton apparently telling her co-host Jacki something, causing Jacki to look up from studying her notes. Must have been interesting - of course, anything Ms. Tatton says is. The second teaser showed her adjusting her white binder while again chatting. I wish I could read lips - I so want to know what they talk about as the camera pans around them.

The segment got underway shortly thereafter (here comes the reason why today was notable). I was distractedly lounging and watching the tape when I saw something that literally made me leap up: Ms. Tatton had a new necklace on! Now that is what I call an interesting development. It was hard to see at first, but thanks to some extreme close-ups, I managed to get a fairly good view of it. It was gold, first of all, and looked wonderful lying on top of her wonderfully toned skin. At first I thought it was a long chain that was doubled over, like a big strand of pearls, but it was too perfectly ringed around her neck. Ok - it was made of two concentric bands - they were sparkly but looked like bands and not chains or links or somesuch. But they had some kind of divisions or joints in them to give them the sparkly effect, depending on which parts caught the light. The bands had flat circular ornaments (also gold) on them: two grouped together, one on top of the other (one on each row). The groupings were spaced along the bands somewhat closely: the center ones right in the middle of her chest, and two more just by the right edge of her blouse (I'm assuming the same for the left side but it was more hidden). The ornaments were flat against her skin, and the top center one appeared slightly larger and entirely smooth (perhaps engraved?). The one below it, and the ones in the other groupings, were smaller (a little) and appeared to have some kind of divot or ornamental indentation in the centers. They gleamed very well, and gave off an exquisite light. The piece was quite nice, all around. I wonder what the story behind it is. It's certainly not any stretch to suppose Ms. Tatton had some beau give it to her as a special gift: perhaps for the summer solstice? It's excuse enough. Imagine how lucky it would be to get to give a gift like that to someone like her. Talk about enjoying spending your money. That would be the nicest feeling in the world. It's depressing thinking that some other guy (maybe) gets to do it, but the warm glow it gave off is still too strong for anything other than warm thoughts.

I know I said I wouldn't do this (and I'll have something to say about that soon), but I couldn't help noticing Ms. Tatton and Jacki dressed similarly today: similar blouses and with necklaces. Like stylish bookends.

Ok - the segment started about the Rove story. Ms. Tatton noted all the different foci of attention, landing on Judith Miller. She quoted AcePilots and its noting of a post on the Huffington Post that rounded up a lot of the story's threads. For her next turn, Ms. Tatton turned to the Roberts storyline, showing the Democratic website where one can submit questions for the nominee. Then Ms. Tatton wrapped up her turn by speaking into the camera again, before turning off to her right to hand it back to host Ed Henry; the effect, enhanced by the close-in view, was of her talking directly to you and suddenly calling off to a friend in the kitchen, as if to tell him to bring her a drink.

The third teaser had Ms. Tatton seeming to have a good chuckle at something; Jacki must be a funny gal. The second segment was about the Boy Scout jamboree that had such bad luck (as a former troop leader and attendee at a jamboree, I empathized). Ms. Tatton cited Emeritbadges and its description that "nothing went as planned." And that was it for the day.

All in all, quite a good day, wouldn't you say? Tomorrow should be pretty mellow, I suspect. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Buh-bye.

While the sun beats down...

2005-07-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

Wlcome to the 98 degree edition of this blog. Yes, it was pretty warm today, but that won't stop us from posting yet another update on everyone's favorite newscaster, Ms. Abbi Tatton. She co-hosts this nifty segment called Inside the Blogs, which appears daily on CNN's Inside Politics. You should tune in. It's the thing to see.

So without further ado, here's what today's segment was like (you see, I do these synopses to make sure all of Ms. Tatton's charms are properly appreciated). The first segment showed Ms. Tatton in a heretofore unseen pose (at least as far as I can remember): sitting with her arms crossed. She gave off the aura of someone who was totally and utterly prepared for whatever was next and was simply waiting for whatever it was to get started. The second teaser was not much, since the camera zoomed in on the logo at the base of the hosts' table. Once underway, Ms. Tatton addressed two small stories connected with the larger Rove scandal; one, noted by The Stakeholder (the DCCC's blog), was Rove's (and other senior White House staffers') pay raise. Ms. Tatton said they'd suggested he'd need it for legal bills. The other story, raised by Power Line, was Plame's contribution to a liberal group. Ms. Tatton then switched over to Washington Monthly, which suggested there was a Republican PR effort to lessen the seriousness of outing a covert officer.

The third teaser (for the second part of the segment) showed the two hosts sitting languidly (it looked like co-host Jacki was slumped in her chair). Must have been the heat - it took me an hour to cool off after going out. The camera again zoomed in on the logo, but this time there was a slight view of Ms. Tatton's lower calf, looking very well-sculpted. The new intro did not appear today. Once into it, Ms. Tatton continued the theme of bloggers trying to raise awareness of a missing person case. She spotlit (spotlighted?) All Spin Zone and during both turns detailed its efforts to get the word out (and to raise money) on Latoyia Figueroa, who is 5 months pregnant and has been missing from Philadelphia for 8 days. At the end of her turn, Ms. Tatton did another thing I'd never seen before: speak directly into the camera for the last bit of her comments, before handing it off to host Lisa Sylvester (who also was speaking into Inside Politics' cameras for the first time). It was a pleasantly striking way to conclude, particurly since Ms. Tatton is so striking in general. During one close-up, I noticed she has the cutest little brown freckle on her neck. I think it's properly called a beauty spot. Lord knows it has worked on her.

Hopefully tomorrow will be less hot. But the ardor I have for the ways of Ms. Tatton could never cool. See you manana.

In the bright glow

2005-07-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, today was hot, but that's not the bright glow I'm talking about. I refer to the radiant beauty who co-hosts the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's show Inside Politics. Her name is Abbi Tatton. Just saying it feels like blasphemy, like her name is so divine it should not be typed by crude people such as I. Ah, I fear I break that protocol endlessly with my blogging. I'm like a simple peasant tracking mud into a country estate while trying to present a humble gift of some homegrown vegetables; surely the lady of the house will pity me. My heart is in the right place, isn't it?

Once again today I missed the first teaser (assuming they showed Ms. Tatton). I wonder what glimpse I missed. I picture Ms. Tatton, just ascending her chair, looking back and placing her hand in front of her mouth, to cover a girlish laugh at some unseen joke involving an out-of-sight cameraman. The truth will remain hidden from me. The second teaser showed her and co-host Jacki busily moving the mouse and pulling up sites in anticipation.

The first topic of the first segment was the special election in Ohio. Ms. Tatton noted blogger efforts (such as fundraising) to help out the Democratic candidate, citing Swing State Project, Act Blue, and Atrios. She also quoted MyDD's exhortation that such activity must be continued in the future with other races. Then it was Jacki's turn, during which we got more shots of Ms. Tatton's notecards. They appear to be handwritten, in exceptionally neat writing. Ms. Tatton clearly got an A in Penmanship. For her next turn, she noted Mitt Romney's statements regarding his beliefs, noting The Corner for its comments. For her third and last turn in the first segment, Ms. Tatton further cited Patrick Ruffini on the whole Romney candidacy thing.

For the second segment (which was preceded by the new intro), Ms. Tatton, while being introduced, gave an very bright smile and nod. She apparently was in a good mood, and trust me, it was contagious, even on a videotape. She quoted Think Progress's assertion that Lance Armstrong was "left," and MyDD (again) saying he could run for senator. Shethen added some brief commentary and background about the topic, all with a noticeably playful expressiveness (with head turns, eyes widening, and big smiles all) that was very beguiling. Something must have put Ms. Tatton in a fun mood - perhaps a cameraman told her a joke. Here's another one: What kind of coffee did they serve on the Titanic? Sanka.

Thanks for stopping by. Remember: my work is your play.

Ray of sunlight

2005-07-25T19:01:00.000-07:00

Hi there, and welcome to this nifty little shrine to a certain newscaster named Abbi Tatton. She co-hosts the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics, and the conventional wisdom is that she's amazing. So let's get to admiring.

Today I missed the first teaser (I assume they had one - they usually do), but the second one just showed Ms. Tatton and her partner-in-crime (co-host Jacki) talking, as is their wont. I wonder what they discuss. Hmm, let's imagine....

"I thought I'd cover the first two blogs, and then you could switch over to the next topic."
"How about if we each take one side of the story? That way it will dramatize the dichotomy that is inherent in the story."
"Great idea!"

"Oh no! Here comes the camera again! Quick - does my hair look ok?"
"It looks great - I just hope I don't burst out laughing when I have to read that guy's URL!"
"You're awful! Hee-hee!"

I'm sure that is pretty much what their conversation is like, but I guess only they know for sure.

Ms. Tatton had a new top today; it was a real blue, maybe deep blue (if I knew what that was exactly). With her white pants, I imagined her heading out on a sailing excursion. She and Jacki getting taken out by their beaus, two tools who wear Tevas and knit sweaters tied around their necks. Arrrrghh. But the top looked good. Imagine being the one who gets to buy gifts of clothing for Ms. Tatton? How much of an honor would it be to have your credit card loaded up with purchases for her? And this time, I'm not kidding. One other thing: Ms. Tatton's arms seemed a little more tan than usual - could she have spent the weekend laying out, perhaps on some boat? I'm not going to go down that path though, since just the idea of Ms. Tatton sunbathing is more than I can safely handle. I have enough trouble concentrating on my work as it is.

So the first topic tackled was Roberts's Federalist membership. Ms. Tatton quoted Corrente's point that if they were evasive on a simple thing like this, then it didn't bode well for larger things. But she then noted Washington Monthly's dismissal of the issue as minor. Lastly she quoted Pejmanesque's saying of the issue, in effect, "Is that all?" She handed it back to Jacki with a wry smile, noting how liberal and conservative bloggers agreeing "doesn't always happen." Great smile, that. In her next turn, she noted the several topics out there, choosing the union breakaways. She highlighted Central NY Labor Federation and their reactions, from "somber" to "shock." Here there was another of her asides: after giving the long URL, she said with good-natured skepticism, "We'll see if that one makes the transcripts." Nice to see that she is plugged in enough to check on the transcript accuracy. What a consummate professional. I bet Ms. Tatton knows which kind of doughnut every member of the crew prefers and makes sure they have them. That is one of a producer's tasks, right? During Jacki's turn, Ms. Tatton could be seen straightening in her chair; what graceful poise she has. For her last turn, she read Daily Kos's suggestion that the union breakup would reinvigorate the labor movement.

During the teaser for the second segment, Ms. Tatton suddenly looked down and seemed to adjust her microphone (clipped to the edge of her top) for the briefest instant. It was a nicely unstuffy thing to see, which agreed with the informal aspect of much of the material Ms. Tatton covers in the segment.

During her only turn in the second segment, Ms. Tatton mentioned Michelle Malkin on the topic of the PA Lt. Gov.'s funeral attendance.

Quite a fun day; a veritable ray of light (not that today needed any more of those - whew!). Ms. Tatton is so sweet and cheery - it brightens one's day just watching her. Thank you, Ms. T; we all can use more of that.

Sorry for the post delays

2005-07-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks for coming back to my humble little tribute to Abbi Tatton, who is a CNN political producer and co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on Inside Politics. It isn't much, but it comes from the heart.

I must express my regrets at my late postings this week. One late post a week is not good but probably acceptable (even though the perfect Ms. Tatton deserves nothing less than perfection herself). But three in one week is woefully inadequate. Maybe it's good enough for Sasha Johnson's blogger, but not Ms. Tatton's. I promise I will do better.

So let's get to the fun. The teasers were pretty uneventful - just her chatting with her co-host Jacki and shuffling her notes. It's cute how she can be seen during the segment pulling out the next set of notes for her next turn; what a well-prepared professional she is. Anyway, today when they introduced her she was very businesslike, barely smiling. I guess after the highs of Thursday, some straightforward cut-to-the-chase mannerisms are in order. One other thing that has gone unremarked upon on here for some time: Ms. Tatton displayed her necklace with the squarish silver ornament again. How I would like to know some background about it. Perhaps I will post about what kind of necklace would most suit Ms. Tatton. What lucky man gets to ponder that question for real, and head to the jewelry store to make it a reality? What a lucky man indeed.

Ok: Ms. Tatton continued the theme that Jacki started (as she always does), about the Rove story. She quoted The Corner and its doubt that there was any lying going on. She noted that most conservatives were not all over the story, and were backing Rove anyway, but as an exception she cited Wizbang and its suggestion that maybe Rove/Libby should take one for the team and resign. During her next turn, Ms. Tatton spotlit TalkLeft and its wondering why the investigation would be interested in Ari Fleisher's phone calls. Then Ms. Tatton clasped her hands together in delighful fashion and handed it back to host Suzanne Malveaux.

For the second segment, they had the new intro again (which has been cropping up of late, although I don't always notice). On the topic of random searches by police on the NYC subway, she gave us Atrios and Michelle Malkin for the proposition that the searches were a waste of time, although for different reasons. Ms. Tatton then mentioned Daily Picture Blog City and its t-shirt saying "I don't consent to being searched."

That was it for the day, and the week. Jacki got the final sign-off, as usual. Just to avoid confusion, I don't think it's unfair of Jacki to get the most sign-offs, since she's the "reporter". I just like to note when we get to hear Ms. Tatton cheerily say "Back to you..." Of course, hearing Ms. Tatton say goodbye to you must be the saddest sound in the English, or any other, language.

True confessions

2005-07-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks for stopping by this temple dedicated to the earthly goddess known by the name of Abbi Tatton. She regularly holds court on the CNN show Inside Politics, wherein she co-hosts a segment that reports on weblogs. The segment, sensibly enough, is called Inside the Blogs. Call me smitten.

Earlier today I promised to explain why I was so bowled over by the sight of yesterday's segment (which I am about to post about). So here it is (and I can never just get to the point). You see, I heartily subscribe to the medieval knight's conception of love - to worship a fair lady and pay tribute to her purity that redeems the knight's own earthly flaws. Sadly, this is a highly idealized view. In reality, things aren't always so chivalrous or tidy. Men are born with an affliction - they think about women constantly. It's a unique kind of torture, one that women fail to truly appreciate. Women should be sympathetic towards men, not call them pigs (although that is often how we act). So why am I saying all this? Because yesterday I was confronted with the abrupt dissonance between these two ways of thinking. I have tried - Lord how I tried - to be utterly respectful and chivalrous towards the divine Ms. Tatton. But yesterday, Ms. Tatton wore (in addition to a great cream-colored vest-top) a dark blue or black pleated short skirt, the kind that are fashionable of late. This called my bluff. Those kinds of skirts are the one thing that really sends me over the edge and makes me act in a way that deeply shames me. I am an appreciator of legs in general, and the sight of exposed gam continuously peeking out from under the skirt as it sashays along - well, I gawk. I'm not proud of it, but again, you women have no idea what it's like. And I know - I KNOW - if men were truly honest, they would admit they are similarly afflicted. The things that get said when it is "boys only" prove it.

So what's my main point? Just that, as a result of this conflict, I feel ashamed at needing to say something. And since I value honesty over all other things, then honesty trumps crudeness, and I will say it: Ms. Tatton has the world's greatest thighs. There were several good views of them during the segment (from the side). I think they should be called the Holy Grail - only the purest of men may lay his hand on it. There, I said it. I'm awful. But my feelings are only natural, and probably healthy, so be it.

So let's get back in business. The topic of the first segment was the London bombings (funny how often Britain-related stories come along). Ms. Tatton showed us London Bloggers, which breaks down blogs by tube stop, and then she homed in on Feather Boa, whose operator was right by the station when it all happened. Ms. Tatton lastly brought up Stef's Blog, who expressed the hope that closed-circuit tv in the stations would get their man. During her next turn, Ms. Tatton displayed London Photobloggers and its pictures, as well as Onion Bag Blog, which noted the diversity and tolerance of the neighborhood in question. While giving that last URL, Ms. Tatton's voice grew soft, in the cutest way. How wonderful she is.

The second part of the segment was about the Rove story. Ms. Tatton cited Daily Kos and its speculation that Bush had rushed forth the nomination. She balanced that with Outside the Beltway, which noted that a new justice needs to be sworn in by October. In her final turn, Ms. Tatton showed Crooks and Liars and its posting of a picture from 2003 of Karl Rove standing with Robert Novak.

One other bit of fun: Ms. Tatton got to do the sign-off today, a nice change of pace from letting Jacki (bless her heart) have all the fun. During that, and other shots, we got some great close-ups of Ms. Tatton, allowing me to consider whether I was right about her eye color or not (I think I am - I definitely see some green there, but it's hard to tell, even with a 27-inch tv). The story of my life . . .

Tomorrow: today's post. Stay tuned.

Odds and ends

2005-07-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

[Ed. note: Due to attendance at a birthday party, yesterday’s post did not g-- oh, just read the post and you’ll find out what happened.]

Hello, and so glad you could make it back to the world’s premier website devoted to Ms. Abbi Tatton, CNN political producer and co-host of the segment Inside the Blogs, which appears twice daily on CNN’s show Inside Politics. It’s pretty cool knowing you are the best in the world at something. For Ms. Tatton, it’s being enchanting and beautiful and fun and brilliant. For me, it’s operating a blog all about her. That's satisfying enough.

This post will sort of be an interim one, since I won’t be able to do a real post till tonight. So I thought I’d run over a few things that I had been meaning to mention. But first, I should explain what happened.

You see, I ended up attending a birthday party last night and so was unable to post due to extreme need for sleep. But I did watch the tape of the show I’d made. And how thankful I was that I did. Because Ms. Tatton really outdid herself yesterday. Her image is something I will carry with me for a long while. I would have felt awful if I had waited till tonight to watch, and missed out on recalling that vision all throughout today.

Why do I go on like this? I know I have often referred to Ms. Tatton as cute, pretty, beautiful, etc. And I still think last week when we got that close-up of her was the best I’d ever seen her. But yesterday, the word to describe her was “hot.” Please forgive me for my descent into such earthiness. I feel like that guy in the movie “Like Water for Chocolate” who, right before first sleeping with his new bride, prays that God will understand what he is about to do is not for lust, but for love and hope to have children. What I am trying to say is not about crudeness or male piggishness, but out of sincere appreciation at the magical woman appearing on my tv set. So I guess you’ll just have to tune in tonight and find out why I thought she looked so good. And yes, I’ve done the math: I’ll have two posts to do by then. I’m still trying to decide if I should do one double post or just give each one their own.

Another thing I wanted to say is a minor update on my guessing at Ms. Tatton’s height. Now pardon me for my discursiveness, but the other day I saw John Kerry’s daughters at a Borders bookstore near work. He is tall, and in all the pictures of them I thought they also looked tall. But seeing them in person, I saw they were about my height, and I am 5’6. So I’m wondering if my height-guessing skills are substandard. You recall that I studied Ms. Tatton’s limbs and guessed her height at 5’9. I still think she has the superior bone structure of a leggy supermodel, but I have to admit I do feel less confident than before. So while I’ll continue to assert that she is tall, perhaps she’s 5’8 instead.

Another thing, similarly coincidental like the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” reference last time, was co-host Jacki’s mention yesterday of Wikipedia, the online edit-it-yourself encyclopedia. Why coincidental? Because just the day before, I had been looking up some things there, and thought of writing an entry for Ms. Tatton. But I decided against it, because it seemed to be crossing a line from harmless over-the-top (but sincere) praise into slightly weird infatuation. Perhaps you cannot appreciate a distinction there, but I do. And also, there was little to write. All I came up with was:

Abbi Tatton (19?? - ) is a political producer for the Cable News Network (CNN). She formerly was the floor manager for the now-cancelled show Crossfire. She currently co-hosts the segment Inside the Blogs on CNN’s show Inside Politics.

Oh well. I guess this site is enough.

Lastly, I had kept meaning to wonder aloud why Ms. Tatton addresses her co-host Jacki when speaking during the segment, while Jacki speaks into the camera. My understanding was that if you’re having a conversation on tv, you look at the people you’re talking to; if you’re a lone newscaster, you look at the camera. I guess it’s up in the air whether Ms. Tatton and Jacki are having a conversation or just doing side-by-side reports. But I think the alternation of styles is kind of nice; it keeps things fresh.

Well, that’s enough for a filler post. Be back later.

Wherever you're going, I'm going your way

2005-07-20T18:37:00.000-07:00

[Ed. note: Due to computer difficulties, yesterday's post is being posted today, with "today" and "tonight" meaning "yesterday" and "last night". Get it?]

Today's title is inspired by the song "Moon River", prominently featured in the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Last week I speculated whether this movie might be a favorite of Ms. Tatton's, so since it's on tv tonight, I felt it was a sign that I should comment on it. And that song is really great. The line "There's such a lot of world to see" has a very affecting quality of bemused resignation to it, don't you agree?

Ms. Tatton needs no introduction, but I'll give her one anyway: she's the co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics. She's pretty ok, in a non-awful way.

As I watch aforementioned movie and ponder how I consider George Peppard to be an exemplar of a style that I rank as supreme, I also ponder how Ms. Tatton is even more desirable than Audrey Hepburn, who is usually considered an exemplar of feminine charm. But Hepburn in the movie is really too flighty to truly be the ideal female that she's often held up as. What guy wants to forever be kept guessing by his woman? One would never be entirely sure where one stood with an Audrey Hepburn type. Much better would be Ms. Tatton's well-brought-up approach. I bet if one happened to live one floor up from Ms. Tatton, the friendship would consist of polite, old-fashioned, time-honored activities such as borrowing sugar, stopping by for coffee or a snack, help with rearranging furniture, that sort of thing. I'm sure Ms. Tatton would never dream of asking someone to "only bring me home when I'm drunk." And we can be sure Ms. Tatton has used a library card before. Men want someone to protect, not run after all the time. So that's why Ms. Tatton is better than Audrey Hepburn.

Anyway, moving on to the “plums”. The first teaser today showed Ms. Tatton smiling and chatting with her co-host Jacki. She was wearing a peach colored top v-neck that was very well-fitted, showing off how well-fitted she is. That was gauche (of me, not her). Sorry. But women have no idea how hard it is to be a guy – it is like an affliction. Do you think we want to be this way? We also got a cool shot of her sweeping her hand through her hair – how nice. The second teaser showed more chatting, as she played with what appeared to be a marker. When they got down to it, Ms. Tatton noted the generally positive reaction to the Roberts nomination among the right, sampling favorable opinion on Blogs for Bush, Volokh, and IowaVoice. She noted Power Line’s disagreement with worries expressed by Ann Coulter, and quoted Right Wing News saying they felt like a kid at Christmas who got a bunch of presents instead of just a sweater. This led Jacki to make a joke that she’d’ve taken the sweater. Nice effort, Jax! During Ms. Tatton’s next turn, she displayed Daily Kos and its exhortation for liberals to take a breath and go slow.

After another teaser of the two chatting, with some good close-up glimpses of who-know-who, Ms. Tatton continued, this time on the theme of the suddenly-eclipsed Rove story. She cited memeorandum and its link to an American Prospect story about him not being open with the FBI. She also quoted what I swear was Digsby (although it seems to not exist), pointing out that this is the same thing they sent away Martha Stewart for. She then brought up liberal disaffection at the media’s inability to “walk and chew gum”. Ms. Tatton credited Jacki for this phrase, however, so I guess it doesn’t count as a bit of Tatton humor. But I’m sure Ms. Tatton can walk and chew gum, and also pat her head and rub her belly too.

I had some more to say, but this post has waited long enough, so I’ll get to those other things next time or so. Hope all is well.

Oh me of little faith

2005-07-19T18:33:00.000-07:00

I sheepishly welcome you back to this blog (or is it a website?) dedicated to the achingly wonderful Ms. Abbi Tatton, who co-hosts a segment called Inside the Blogs on the CNN show Inside Politics.

I sheepishly welcome you because yesterday I sort of let my mind race and got all worked up over the fact that Ms. Tatton was absent without comment from the segment. All sorts of terrible things went through my mind, and I am somewhat embarrassed that I openly speculated about them in yesterday's post. Ah, when it comes to things involving Ms. Tatton, I wear my heart on my sleeve. So by now, you should have figured out that I am basically a loser. But I try.

Anyway, Ms. Tatton made her return today, shaming me and my worrying simply by her very quiet unassuming performance of her regular duties, as if to say, "What was all the fuss about?" Not that it was said to me. That whole part about my blog maybe having some effect is the part I'm most embarassed about. How foolish I looked. Like I said, I went a little overboard. But thus it goes with these sorts of things.

So Ms. Tatton was just out for a day. Where could she have been? Several clues emerged during the segment. One, during the first teaser, she could be seen (barely) removing a gray sweatshirt (it looked like she had only gotten one arm off - a charmingly informal sight). By the way, the teaser also made me think I'd get a look at her nail polish, if any, but no dice. Two, Ms. Tatton (I hate to say it) seemed to lack a little color in her usually warmly hued pinkish face. Third, it appeared that she had lipstick on; Jacki the co-host almost always wears lipstick, but Ms. Tatton usually seems au natural. From these three things, I speculated that she had a cold and was wearing the sweatshirt to stay warm, and had used the lipstick as a counter to her illness-induced pale complexion. Very Sherlock Holmes, but probably all totally wrong. I've always been more Dr. Watsonish anyway - "I get up at all sorts of ungodly hours, and I am extremely lazy." Perhaps she took an extra day to have a quick excursion with a beau to some scenic getaway. I could picture them walking hand-in-hand, trying wine, taking long, lingering dinners, seeing sights, etc. I could picture that, but I definitely won't. So as to where she was, who can say? Not me; I can only guess.

Today's segment, happily rich in Tattonocity, was first about the Supreme Court nomination. Ms. Tatton noted Technorati and its search engine feature, which demonstrated how many comments about Edith Clement were out there, and Nathan Newman, who'd been compiling information about her based on a "tip" (upon which she, with perhaps some sarcasm although I really didn't notice, said "everyone seems to have one"). The site did not come up, so she read off the part she wanted, demonstrating her professionalism in being prepared. Bravo. She also very cutely leaned her head to the right (and later to the left) while talking; she's done it before and it's just one more little thing to love (or luv, in my safe, nonthreatening lexicon). In her second turn, she cited Bench Memos and its wry observation that since they were talking about Clement, it wouldn't be her. For her last turn, she gave us Wizbang.org, and its observation that bloggers just needed a modem to get access to all sorts of information about the nominee.

In the teaser for the second part of the segment, the camera was sweeping behind Jacki when Ms. Tatton could be seen suddenly looking to her right, as if noticing a camera, then seeming to say something connected with it to Jacki while chuckling slightly. Oh, to be a lip reader. But in her last turn of the day, she quoted Patterico's Pontifications and its aftershock over Rep. Tancredo's suggestion that if the US were nuked, the Kaaba should be too. She also highlighted Donald Sensing, who argued that the comments played perfectly into propaganda by al-Qaeda.

During the sign-off, Jacki made a joking reference to the word "Tancredulous" that Ms. Tatton had read off a site, saying host Dana Bash had to use it in a sentence. Ms. Tatton, right before the camera switched off them, could be seen slightly lowering and turning her head so her hair somewhat blocked her face, in the sort of response shy modest females can occasionally give in times of minor naughtiness. It was very endearing, and the sort of unconscious body language that only telegraphs Ms. Tatton's delightfully innocent personality.

I have noticed that comments on Ms. Tatton's appearance have slowly crept back into the posts; I regret that I seem to go further with them each time. I guess I just can't help noting these things. I am but a man, and we are no good.

Two quick things to wrap up: they had a new intro for the second half of the segment (the regular one was still there for the first). This new one, which I don't recall seeing last time, seemed to basically be each word of the segment's title being shown after each other, with some whooshing sound effects. And, they had an ad for the "Security Council" show which is due to replace basically the whole late afternoon line-up; it starts "8.8.05". So we'll be sure to be paying attention then to find out what happens with the blog segments.

Ok, that has been a lot for today. It is cathartic after the silliness I displayed yesterday (I cringe just thinking about what I said). Enjoy, and we'll see you tomorrow (thank god I can say that).

Now why would they have done that?

2005-07-18T18:01:00.000-07:00

I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that, if you have been trying to find out more information about a certain Ms. Abbi Tatton, CNN producer and co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on Inside Politics (and if you have an iota of sense you have), you have come to the right place. Slowly, slowly we are building a compendium of Tattonology while detailing in loving detail her many charms.

The bad news? For some inexplicable reason Ms. Tatton did not appear on the segment today.

It has generally been a very witchy day to begin with. No need to go into it, but personnel issues at work - two separate ones - conspired to make things uncomfortable. The segment today also included a bit about how blogging can get you fired, which naturally only stirred up memories of these issues. Add on top of that the fact that Ms. Tatton was nowhere to be seen. Most disturbing of all was the lack of any kind of comment on her absence. Normally when a host is out, the fill-in or sub makes a quick mention - "Joe is on vacation." But during the lead-in by today's show's host Dana Bash, as well as the actual segment, done in full by the other co-host Jacki - there was nary a mention of Ms. Tatton. No "Abbi's away on assignment"; no "Abbi's on vacation"; no general "Abbi's out today."

Now, I'm definitely not insinuating that Ms. Tatton got her pink slip (even typing those words hurt). CNN may be doing dumb things like cancelling the Capital Gang, but they're not that dumb. I am hoping the explanation is simply that: Ms. Tatton is away due to business or personal reasons. I would never want for her to be sick, but it could be that. Or perhaps she is on assignment in Iowa at the NGA meeting. Or perhaps she took a long weekend to attend her friend's wedding in San Francisco. Any sort of vacation plans could easily explain things. Unfortunately, the ones who really should have clued us in did no such thing.

As for now, I will operate under the assumption that it was some oversight, and Ms. Tatton is due to make her return presently. That could be tomorrow, or plausibly it could be in a few days. Much more frightening is the possibility that she won't be returning.

Remember: Ms. Tatton is the "political producer", while Jacki is the "blog reporter." Perhaps they've decided to just have Jacki do the reporting, and enough with the tag-team approach that has been used heretofore. Ms. Tatton would surely have lots else to keep her occupied. But that would likely be behind-the-scenes. Sure, she is charismatic and telegenic enough to easily qualify for another reporting segment - she could be a roving correspondent or something. But that is too up in the air. If she's not going to be on Inside the Blogs anymore, it's probable that she'll be staying behind the cameras once again. Not that Jacki is bad - she's terrific, and did a good job today - but we will miss Ms. Tatton dearly.

Here, I must admit my own fear that this blog might have a role. Very pretentious of me (exceedingly so) to assume anyone would care - and actually I'm quite sure they don't - but still, I can't help but wonder if maybe, insignificant though I am, my work has made Ms. Tatton uncomfortable with the spotlight, such as it is. Of course, I have no reliable evidence that she even knows about this (anonymous comments not being the most trustworthy) or cares about it (although if someone had a blog about me, I'd think it was cool). If I have made Ms. Tatton uneasy, I deeply regret it, and I sincerely apologize for any discomfort I have caused her. This whole thing was and is just a lark, and I posted back in May how she may get me to stop, should she want to.

Naturally, if it turns out she is just out with the flu, I will have worried needlessly, and I hope that is the way it turns out (except the her-being-sick-with-the-flu part). But the whole thing just gave me a bad feeling. I guess all I can do is lie awake and wait till 4:23 p.m. tomorrow. What a lonely wait that will be.

Let's play "Guess Ms. Tatton's height"

2005-07-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

Hi there. If you've navigated to this page, no doubt you are curious about one Abbi Tatton, who can be seen weekdays co-hosting the segment Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics. You probably caught a show, said to yourself, "Who is that??" and immediately went over to Google to do some finding-out. Well, this is a pretty informal site. We're nowhere near the level of detail and attention that Ms. Tatton deserves. In a perfect world, we'd have full video of the segments, along with transcripts and links to all the sites mentioned, along with a stable of stylists giving their daily impressions of how great Ms. Tatton looked: great or extra great. Plus we'd have to have an ongoing gossip feature so to be sure to note all the high-class parties Ms. Tatton can be found at. But I'm sure Page 6 and Lloyd Grove can't keep up with her, either.

But since we can't have everything we want, this site will have to do for now. It's a humble little place, but it comes from the heart. Anyway, let's get down to brass tacks:

Yesterday we (apparently) solved the mystery of what color Ms. Tatton's eyes are. After reviewing the tape several times, I think they are green. What a lovely color! So to continue the closing of mysteries, I thought I'd make an educated guess as to how tall Ms. Tatton is. I have to, since I did a search for celebrity height and found nothing. What is the world coming to, anyway?

Now, guessing her height is going to take some deduction. That's because, as you regular fans know, she sits during her whole segment. In fact, I don't think I have ever seen her standing up. I certainly can't think of when I would have. So we've got to be scientific about it. Now, she and her co-host Jacki sit on stools at a table. It would be hard to deduce the height just from looking at it, but only seeing it on tv makes it doubly hard. Plus, there's no real reference points to go by, except maybe when a cameraperson gets in the way, and even then there's too many angles and stuff. So what we need to do is focus on Ms. Tatton herself and extrapolate from there.

Now, as I have noted before, Ms. Tatton seems to have a preference for half-sleeve blouses. This allows a full viewing of her lower arms. And with all the close-ups of her and camera sweeps and such, we've managed to get some healthy views of said forearms. So I have an observation to make that should be very telling: her forearms are long. It's clear she has the sort of modelesque ulnas usually seen in Vogue fashion shoots (and quite the soft-hued limbs they are). Ahem, I'm doing my best to keep this professional. Now, this feature holds equally true for her upper forearms, her thighs, and her calves, all of which may be studied in various degrees of close-up during the segments. Clearly, Ms. Tatton is a long-limbed beauty, as most beauties are.

The other main bit of info is something that I must tread carefully with, for fear of saying the wrong thing. You see, Ms. Tatton is not some slave to the endless fads over the latest look; she is too smart and too grounded and well-adjusted for that. So it is that she does not possess a worryingly thin physique; she properly takes a stand against the winds of culture by showing how great a healthy, normal body looks. Ms. Tatton possesses a warm glow that is utterly absent from many of the so-called "it girls", who, once they get in the spotlight, immediately plunge in weight. I sympathize with them for the terrible pressures to be rail-thin. But Ms. Tatton is not rail-thin; she is exquisitely proportioned, and that is definitely a good thing. How I hope what I am trying to say will not be misconstrued. It's so hard expressing yourself sometimes.

Now all that needs to be done is figuring out what these facts mean for her height. Here is where the guesswork comes in, because there is really no other method than comparison with others. For example, I can compare with myself. I'm 5'6, and the limbs look longer than mine. (See? I always said Ms. Tatton was way out of my league). And I can compare with women who were taller than me, and how I remember their limbs to look. Of course, a woman who is very thin may appear to be taller since she has less mass. Ms. Tatton, with her healthy shape, still appears to have long limbs, meaning they are long indeed. So factoring that all in, and using some plain ol' common sense, I'm going to guess that Ms. Tatton's height is about 5'9. I think that is probably pretty close. Ms. Tatton really looks like she's a statuesque beauty, one who is not too tall but still up there with the rest of the Beautiful People. And 5'9 would be just about the right height for that. Ah, it must be nice there.

A day late, but many dollars over

2005-07-16T16:10:00.000-07:00

First off, I must apologize that this update from yesterday's showing of Inside the Blogs, on CNN's Inside Politics, wasn't posted yesterday. I guess I was just too tired. What a lame excuse. So why would one care about having an update for this segment? Why, because there's this co-host ... oh is there. Her name is Abbi Tatton, and she's super.

I feel especially bad about being a day late, because Ms. Tatton looked exceptionally pretty today. In fact, I think it was the prettiest she has ever looked on the show. I know I've been trying to focus on her words and not her looks, but today (ahem, yesterday) the good things were just spilling over, so that I must break my vow and share them. The main cause of all this was the close-up shot of her during her turn speaking, giving a fabulous view of that cute rounded face. And the shot was close-up enough to finally give me a chance to get a good look at her eyes. I've been trying to figure out her eye color for a while now, and from the views I got from yesterday's show, it looks like her eyes are green. My eyes are pretty poor, but I felt sure I saw some emerald gleam. Now that tidbit is worth its weight in gold, and when I realized I would finally set this mystery to rest, my whole day brightened. The only way it could have gotten better is if I knew how to make screencaps, because then I would make a few of these exceptional shots of Ms. Tatton, because they really were the best I'd ever seen. If anyone know how I can, please tell me.

Now I'll admit that my judgment might be clouded by the fact that she was wearing blue, which is my favorite color. The combo of her blue blouse next to her dark (black?) hair was very appealing. And as if all this isn't enough, it also appeared that Ms. Tatton might have gotten her hair done. On a recent day, on one of those behind-her-back camera teasers, I noticed it seemed kind of long. Today (sorry, yesterday) it was tucked into her collar and seemed shorter, and to frame her face with more symmetry than usual. It's hard to describe the appearance; it just seemed less parted and somehow done anew. Anyway, it looked terrific. Let's face it: she's hot. The show's host Joe Johns, in introducing the segment, referred to the Rove story "heating up the blogosphere," but I think there's someone else doing that.

One last thing before we get to the substance. During the teaser for the second half of the segment, Ms. Tatton could be seen looking to her right and smiling/laughing slightly. I imagined that the camermen were joking around with her and her co-host about some trick they might play on them during the show. It was just a nice little informal moment captured for posterity.

Ok, the meat: Ms. Tatton continued the theme of the Rove story, quoting Betsy's Page and its assertion that most of the country didn't know who Rove (or Wilson or Plame) were, and didn't care because there were more important things to worry about, not to mention it is summertime. During her next turn, Ms. Tatton noted the discussion over Wilson's comment that his wife "was not a covert agent the day Robet Novak outed her", which The Corner interpreted as a concession that she was not covert. During the second segment, Ms. Tatton noted the site Ace Pilots and its lament that Rep. Duke Cunningham was not running for re-election, noting that he had performed heroically as a fighter pilot in Vietnam.

So a pretty good end to the week, wouldn't you say? And here I had been sitting on all this for over a day. But it's all up here now, so enjoy. I always do.

I, a public figure, luv a public figure

2005-07-14T18:53:00.000-07:00

Hello there. You've come to the sweetest place on the net: a whole site devoted to Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics. She's great, and we're here to constantly tell you that.

Today the first part of the segment focused on the debate over the Rove scandal. Ms. Tatton spoke of liberal bloggers, who made the point that the focus on Wilson's credibility was a smokescreen. She displayed This Modern World and its comparison of the Wilson focus to an episode of Star Trek where there was a mirror world, with an evil Dr. Spock. This elicited one of those nuggets we love, an aside by Ms. Tatton: she said, "That one completely lost on me." It's not too surprising to hear she's not the type to watch Star Trek. She then cited Powerline and its conservative lawyers considering whether Plame could be considered a "covert agent" under the law.

In the second segment, devoted to the perils of not blogging anonymously, she cited La Profesora Abstraida, a professor who regularly googles job applicants and their blogs, if any. Ms. Tatton also noted Eschaton, who cautioned new bloggers to blog anonymously until they got used to being public figures. When Jacki wrapped up and sent it back to host John King, he noted that neither she nor Ms. Tatton were anonymous. Since they aren't, and since I'm a "public figure" because of my blog, I was inspired to use this post's title for today.

Although I am trying to focus on substance and not superficiality (more on that soon), I must note two things: one, during the teaser, they had the best ever shot of Ms. Tatton's calves and shoes, from behind and ground-level. Trust me, Laura Petrie had nothing on those. Two, at the end of her segments, Ms. Tatton could be seen shifting her eyes to the left; it just looked cute, that's all.

Well, we learned that she is no Trekkie today. Her comment inspired a flight of imagination: I pictured her as a young lady in college, wearing some big fuzzy wool sweater and one of those top-knot type of ponytails. She was going out with a guy who was way beneath her; all he did was lounge around in his dorm room smoking pot and watching tv. It was a classic set-up: nice cute girl as-of-yet unaware of who she could be with, putting up with immature loser. I've definitely seen it before. Anyway, she hangs out with him on Friday nights, because she "must", and sits through his viewings of Star Trek. By the time the dorm Secret Santa party rolls around, she's been staying up late talking with the cute junior on the third floor and making excuses to Loser, who barely notices anyway. She's free. Everyone has those things they shake off in college. Ms. Tatton's offhand remark just made me picture one for her. Think of it as a novelization. I know I'm weird.

Ok, that's it for that. See you tomorrow.

Inside the websites

2005-07-13T19:04:00.000-07:00

This is a blog dedicated to praising a certain newscaster named Abbi Tatton. Ms. Tatton appears on CNN's Inside Politics, co-hosting a segment called Inside the Blogs. The name is pretty self-explanatory: she and her co-host Jacki highlight some of the big topics being discussed in the blogosphere. Quite an inventive feature. Anyway, this Ms. Tatton, she's no ordinary newscaster. We're talking special. I could go on and on. Actually, I have gone on and on, many times, on this very webpage. Read some old posts for some examples of the great charm Ms. Tatton exudes.

Anyway (I say that a lot, don't I?), today's segment was cut short due to a press conference about the shuttle. You see, usually they have two segments of blog reporting, one at around 4:25 p.m., and another at around 4:55. This time, they were only able to squeeze in a short one right at the end of the show. C'est la vie, that's the news business. Oh my, how gauche of me to use French on a site devoted to praise of a woman with an obvious British background. Where are my manners? I apologize a trillion times.

So let's get to it, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Jacki usually gets the party started, and Ms. Tatton picks up the topic from her. Today the topic was two new websites (hence the title of this post). Ms. Tatton continued Jacki's using the site Patrick Ruffini as a jumping-off point, since it noted the two sites, probably because, as Ms. Tatton helpfully added in the sort of trenchant news analysis that is her job (and her gift), the operator ran Bush's campaign site once upon a time. Now, the first webite was Hillary Clinton's re-election site, and the second was GOP.com.

That was all Ms. Tatton got to do, due to the short time. Jacki is technically the "blog reporter", so she often gets to speak more, as was the case today. Ms. Tatton is the "political producer", so I envision she gets to do some cool behind-the-cameras stuff. Imagine being an intern for the show and getting to have Ms. Tatton as your boss? I bet she would be the nicest, most easy-going, most willing to give fun work, boss around.

You see? This is basically what the blog does: praises. Praising Ms. Tatton is also known as "speaking the truth." So that's what we're all about. Come on back now, ya hear?

So far, so good

2005-07-12T19:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to a blog that is great because of its reflected glory. The source of that glory is someone named Ms. Abbi Tatton. She has a job doing reports about blogs on CNN's Inside Politics. And this is just a fan site.

We're ("we" being the collective fans of Ms. Tatton, worldwide) hoping that we can make it through this week without being interrupted by any unfortunate incidents. God has graced Ms. Tatton already, by blessing her with brains, beauty, and beguilingness; hopefully He will continue to do so by letting us get through a week or two (or a dozen).

Today, Ms. Tatton started by covering the left bloggers response to the Rove imbroglio. She first cited Louise Slaughter's campaign site, as an example of congressional pressure to fire Rove. She then spotlighted TPMCafe and one poster's argument, backed by experience working for both Sen. McCain and the DLC, that Rove was the "indispensable man" to the GOP and him being tossed over the side was not going to happen. During the next go-round, Ms. Tatton addressed the debate over whether Rove "revealed" Plame's identity, noting bloggers saying how easily one could have found out exactly who Plame was from Rove's statement, via sites like Wilson's own, cached at Fishkite (ok, I admit I had to look at the transcript to find out what that last syllable was). For the last part, she showed the audience FishbowlDC (actually picked up from co-host Jacki showing it); she noted its color commentary on the White House press.

For the very brief second segment, on the topic of humorous blogs, Ms. Tatton picked ScrappleFace, noting its extreme popularity.

It's been a while since I mentioned camera angles, and who knows - maybe the cameramen would like some attention again (they get to stand near Ms. Tatton - isn't that enough?). Actually, I'm quite sure I have seen a female cameraperson, so I better stop. Anyway, my point is, there were some great close-in shots of Ms. Tatton today, including one semi-profile one that allowed a nice view of her cute nose, which I've been a student of for some time now. But my favorite shots are still when they're sending it back to the show's host and she turns her head to the right while looking over into the camera. She always smiles this smile that has a kind of eager-to-please quality to it. Like a bright student beaming after being given a gold star. She's so cute... Sorry; I'm getting carried away. This is supposed to be a professional operation.

Ok, two down for the week; three to go. Be safe out there.

Do you remember the time?

2005-07-11T18:32:00.000-07:00

It seems so long ago since there were 5 regular updates here on the site devoted to extolling the virtues of the virtuous Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of the segment Inside the Blogs, which appears on CNN's Inside Politics. Time was, every day there was another generous helping of blog reports and incidental comments to be made.

But lately, things have been all fouled up. For what seemed like a lifetime, I was unable to watch the segment. Then there was the London bombings and the segment wasn't on for two days. Now, finally, we have a renewed chance of going a whole week and having 5 whole, full, bursting-with-Abbi-goodness posts. Will it too be interrupted? Let's keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best, which in this case is just some normality.

Moving along, today Ms. Tatton continued the topic her co-host Jacki started about the whole Karl Rove leak investigation. Ms. Tatton noted the urging of progressive blogs, such as ThinkProgress, for the White House press to ask about Karl Rove, and Press Secretary Scott McClellan's "evasion" of the subject. In her next turn, she balanced things by citing Powerline and its argument, made by three lawyers, that Rove would be hard to indict. Captain's Quarters was then quoted by Ms. Tatton, to the effect that Rove may be off the legal hook, but what about the moral one? In her final turn of the first segment, she showed some blogs and their attempts at guessing Chief Justice Rehnquist's plans; these included RedState (and their "friend" in the know), and Bench Memos, discussing the significance of the Chief's Nike hat. Up until now, when I looked up that last site in order to link it, I had been wondering about something Ms. Tatton said. When citing it, she mentioned their "K. Lo" indicator of Rehnquist's plans. I thought maybe it was a reference to Kelo, that eminent domain case. Now I see it referred to some regular poster there named Kathryn Lopez who was doing the speculating. I can't find any reference on the site to the nickname "K. Lo", which means - oh happy day! - we have an unexpected pleasure: another example of Ms. Tatton cracking a joke. This one was quite amusing, I think, and had a certain subtle, goodnatured teasing that is the stuff of all good wisecracks. Jolly good show, Ms. Tatton!

During the second segment, she turned to the reaction among bloggers to the London bombings, displaying We're Not Afraid and Buzz Machine and their expressions of sympathy. Lastly, she highlighted the Londonist and its waving off of all the sympathy, noting that there had been IRA bombs and such, and suggesting the common British reaction would be to say thanks but ask you to buy a round. Cheers, mate! After this observation, I couldn't help but wonder if and how one might approach Ms. Tatton as she sat in her local and offer to buy her a drink. "Can I get you a pint, fair lass?" "Why, no thanks, I'm waiting for someone." *guy walks away crushed*

Well, thankfully we're back in business today. And it was a pretty fun segment today, I must say. One other thing I must say: Ms. Tatton, you're so great!

The loves of Abbi Tatton, part two

2005-07-10T18:21:00.000-07:00

It's Sunday night, and things have been extremely slow here at the premier site devoted to the wunderkind newsanchor, Ms. Abbi Tatton. She co-hosts, along with a very nice person named Jacki, a segment called Inside the Blogs, which appears during the soon-to-be-cancelled Inside Politics, on CNN. After the show goes the way of the dinosaurs, the blog segment will presumably be featured more or less in the same time span as it is now (namely, 4:30 and 5 p.m. EST). We'll have to see on that.

But since this week has been so discombobulated, I thought it was my duty to be sure to post over the weekend, just to give fans something. It's so hard having 4 straight days with no Ms. Tatton sightings (unless she's on CNN Headline News doing brief updates - I saw Jacki there once, so maybe I should tune in).

So I thought I'd continue the speculation about Ms. Tatton's "favorites". Last time, I ruminated that her favorite food might be something with pecans (pretty odd, I know). Today, I thought I'd think about what her favorite movie might be. To do this, one must be unafraid of using some gender stereotypes. I am going to guess the movie is not some action/adventure flick, like a James Bond movie, or anything in the Terminator series. Nor is it, I would bet, something that many guys would say, such as The Godfather or Goodfellas, or maybe Star Wars. My favorite is The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and I also think this is not the right answer.

However, I bet Ms. Tatton does not really go for the totally syrupy tearjerker that many women delight in. Therefore, I am eliminating things like Ghost or Beaches. But being female, I am sure Ms. Tatton feels the tug of her gender when selecting viewing options, as we all do. Sure her choice could be The Seventh Seal, but I guess I'll just discount that possibility and stick with usual female fare. Still, considering Ms. Tatton's worldliness, erudition, and general lack of dorkiness, the possible choices - laying within the area bounded by these two limits I delineated - are a difficult batch to discern. Grease? It's got a over-the-top aspect to it that maybe raises it above mere cornball-ness (so I hear - I've never seen it). But still, it's a little cutesy. The Princess Bride? It is clever enough that guys like it as well, despite the "mushiness". But it seems too childlike, somehow. Pretty Woman? When Harry Met Sally? They're perfectly possible. Maybe it's some classic. Casablanca? Breakfast at Tiffany's? Great movies - I fancy myself a George Peppard type - I dress like him anyway. But considering Ms. Tatton's apparent Britishness, and her dark haired good looks, I'm going to go with another one that regularly crops up on Best of lists: Four Weddings and a Funeral. I think this has the touch of sadness and sophistication, along with fun, that would satisfy a person of Ms. Tatton's infinitely rich and mature yet charmingly girlish personality, which slowly grows more discernible every viewing day. Of course, I might be way off. But it is my educated guess.

So there you go; my second attempt at divining Ms. Tatton's favorites. I thought I was pretty scientific about it. But who knows if my theories will ever be proven right or wrong.

Life during wartime

2005-07-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

Sadly, again there was no Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics today, due to the London bombings. This meant that there was no sighting of the segment's co-host, the fair Ms. Abbi Tatton.

In the absence of any new segment to report on, I feel that I should try to find some Tattonesque topic to post about. Unfortunately, I am at a loss as to what. So here is a list of some words I thought of that rhyme with Abbi: abbey, cabbie, gabby, tabby, shabby, flabby, crabby. I'm really reaching, aren't I? Maybe I should just call it a loss.

War is declared, and battle come down

2005-07-07T18:08:00.000-07:00

There will be no update today, because the segment Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics, starring co-host Abbi Tatton (the object of this blog), was not on today due to the terror attack in London.

In the course of her reporting, Ms. Tatton has evinced an interest in British things that suggests her accent is not a mere result of, for example, being raised in America by an English nanny. Yesterday she displayed undeniable signs of hometown pride at London's winning the Olympics for 2012. So I sincerely wish that any person or persons she may know in London are ok, and extend my sympathies for the attack on her (apparent) homeland. I'm definitely an Anglophile - I think I might have been an upper-class twit in a former life. I definitely drink lots of tea, anyway. But once again, my condolences to the wonderful British people, and please know that if Americans had to choose another country to live in, most of us would choose yours.

Back in the saddle

2005-07-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

I am proud to report that I am back in the saddle, doing updates straight from the tv. No more apologetic posts making lame excuses for missing the show; no more cribbing from CNN and having them do my job for me. Things are back to normal around here. Of course, now something new will go wrong.

But anyway, it's time for another update on the co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics. Her name? Abbi Tatton. Her game? Reporting on the doings of the blogosphere.

Today, continuing the story of Judith Miller in the slammer, Ms. Tatton noted the particular interest in the story in DC, and therefore quoted from a DC blogger Crawfordslist (an example of why she's a pro) and its warning that the case has set an "alarming precedent" and could lead to a federal prosecutor going after journalists whose sources are working for the public good and not just criminal activity. During her second turn, on the Scotus vacancy, she covered Martini Republic, who argued that Republicans have gotten much more out of religious conservatives than vice versa over the past decades. But she balanced that with Macsmind, who cautioned conservatives to be patient and not jeopardize anything. Lastly, she quickly noted bloggers' attempts to cover the G8 summit amid the protests, citing Josh Trevino and his troubles.

For the second part, Ms. Tatton raised the topic of London winning the 2012 Olympics. She covered Olympic Geezer and its "utter shock" at London winning. Here there was a little notable thing, which took me several tries to finally figure out. She quoted the site's surprised comments to the effect of "We won? Uh-oh, I hope we pull it off". Here she trotted out a funny play-acting tone of voice for the surprise, which confused me as to what she was trying to convey. Then (and here's the notable part) she quickly threw in "And I do as well." This was accompanied by a charmingly girlish laugh, flashes of which have been well-noted here before. Imagine how fun it would be to draw out that laugh - whoever's feeding her jokes in person should count their blessings. The reference to personal pride was somewhat unusual for Ms. Tatton, but also the sort of sweet aside she excels at. Of course, it doesn't actually mean anything definitive, but it's something. When it went back to the co-host Jacki, she explained that "Abbi gets the London blogs and I get the New York ones", further reinforcing generally the Britain theory over the vaguer Commonwealth theory (splitters!). One day, there'll be some People interview with the two where the whole British accent origin will be explained. She also mentioned Londonist, who's happy more because they beat the French, leading Ms. Tatton to utter the second (mild) cuss I am aware of when she quoted the site saying the French took "one hell of a beating" (just don't being up that Hundred Years War thing). Now, that comment was churlish of me. Here's another one: Jacki, you looked good today (Ms. Tatton, you always do - all different types of good).

So that was that. It was nice to be back in the warm glow of the tv tube. I bet even in black and white, Ms. Tatton would have a warm glow. Fading out now...

Once more, with stealing

2005-07-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

Time again for the sincerest blog devoted to the co-host of CNN's Inside the Blogs segment on Inside Politics, Ms. Abbi Tatton. Whatever she's selling, I'm buying. Today's title comes from the fact that I must, one last time, swipe the transcript from CNN's webpage in order to post the update. Tomorrow, the worm will have turned, and we'll be back to handwritten craftsmanship, as only Stradivarius might have done, had he been inclined to blog. I can't wait - the glimpse of Ms. Tatton I got yesterday was like an oasis in the desert. Knowing I'll be able to catch the segments from now on is like . . . being sprayed with a hose. Such a poetic ring to that, right?

So let's get down to brass tacks: the segment once again covered the whole Rep. Cunningham scandal, with Ms. Tatton continuing the theme by pointing out that Talking Points Memo had been on this story all along, spotlighting its point that the Rep. seems to be "cursed" with having millionaires want to strike lopsided bargains with him. Ms. Tatton also commented on how Rep. Cunningham's name had gone from obscure to common in the blogosphere due to the story. She mentioned IceRocket and its links to others, including what she singled out as her "favorite" (imagine the honor of that!), BoatSavvy. It must be her British pride at all things naval - I can just picture her in some canvas shoes out for a sail on someone's yacht. After a single reference to the Time prosecution, getting co-host Jacki onto the subject, Ms. Tatton closed her turn in the first segment by quoting The Talent Show and its outrage at attacks on journalists, since it claims to be one itself. By way of context, she referenced the whole FEC possible regulation of blogs and the opposition in the blogosphere. She quoted Bill Hobbs saying "I shall blog no more forever" (I like the syntax) and also noted QandO as well.

In the second segment, the hosts discussed "carnivals" - roundups of blog posts on various subjects. Ms. Tatton used a site with the phrase "newjersey.com" in it (transcript's fault, not mine) as an example, here of bloggers from New Jersey. She also gamely attempted to show us a carnival from some philosophical sites, now on the topic of the "objection to reliablism", which she confessed (or rather said, since there's nothing shameful about it) "I think I'll have to brush up before I understand that one." I second that one.

So that was the last of the Transcript Period. What can we say about this stage in the blog's development? How is it similar to/different from Picasso's Blue Period, in 500 words or less? Personally, I'll be glad to have it behind me. I felt subpar the whole time. But things will change, tomorrow. I kept saying the day would come, and it almost has.

Do they have the Fourth of July in Britain?

2005-07-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

Today's title was inspired by the continuing mystery surrounding the origin of the object of this blog, CNN political producer Abbi Tatton. You see, Ms. Tatton speaks with a British accent, making her country of birth/raising somewhat indeterminate. As of now, no further clues have been forthcoming. But eyes are peeled (ouch!) waiting for any snippet of information. So, I hope she is enjoying our little American holiday. Hopefully no one would be boorish enough to remind her of the country it celebrates independence from. Frankly, if the Founding Fathers had known Ms. Tatton would be coming along, they would have decided sharing a country with her was well worth a few taxes.

Today is also special in another sense: for the first time in several weeks, I was able to watch the segment. My recent posts have been derived from the transcripts. The difference between live notetaking and transcript reading is like the difference between analog and digital: one hums and crackles with the richness of real life, while the other is a cold and mathematical reduction into numbers and code. Were this a bakery, it would be like serving frozen heat-'n-serve rolls versus fresh, homemade ones. Sure, it can be a little harder, and perhaps prone to minor errors, but that is a small price to pay for quality. While I may be a little rusty, that won't be for long either.

So it was that Ms. Tatton (looking as cute as ever) continued on the story of the Valerie Plame leak, showing us AMERICAblog and their roundup of liberal views. She also noted Newsweek's story concerning Karl Rove's denial of involvement, and spotlighted Washington Monthly and their argument that the Rove revelation was pretty weak. In her next turn, she cited Whizbang, a conservative site, and their observation that no one really had anything on Rove. During the second segment (the show was only an hour but they still had two segments - clearly CNN knows which side its bread is buttered on) Ms. Tatton covered Froggy Ruminations, a site devoted to updates on the missing Navy SEALs story from Afghanistan.

Somewhat of a short show, but I guess it's to be expected on the holiday. There was the most charming moment when, during her second turn in the first segment, Ms. Tatton got a little tongue-tied over her lead-in. Now she knows what it would be like if, upon spotting her out and about one day, one of us lesser mortals were to screw up enough courage to approach her and say, "Keep up the good work" before turning red and dashing off in embarassment at their pretension. Women just don't appreciate how lucky they are not to be expected to approach the opposite sex.

Well, that's that. I wonder what plans Ms. Tatton has for the 4th. Since there's work tomorrow, I imagine things have to be somewhat sedate. Perhaps she's been invited to someone's suburban home, where there's a big lawn and a pool, with some shady trees and tables, for a nice wholesome barbeque. She will be brought along because Jacki's a friend of a friend of someone's roommate's wife or something. Everyone there will be young up-and-comers ready to make their mark on the world, whether it be law, politics, business, or journalism. I can just picture Ms. Tatton balancing a paper plate on her knees while sitting demurely on one of those white plastic deck chairs, eating a slightly burnt hot dog while pretending to be entertained by the host's holding forth on current events to all within earshot, while people mill about and swim and drink and dogs run around in the background. With her manners, she would be the perfect guest.

That's all for today. But the days of cribbing transcripts are numbered. Either tomorrow or Wednesday, things will be back to normal: I'll be doing updates from personal viewings of the show. It was a long wait, but it was worth it. Dedication in service of Ms. Tatton is no vice.

Apocalypse now (and all throughout the summer)

2005-07-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

Hmm, such a slow news day on Friday, there hardly was anything even to discuss in the blogosphere. Just in case you didn't guess, I am being sarcastic: Justice O'Connor's retirement promises to make the election look like Barney and friends. And naturally enough, the good folks at CNN's Inside Politics's segment Inside the Blogs (specifically one person) are sure to be right on top of it, as they were Friday. That one person, by the way, just so happens to be the greatest, sweetest, prettiest, most intelligent, nicest, best-dressed, most well-spoken, most incisive newscaster ever. Pretty tall order huh? But she fills it: she is Ms. Abbi Tatton, and I am not at all exaggerating her attributes. And now I am most definitely not being sarcastic.

So getting underway, Ms. Tatton took over her co-host Jacki's theme of "big story now", noting that the blogosphere would play a large role in the battle over the appointee. She listed some domain names that had been bought up by partisans on either side (such as Hugh Hewitt) getting ready to set up sites devoted to supporting or opposing various potential picks. She also reported on a conference call by Edward Kennedy to an assortment of liberal bloggers; one, at TalkLeft, recounted the various points made, including the amount of money conservatives have already put up.

In the second segment, Ms. Tatton first followed on Jacki's discussion of the FBI raid of property connected with Rep. Duke Cunningham, highlighting ThinkProgress for coverage. She then moved back to the O'Connor story, mentioning Daily Kos and its list of things one can do to get involved as well as its discussion of potential nominees, notably Alberto Gonzales, whom she noted is not popular with lefty bloggers.

Kind of a short segment today, but the shock of the story seemed to delay the flood of blogging that will surely come. You know, being able to report on Ms. Tatton is such a comforting thing to do. I'm glad I was able to help. Take care.

Must-see TV

2005-06-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

Hello again, to the second post today (computer problems yesterday delayed the last post until this morning). Where are you, you ask, and what is this site all about? Why, very simple: it seems there's an astonishingly wonderful young woman named Ms. Abbi Tatton who co-hosts a nifty little segment on CNN's Inside Politics called Inside the Blogs. It and she are really making a name for themselves, and this site is a humble little tribute to the latter. We don't ask for much; just a chance to delight in the magic of Ms. Tatton five days a week, around 4:23 p.m. EST. It's enough.

It's the regular habit of this blogger to post a summary of Ms. Tatton's discussion during her parts of the segment, so why don't we get on with it and you'll see what I mean. Today, Ms. Tatton continued her co-host Jacki's theme of Time's decision to turn over the notes of their journalist. She quoted Atrios to the effect that the word of journalists now no longer matters if their editors can overrule their guarantee of secrecy. The next turn, she briefly set up another mention of Atrios (now called Escaton), which Jacki explained. Ms. Tatton then covered The Talent Show, which like Escaton had switched from calling itself a blog to an "online magazine", in order to avoid possible FEC regulation. TalkLeft was another one she described as carrying out this change in nomenclature (and little else); it had declared today "the day the bloggers died." During her last turn of the segment, Ms. Tatton noted the message these blogs were sending the FEC and jokingly said, "That concludes today's installment, Suzanne, of Inside the Online Magazines." Hee hee, such witticism. How enchanted I was to see another glimpse of her fun side. Were this a house party, I bet Ms. Tatton would be the pretty, nice girl that you end up talking to effortlessly and start to get ideas about because she is so easy-going. Then, of course, her 6'3 investment banker boyfriend arrives from just having flown in from NYC to whisk her away to highballs at Ben and Sally's. That seed of a plot to invite her to your friend's barbeque on some anonymous apartment building rooftop now seems embarrassingly meager. You head for the mixed drink table and poor a stiff one. Ahem, I digress...

The second bit (usually seen around 4:55 p.m.) found Ms. Tatton showing us Truth Laid Bear's tracker of big blog topics and the plethora of sites discussing the Kelo decision. She reported the scheme of one person to convert Justice Souter's home to a hotel as a taste of his own medicine, and she balanced it with the Volokh Conspiracy's point that the idea was not only bad but got the decision wrong.

So there you have it: a tour of the most happening young woman's doings on this 30th day of June, two thousand and five. Later, after she is an international star and the DVDs of these shows are Amazon bestsellers, you can look jaded and toss your head back with a laugh, saying to some Johnny-come-lately with heapfuls of scorn, "I was into her way back when." Oh the cool. Ciao.

The details are in the accent

2005-06-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

Good to see you again here at the site devoted to the most wonderful tv personality ever to grace the nation's spectrum tubes. Of course I'm talking about Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's afternoon show Inside Politics. Ms. Tatton's piece usually comes on around 4: 23 p.m. EST, and there is now a second part (if it isn't pre-empted) right at the end of the show, around 4:55 p.m. So now you know, if you didn't before.

So let's get on with it: Ms. Tatton picked up Jacki's discussion of live-blogging along with the President's speech, discussing how Think Progress provided refutation of points in the speech in real time (and also pointing out their new website). She contrasted them with the blog Jacki mentioned, which is run by one person, whereas Think Progress is an arm of the Center for American Progress. Here, she once again threw us mere mortals a sop by making a offhand comment, thereby letting us catch another glimpse of her cheery personality. The comment referred to the pronunciation of "progress" - she read the group's name and then said, "--or 'progress', as you like to say over here." I am just going by the transcript, but I assume the way she said it (and we should all copy her because hey, she's Ms. Tatton) was "PRO-gress", with the accent still on the first syllable but leaving off the "g", as opposed to "PROG-ress." I wonder how she said it - perhaps it was in an almost apologetic tone, or perhaps a bemused tone, or perhaps a lighthearted teasing tone. I'll never know, but how I would like to. Anyway, this led to Jacki making the comment that makes up this post's title.

In the fast-'n-furious go-rounds (same segment still), Ms. Tatton noted that Ezra Klein had a count of the number of times the President mentioned certain topics; cited a link at Daily Kos to the Newseum which links to a San Diego paper about the speech and the controversy around Rep. Duke Cunningham's real estate deals (which she, with delightful insouciance, noted was being called "Cunningscam"); and highlighted Kim McCall, who described what houses in Cunningham's neighborhood are like.

The second segment seems to have been a little early, due to the breaking story about those journalists in the CIA leak case. Ms. Tatton noted Wonkette's suggestion that Karl Rove is behind it all, and Washington Monthly's Kevin Drum, who is arguing for a federal shield law to protect journalists. She described disagreement over this in the blogosphere, with some saying judges shouldn't be deciding who is a journalist or not, due to what they feel would be the inevitable exclusion of bloggers. Sadly, the segment ended with a minor injustice, as host Ed Henry only thanked Jacki as she turned it over to him.

Well, that was a lot of stuff. But I am glad to do my part. Ms. Tatton's reporting skills are razor-sharp, and her material deserves a full and complete airing and consideration. This site is the place for it. It's my pleasure, trust me. Till next time...

The loves of Abbi Tatton, part one

2005-06-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

Hello again and thanks for stopping by the site dedicated to that paragon of pretty and perky professionalism, Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics. It's been a while since we've had the luxury of regular updates here, so bear with me if I'm a little rusty. But before we get to the meaty substance, there's one topic that I would like to discourse upon:

Last time I wondered aloud about Ms. Tatton's loves, after she used the figure of speech that she "loved" something. So I got to thinking about what, for example, her favorite food was. For some reason, the first thing that popped into my head was pecans. Now I don't know many pecan dishes (basically just pecan pie), so it seems a real shot in the dark. I suppose there was something about the exoticness of the pecan - compared with the pedestrian peanut - that seemed to match Ms. Tatton's dark hair and foreign accent. In a can of mixed nuts, the pecans are always rarest, just like the rare species of femininity that is Ms. Tatton. Now before you think I am a nut, I will say that I know enough not to read anything into my random thought. But it did make for an interesting comparison. Perhaps I will study the food chart and try to narrow down which food group most resembles Ms. Tatton's personality, and therein perhaps make an educated guess of her favorite food. This sort of dedication is the mark of the true fan.

But now to get to the real part of the post, so forthwith: Ms. Tatton picked up the thread of Jacki's comments on a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq, pointing to ThinkProgress, who quotes President Bush's current comments and, as Ms. Tatton reported, his 1999 comments about the need for a timetable in Kosovo, drawing charges of hypocrisy. In her next turn, she noted the united response of the blogosphere [it's your world, Abbi, we only post in it] to proposed FEC regulations of bloggers. She reported that the proprietors of DailyKos and RedState were scheduled to testify before Congress on the subject. She also explained that blogs often do engage in this kind of activity, noting that Atrios had links to the Democratic site for donations to Howard Dean.

In the second part, Ms. Tatton (oh, how I love typing that name!) followed on Jacki's discussion of the Live 8 concert, noting that organizer Bob Geldof is using Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi to involve the bloggers. She revealed that Geldof participated in conference calls to engage their interest, noting that one blogger (with a name apparently involving "Independent" - the transcript seems not to have transcribed it accurately) had done so gainfully. Lastly, she announced that Trippi had been working with Powerline, who announced that there were a limited number of press credentials for bloggers at the concert, and also the summit following it.

Well, there you have it. It's good to be back, that's for sure (even if I'm only cribbing the transcripts for the time being). But I do it so you don't millions don't have to. A million Abbi fans can't be wrong.

Welcome back . . . welcome back welcome back welcome back

2005-06-27T18:20:00.000-07:00

Well, as the title of this post says, welcome back. It's been quite some time since I have been able to post a new substantive post. I had been running out of ways to apologetically explain why it was taking so long to get back online. All that drama is not very interesting, so one last time I apologize for the haphazard, slipshod coverage of late. Ms. Tatton deserves better, and her fans by association do as well.

Anyway, let's get back to the real fun, since that is the part we all love: covering the doings of Ms. Abbi Tatton, reporter extraordinaire, currently starring in a long-running engagement on CNN's Inside Politics. She co-hosts a little number called Inside the Blogs that never fails to bring the house down. She consistently steals the show, and is the epitome of the young up-and-coming star (Lindsay Lohan got nuthin' on her). Of course, Ms. Tatton is not just another pretty face. To emphasize that, we have been focusing on her words, to highlight the utter respect we hold her in. After all, the brain is the biggest sex organ there is. What would we know of appreciation if we failed to recognize that? So it is that we discuss Ms. Tatton's words and deeds, as they exponentially increase her charm. In fairness, I should credit the CNN transcript website for my being able to do so [I post so you won't have to go searching]. Forthwith:

Today, Ms. Tatton picked up the discussion of the Supreme Court's final rulings of the term by noting that while bloggers usually go to mainstream sources for updates, they turn to ScotusBlog.com, a site run by the Supreme Court advocacy firm Goldstein Howe. She noted that they have a reporter for the site, and highlighted several cases featured on the site. During this, she said, referring to some tool for highlighting info on the site: "I know, you know I love this tool here." Was it to Jacki? To the audience? I can't say from the transcript. But it was a delectable bit of letting her hair down and displaying a true warmth and comfort. How fun it would be to know what else she loves. Which colors Movies? Songs? Flavors of ice cream? Drinks? Foods in general? Perhaps I'll think about it and start making guesses. Anyway, getting back to business, Ms. Tatton used the tool to point out the discussion of the file-sharing case. After her co-host Jacki's turn, Ms. Tatton turned to the two Ten Commandments cases, describing the wealth of discussion. She cited The Carpetbagger Report, which called the rulings a mixed bag, and The Conservative Corner (that's the name, but damned if I can find what the URL is - sorry), who she noted were having fun with the justices' wishy-washiness by suggesting the days of the week might decide when these displays are ok or not.

During the second segment, Ms. Tatton after a lead-in cited The Truth Laid Bear, noting its division into the most popular topics, most notably Iraq. After Jacki's turn, she also mentioned Bloggers in Iraq and From My Position (although she called it by its URL), and noted how the author had been injured but was expected to be back soon. She also noted they all ("us included") hoped he got better - imagine how recuperative a get-well-soon wish from Ms. Tatton would be. Almost worth getting sick for. What a dear she is.

Anyway, that was it, and she signed it back over to Candy Crowley. A pretty good day to be back, I think. Of course, with Ms. Tatton, how could one go wrong? One couldn't. Anyway, thanks again for the patience, and things will only get better from here. Farewell.

There is much chaos under heaven, and all is well

2005-06-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

Today's post comes from a Chinese saying I once read, which really makes little sense, except if to say "Don't worry." And fellow fans of the unique, notable, well-spoken, polite, and entertaining co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics (who is named Ms. Abbi Tatton - could she go by any other name?) need not worry. That is because, while I still am unable to catch the show, the first ray of light in more than a week has appeared.

Yes, it has been a long hard road of late, hasn't it? I have missed an unprecedented 7 days worth of segments. Were this high school, Ms. Tatton would burst out laughing at any suggestion that she accompany me to the prom, and head straight for the captain of the football team instead. Such is my woeful condition. I probably stayed away from posting longer than I should have, just so I wouldn't have to face the shame of having nothing new to report. But (legal) wheels are turning to alleviate the situation, and in the meantime, I have found a way to update without seeing the show.

The answer was so obvious I can't believe I didn't think of it before: read the transcripts. Duh! Since I can find the transcripts, I can just read them and post here for the convenience of my like-minded aficionados. Sure I can't see the segment, but my experiment of focusing only on Ms. Tatton's will not be affected by only reading the words.

Needless to say, this means I have missed a tremendous amount unnecessarily. I prefer to just accept that I am not perfect and let it go, although I will make three observances from the past material I read. One, they seem to skip the second segment sometimes; either that or the transcript is simply incomplete. We'll have to wait to find out more on that. Two, many of the blogs Ms. Tatton mentioned were ones that have been regular contributors to her segments, so those of you keeping track need not feel you missed any big new thing. Actually, I was reading a column on blogs on the Washington Post website and many of those mentioned had been highlighted at one time or another by Ms. Tatton. Now I don't know if there's Nielsen ratings for blogs or what that they used, but I bet the daily segments by our intrepid reporter are having an impact. Third, and this is the thing I most wish I could have seen, during one segment on an online poll of potential presidential candidates, Ms. Tatton noted that the second biggest vote-getter was "No frickin' clue." Imagine how cute she must have sounded repeating a mild curseword like that. I wish I had the soundbite as a ringtone. I bet when she said it, the endearingly modest and impeccably mannered Ms. Tatton blushed ever so slightly and perhaps held a hand over her delicate mouth in minor embarrassment. I bet she did.

So tomorrow look forward to the first update in a week and a half. Quite a day, huh? I should do something to celebrate. But I humbly offer this renewed site as a tribute to the vision of feminine ideal alighting across the nation's tv sets every day around 4:22 p.m.

P.S. Why oh why did they have to cancel The Capital Gang? I liked that show. What's wrong with having one show of people discussing current events? Having someone like Ms. Tatton on staff makes up for an awful lot, but still...

It's been a while

2005-06-22T18:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've updated - sorry, I just managed to post bail today. Just kidding. But actually, I have given up on my earlier plan as too foolish. Sadly, that means the whole week will probably go by before I can catch the segment again. As you know, this is a site devoted (and I mean devoted) to the co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics, a woman of inestimable grace and charm named Abbi Tatton. My failure to post is disgraceful. If this were some primitive, agrarian based culture, her parents would not even let me walk by their hut. I would have shown myself incapable of growing crops and being a provider. The modern equivalent of my failure, of course, is posting here.

Why is it so hard for me? While I don't want to get too detailed, I do want to dispel any fears a certain tv personality may be entertaining that my ardor for her daily reports has cooled. The truth is simple that there is no tv access in my building, and I am at a loss as to where I could find it nearby (that wouldn't mind me sitting and scribbling furiously). There are several things that combine to frustrate me: CNN is rarely the channel on, the sound/closed captioning is off, you can't get close and hang around. You see what I'm up against. But hopefully the knowledge that I tried will be comforting enough (if she even knows this site exists).

Soon, soon. I know I have been saying that for a while now, but I have always thought it was true and still do. And when that day comes, oh the joy. You'll see.

My best is far from good enough

2005-06-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

Well, if you are a fan of the co-host of Inside Politics's segment Inside the Blogs, Ms. Abbi Tatton, (and if you have any sense you are), you probably have been deeply frustrated by the lack of updates lately. Probably Ms. Tatton, if she even knows about this blog, has tearfully given up all hope of having a fan site of her own. I can imagine it: she's lying on her bed with her face buried in the overstuffed pillows, while her mom or sister or friend strokes her back while reassuring her:

"My life is over! I'll never get another blog about me now!"
"Don't say that - of course you will!"
"But this guy couldn't even watch the show for two measly days! What kind of excuse is that?! Boo-hoo-hoo!"
"Here, take my hankie. Some other blogger will come along and make a site about you, I just know it!"
"You're only saying that because you're trying to make me feel better!"
"I'm saying it because it's true! You'll get a real site, by someone who actually knows the terms for clothes, and you'll have the best blog site of any newscaster! You'll see!"
"You really think so? *sniff*"
"I know so - now how about we go for a big sinful chocolate ice cream?"
"*sniff* You're such a good mom/sister/friend. You're right - who needs that loser anyway? He didn't even know how to spell Jacki's name for the first two weeks! Forget him. Now let's go - and I'm getting sprinkles."

I fear that is all too close to reality. And who could blame her? To say I have given a substandard performance this week would be charitable. But now I have managed to concoct a hare-brained, ill-advised, perhaps dangerous way of catching the show. All in a day's work for a humble knight in Ms. Tatton's service. Anyway, providing I can figure out basic electronics and no one comes back unexpectedly, I should be able to start updating again Monday. Hopefully. But in the meantime, show a little faith and hold on - it's always darkest before the dawn.

O that awful deepdown torrent

2005-06-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

Once again I have failed to meet the basic obligations of any self-respecting follower of the flower of the mountain of daytime news reportage, Ms. Abbi Tatton of CNN's Inside Politics. And sadly, I'm going to fail once again tomorrow. Oh, how I tried! Rage on against the dying of the light, wrote Dylan Thomas (another Irishman wrote this post's title - can you guess who?). I raged on against the missing of the tv show. But there was nothing I could do. On the bright side, it will only be two days gone. Hopefully by Monday I can figure out a new way to make the scene, so to speak. Because Inside the Blogs is the most happening segment around. And it would be a slap in the face to dear Ms. Tatton to miss the show any more. I hope she will understand. I know - I am an inferior blogger. I bet Ms. Tatton is stamping her foot, crossing her arms, and archly noting that Sasha Johnson's blogger doesn't miss days. Well, I'm sorry. But even though you may fail, you should still shoot for the stars. That way, you end up farther than you would have otherwise. Ms. Tatton deserves a lot of praise. I may fall flat on my face sometimes, but it's still more worthwhile. That is one true thing I said in my life.

The sun shines for you, Ms. Tatton, and so does this blog. We'll be back, soon enough. Yes I said yes I will yes.

One additional note...

2005-06-15T19:25:00.000-07:00

Forgot to mention this below, but due to some abrupt changes in my schedule, there may not - well, there probably will not - be a post tomorrow, unless I walk by a tv store at the right time. Posting may be irregular for a short while. I will do my best to get back on track - I want to post as badly as you want to read them. Um, maybe I should rephrase that. Anyway, you know what I mean. Sorry for being so flaky but it can't be helped. I am unworthy to even use Ms. Tatton's name - maybe I should call her Ms. T-tt-n. Anyway, like I said, I promise to do my best and not miss too many segments. I will go the extra mile to figure out a way around the problem. Rest assured there is no more dedicated crusader than I.

More than just a pretty face

2005-06-15T18:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome back to another day in the life of the segment Inside the Blogs, which appears every day on CNN's Inside Politics. This segment is notable for several reasons, chief among which being the co-host, a certain Ms. Abbi Tatton. When she speaks, people listen.

We are focusing especially hard on that lately. It seems we've (I've) been treating Ms. Tatton too much like just another pretty face. She deserves proper respect for the hard work she does, and doesn't deserve to succeed or fail based on how good her outfit looks. Not that that was quite what I had been doing, but I still feel I need to do more to appreciate fully the hard work Ms. Tatton does on a daily basis.

That work was especially evident today. She picked up from her co-host Jacki's coverage of a burgeoning story surrounding Representative Duke Cunningham and a sale of some real estate he made with a government contractor. Ms. Tatton, continuing a thread that Jacki started on the implausibility of Cunningham's protestations, cited a blog at Blogspot whose name I couldn't catch - she read off its bemused quotation of Cunningham saying he'd never smoked a marijuana cigarette; perhaps it was Roger Ailes but I don't know - anyway, it had a picture of the representative. Sorry for my substandard reporting. Ms. Tatton zipped along, next showcasing San Diego Pol, which continued the scoffing. Next was The QandO Blog, which noted that Duke got a really good price. Sorry again, but I can't read my writing and I don't know what the next blog mentioned is called: it looks like I wrote Infectious Breed but that does not come up as any existing site. How dumb that sounds. I apologize to Ms. Tatton for being a miserable failure at taking notes of the work she clearly values highly. It is a disgraceful way to show my appreciation. Anyway, she noted that whatever the blog is lists real estate prices in the Del Mar area in question, then asks sarcastically, "Did they fall?" Ms. Tatton then turned to right wing blogs, specfically Right Wing News, which opined that Cunningham may be honest but maybe not smart enough to be in office if he couldn't see there might be an improper appearance.

Ms. Tatton then moved on to a whole new subject: the recently released Terri Schiavo autopsy. She said she had checked in to see what some of the conservative blogs that had been suggesting she might be capable of recovery were saying. But as she showed us, she found that BlogsforTerri had only posted the autopsy results without comment. She moved on to Crooks and Liars, which suggested Bill Frist must be a terrible doctor for misdiagnosing her, and wondered if the right would apologize.

Lastly, in the second segment, Ms. Tatton described a trend of videobloggers who post videos of what they wrote about. She cited Dembloggers as an example. She added that the people behind it were heading to DC to conduct interviews with people, including Representative John Conyers. She then mentioned Jackson's Junction, which teamed up with Red State Rant to interview Newt Gingrich. She described the process as readers sending in question suggestions, then they selected 10. She concluded by noting that it is hoped to be the first in a series, and there are more coming.

With that, she handed it back to Suzanna Malveaux, who has hosted the past few days. Whew - that was a fast and furious segment. I feel badly for not being able to keep up. Clearly Ms. Tatton is on a higher order of professionalism (we all knew that). Adieu.

Goodbye, superficiality

2005-06-14T18:45:00.000-07:00

Well, a day later than usual, the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics returned, as did this blog's raison d'etre, a young anchor/producer/reporter by the name of Abbi Tatton.

As a brief aside, apparently whenever there's a post with significant amounts of italics, the sidebar for some reason drops to the bottom of the page. I'm expecting it to come back once the post in question drops off the page.

Today is also the day to unveil the new format. You see, I realized I was making a terrible mistake. Ms. Tatton is not some Barbie doll, who is just to be stashed away on some shelf and do nothing but look pretty, or amuse us with a cute British accent, or any of that shallowness. Ms. Tatton is a smart, intelligent, hard-working, modern woman who deserves - nay, demands - respect without regard to empty things like personal looks or fashion. Would you ever devote so much of that kind of attention to a male anchor? I think not. Poor Ms. Tatton has been valiantly disproving conventional notions of women on a daily basis, but this blog still has to talk about her hair or jewelry like some boorish drunken businessman. For shame, for shame!

The time has come to turn away my former self. Now, I'm only going to focus on the things Ms. Tatton wants us to focus on: the blogs and what they have to say. I've been shortchanging what is important to her. It's like someone making a mobile for you and only thanking them for the company. So to make it up, I'll not write about what she wore, how she looked during the teasers, or any other superficial thing. The new format will only write about what she talked about during her segments, because Ms. Tatton deserves to set out the rules by which she is presented to the public. And what she clearly is trying to present to us are blogs.

So, in her segment, Ms. Tatton picked up a report by her co-host Jacki regarding some comments that the so-called Downing Street memo was no smoking gun. Ms. Tatton pointed out that liberal bloggers begged to differ, asserting that the memo is a smoking gun. She described how a group of bloggers at Daily Kos had been complaining about the lack of attention or ads regarding the memo, and therefore started The Downing Street Memo, which has information about the issue and identifies the players. Ms. Tatton explained that the group wants to get a congressional inquiry and mainstream media attention. Ms. Tatton then transitioned to Think Progress, which contains more information to help explain the controversy, specifically British briefing papers about the issue. Ms. Tatton recounted how the site urges the U.S. media to be more aggressive in its reporting on the subject, noting that the British media had held this debate back in September. As a contrast to the liberal blogs, Ms. Tatton lastly quoted from Andrew Sullivan, who wrote that he was underwhelmed by the whole thing and, in a reference to one aspect of the controversy, was amazed that 3 government officials managed to "get it right." In the second part, Ms. Tatton highlighted Tcoverride, a blog by a soldier in Iraq. She pointed out features of the blog, such as Day in the Life sections, descriptions of patrolling houses and highways, using portajohns, and the blogger's sadness at missing his daughter's birthday. That concluded the segment.

My apologies to Ms. Tatton for any shallowness I may have displayed, and hopefully by cutting out this extraneous stuff, I have re-focused the blog on Ms. Tatton's work, which speaks for itself. This blog stands in humble tribute...

If they say why? why? tell 'em that it's human nature

2005-06-13T16:31:00.000-07:00

Well, Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics got pre-empted today for the Michael Jackson verdict. Three whole days without a glimpse of the divine Ms. Abbi Tatton! How much can one person take?? Guess there's nothing I can do except bide my time. Maybe I'll look through fashion catalogues or read some British literature - anything to fill the void she left. Hurry Tuesday...

Oo oo, Jacki's blue?

2005-06-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

Dear Jacki,

It’s four in the afternoon, the second week of June. I’m writing you now just to explain a few things. The District is hot, but I like where I’m living. There’s things to do all through the evening.

Jacki, I may not know much about women, but I do know that everyone wants to feel appreciated. You sit and cover the blogs with Abbi, you take the lead most days, you are a pretty and bright young woman: so it must sometimes cross your mind why only Abbi gets a blog about her. Maybe you wonder if you aren’t pretty enough or smart enough or popular enough. Don’t worry; you are. You make a good partner for Abbi and it just wouldn’t be the same without you, and I don’t at all begrudge the time you take in the segment.

But you must know that there are some things that cannot be explained. Why does the sun rise each morning? Why do fools fall in love? Why did Shelley Long leave Cheers? No one knows the answers to these. And one other question that is impossible to explain is why we feel the things we do.

You see Jacki, you are a Carrie. Carrie is the lead, the protagonist; she’s the head. She gets to marry Mr. Big and have tons of adventures and be the center of attention. It’s her stories and drama that are topic A, and that’s fine. Her stories are interesting. She’s outgoing and hot and fun and smart and the kind that guys envy other guys over. She’s the one who would effortlessly float from table to table at a dinner party. But I prefer a Charlotte. Charlotte is the friend, the quiet one, the sweet, retiring one. She is shy and polite, and sure no one needs or wants to hear her stories and drama, however interesting. The one who needs to be drawn out, the one who makes you watch what you say and do more carefully. The one who insists on more, but who gives a greater reward for doing so.

So it’s just one of those things, a thing that can’t be explained. Charlotte is Charlotte and Carrie is Carrie, and Abbi is Abbi, and you are the friend. But I hope you keep being the friend, because any friend of hers can consider themselves a friend of mine. I hope you have a good laugh over this with her and share and enjoy it, because while I’ll keep paying tribute to her, I’ll always have a kind thought for you and wish you well.

Sincerely, iluvabbitatton

Pretty pink, baby blue

2005-06-10T14:04:00.000-07:00

It's the last day of the week, so it's also the final installment of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics, with the shapely Ms. Abbi Tatton as a co-host. Ah, to seek, to strive, to endure, all while secure in the knowledge that true beauty still exists in the world. What a wonderful thing. Sorry, my blood sugar is peaking.

They had three teasers today, as seems to be the new standard, what with the second segment and all. We can never have too many sightings of the darling Ms. Tatton. All had basic shots of the anchors at their table. In the first, she could be seen writing, then sweeping her hand through the back of her hair. Oh, to be that hand , that one might be swept through that hair! Ahem. In the second, she maintained a world-weary semi-frown as she sat waiting for the show to get underway. So cool under pressure. Those big klieg lights must be nerve-wracking. In the third, I would describe the look on her face as "smilingly bored." A person less professional might be nervous, but not her.

Ms. Tatton's outfit inspires the second part of today's post title. It started with a light blue top that was exquisite in its feminine charms. Blue is my favorite color, and this blue - so light, so carefree, so imbued with a je ne sais quoi - sorry, the blood sugar. It was a half-sleeve, with a refeshingly simple circular collar. This was accompanied by a white skirt. The white of the skirt was brilliant and clear - it's amazing how Ms. Tatton always manages to have clothes with the most vivid colors. The skirt was somewhat shorter than usual - slightly above the knee. It wasn't one of those ruffled or tiered or pleated skirts; just a regular skirt with a gradual flaring-out towards the bottom, if you follow me. As always, the shoes were hard to spot, but they appeared to be white, low-heels with no ankle straps or anything. Very flirty, the whole outfit. Perhaps tapas at that Spanish place near Chinatown are in the offing.

There were actually only two blogs covered today, due to Jacki taking the lead in reporting and needing to explain the background to one story (fair enough). The blog in the first segment was 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America, about a controversial plan to put a museum on the site of Ground Zero (with links to others complaining about it too); and in the second Joshua Micah Marshall, about Ohio's "Coingate", with reference to his sister site and assorted links there. After all the material recently, a refreshingly light load for a Friday.

Well, as forewarned, next week will see a temporary new format to the posts, which I feel may be a more suitable homage to Ms. Tatton. I'm always looking for ways to improve. See you then.

Too pretty for words

2005-06-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

Today marked the second to last installment for the week of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics, which is co-hosted by a notable personage by the name of Ms. Abbi Tatton. It has been remarked that Ms. Tatton is rather good-looking, by a wide range of people, so by any journalistic standard it must be true.

Today we conclusively got the answer to a question which I at least had been trying to nail down: which hand Ms. Tatton uses to write with. Well, the answer is her right. Yes, that had been what I thought it was, but I managed to take notice today to properly verify. I hadn't before for the obvious reason: when looking at a beautiful woman, I lose all sense and become a clueless dolt. I once just wandered away from a girl who was trying to talk to (hit on) me because I was so dumbfounded by her presence (it was in high school but I still feel badly). So you can imagine how hard it is to keep my wits about me when scribbling down information about Ms. Tatton for this blog. But I try.

They didn't mention a second segment today like they did yesterday, which incorrectly lead to me believe there wouldn't be one, possibly due to pre-emption. My mistake. They did have the intro though, and Dana Bash hosted the show again (so much for rotating anchors).

In the teaser watch: the first had an extreme close-up of the CNN logo mounted on some kind of cloth-looking thing, making me briefly wonder if it was a close-up of someone's shirt. The camera pulled back to show the two anchors of the segment sitting sedately at their table. The second teaser swept up from the logo on the front side of the table, showing Ms. Tatton writing away and checking some other piece of paper. Such a serious young woman - I hope she treats herself when she gets home. Maybe a strawberry-banana smoothie while lounging on the couch. Don't ask me where that came from. The third teaser for the second segment was like the first: them sitting quietly.

Ms. Tatton's outfit was another home run. She was wearing a purple top, and that color perfectly suits her. I really can't say enough good about it - something about the richness of the color that matches her dark hair and warm hue of her skin. Very nice. The top seemed heavy enough to be a jacket, but really was like a shirt. I suspect Ms. Tatton prefers the layered look. Due to the pretty-woman syndrome I just described (and also because they only show her briefly before cutting to the computer screen and putting a little insert of her face up in the corner) I needed the second segment to get a good look at it. It had long, somewhat wide lapels, and was either closed or buttoned up while leaving plenty of room to show off the white top underneath, like a man's suit jacket. I think the sleeves were almost full-length. The flawless white top made a nice contrast to the dark of the purple. The top made a gently sloping V down and then up as it moved across the chest. For pants, Ms. Tatton wore black capris, which again showed off her modelesque calves. I got good glimpses of her shoes in the second round: they were black heels with a webbing of toe straps. I've always liked that style of several straps that simultaneously reveal and cover the front of the foot. It's a very flirty look, I feel.

One other thing that was notable was Ms. Tatton's hair. It is always well-done, but today there was a certain body to it, and a certain wild beauty to it. Normally it is demurely tucked behind her ear, but there was a lock over her right ear and a slight upcurl to one of the ends that lent a mussed sultriness to her. It's little things like this that true aficionados notice.

The blogs covered Chrenkoff, commenting on liberals' "gulag" and "Hitler" references; Decision08, suggesting no one ever reference Stalin, gulags, Hitler, or the Holocaust; Atrios, about encouraging donations to the DNC; and in the second segment some website I thought was called Draft Prado, encouraging the Supreme Court nomination of a Judge Prado; and the Volokh Conspiracy (I think), with something else about Supreme Court nominations (I know, a weak effort on the second segment - I'll try to do better).

There's been quite a bit to discuss lately, as is only natural with a muse like Ms. Tatton. Again, I am trying a new format for a week, starting next week, so enjoy this one while it lasts. I'm sure I'll only change for a week, but I think it would be a good thing to try. Maybe I'll explain tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Twice as nice

2005-06-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another installment on the site devoted to the fairest of them all, Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics. Before we get underway, there's some things to cover.

First, offers of pictures are greatly appreciated (so thank you), and an e-mail address is posted in the profile section, so feel free to send any pictures whenever you like. Second, I was wrong when I said the new host of Inside Politics was John King; apparently, they will rotate (why Candy Crowley didn't just get chosen, I don't know). Third, the show for the time being (i.e., until it gets cancelled) is an hour and a half long. So I missed the last third yesterday.

Why does this third thing matter? Because today I was shocked to hear Jacki say she and my favorite anchorwoman would be returning in the last half-hour for more blogging. I heard them say yesterday CNN would show the Bush/Blair press conference, so I don't think there was another one then, but there probably was on Monday. Needless to say, this is a welcome surprise. It's the best double treat since I had my first kiss while watching Star Wars. I wonder if it is practice for more scattered segments after the new format debuts. I hope not, since it's hard enough tuning in now. If they get any more scattered, I'll have to get a VCR and just set it to tape from 3 to 6.

Anyway, let's go back to the usual coverage. The first teaser seemed to be just a voiceover, but then they very quickly showed the two anchors at their table. It looked like they weren't even aware they were on: Ms. Tatton was flipping some pages and Jacki had her head down reading something. The second teaser swung out from directly behind Ms. Tatton (momentarily confusing me as to which side they were shooting from), then lead over to the table. The one teaser for the second part of the segment had them simply sitting and waiting.

Ms. Tatton was wearing a very springy outfit, suiting the 90+ temperatures today. It began with a very light pink blouse. The sleeves were almost full-length but left some exposed forearm. The collar was of the regular design. The blouse was accompanied by very light pants; I believe they were white, or perhaps an off-white actually. These extended to a length just past her knees. Her shoes were again hard to see (big surprise), but seemed to be flat and hanging down from the front of the foot, rather like a flip-flop. They were a whitish color. But those observations are pretty much all I could get. As for the jewelry watch, there have been no sightings of late.

The blogs covered were MyDD, about Dean's comments on the homogeneity of the GOP; RedState, about Dean's overlooking some asian republicans; Suburban Guerilla, about the government giving Big Tobacco a pass; Crooks and Liars, about some dangerous person who managed to get through border security; and in the second segment some blog whose title in German means Freedom and Knowledge (by someone at the University of Chicago), about the Downing Street Memo of Bush's Iraq war plans; and ConyersBlog, about Rep. John Conyer's efforts to raise the issue. The German language blog lead to a joke by Jacki that she didn't know Ms. Tatton spoke German, which Ms. Tatton smilingly knowledged.

Quite a full roster, even without the second round. I notice the segment seems to be just a little eariler nowadays too. And again may I remark on how cute Ms. Tatton looks when she turns to look back at the camera as they finish the segment and go back to the main host. She always has the prettiest little smile then. So nice.

Well, that's that for today. In the same issue of Roll Call as Stuart Rothenberg's silly attack on the blog coverage, I seem to recall Trent Lott saying that the judge deal had an "understanding" that "some [judges] would not go through." Which seems like big news to me, but no one seems to notice or care. Anyway, perhaps the blogs will talk about it soon. Just my two cents - I should stick to the main subject, I know. Till manana (see, I know Spanish).

Back in the saddle

2005-06-07T14:04:00.000-07:00

Well, after 4 whole days away, the world's greatest tribute to the world's greatest tv host has returned. If you've been living in a cave lately, that host I'm referring to is the dear, sweet, lovely Ms. Abbi Tatton, co-host of the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics.

I was away on Friday, when it was Judy Woodruff's last day hosting the show. From what I heard about it, it was a retrospective of her career and I assume (I hope) there were no Abbi sightings. Naturally, I'll be inconsolable if there were. I also missed yesterday's show (due to happier circumstances), so I was anxious to find out who the new host would be. Sure, in the back of my mind I imagined Ms. Tatton (ok, in the front of my mind). I also wondered if the blog segment would be continuing.

Well, today I got my answers. Apparently the new host is John King, whose reporting I like for its logical organization of information (I hate it when they jump around). And the blog segment was there. Who knows what I missed yesterday: probably more of the same things I worried about on Thursday. But that's water under the bridge (which I actually think is the least comforting aphorism ever). But here's the latest:

They only had one teaser today: a shot from off by Jacki's side up (enough prepositions there for ya?). Ms. Tatton could be seeing glancing businesslike off to her side, as if matter-of-factly checking on the status of the segment. They also did not have the introduction that had been recently added; perhaps John King decreed it took up too much time [just goofing around Johnny].

When they cut to the segment, Ms. Tatton looked radiant. It was like in those movies when someone wakes up from being unconscious and sees someone standing over them like an angel, with light flowing out from behind them. She looked angelic. This was surely caused by the bright smile she had, and also the light-colored top she wore. Her face too seemed bright, but as the segment progressed, it appeared the camera had the lighting wrong and the shots were washed out. That's like looking at the Mona Lisa by the light of a Zippo. Anyway, she was wearing a gray ankle-length skirt (at first I thought it was tan, but I think I was wrong). Her shoes were some of my favorites: silvery-looking, with a simple strap across the foot. They were heels, but the short kind, and looked (from the quick glimpse I got) like they had no ankle straps. Very elegant, very classy. Her top was a plain cotton (I guess) shirt with almost-full sleeves. The collar was somewhat wide: it made its circuit of her neck almost halfway across her shoulders. It also had a sort of rectangular cut to it, if that makes any sense. Now the color: I was hard-pressed to describe it, but it was (I think) a light peach. It had qualities of yellow and orange, but I feel peach is correct. Anyway, it seemed new and the color looked great on her. As I already said, her face seemed bright too, so I thought maybe she had been sunbathing (the thought of that is too magnificent to truly hold in one's mind). But the camerawork seemed to be the culprit.

Ms. Tatton covered Powerline, PoliPundit, and the Left Coaster, all about Kerry's releasing his military and academic records; and One America, about John Edwards's comments about Howard Dean.

Well, that was the first update in this post-Judy world. I have decided to try an experiment next week that may be better in keeping with a tribute to the modest but not modestly gifted Ms. Tatton. So stay tuned.

Finality

2005-06-07T13:36:00.000-07:00

For reasons that need not be discussed, I have been thinking about finality of late. As it relates to the topic of this blog, it is far too real for my liking. That is because I have found out that Inside Politics is due to be cancelled. I had actually heard this before, but chose to pretend I hadn't. But I read about it in a column by Stuart Rothenberg in Roll Call, and it's time to face reality. I agree with the main point he made: it shouldn't be cancelled. The show is great and perfectly justifiable. They have shows devoted to lots of other topics; why not politics? Fox's Special Report with Brit Hume is basically their version of Inside Politics, so why can't CNN have one too? The changes that seem to be being made aren't the greatest. Crossfire gets canceled for being a "shoutfest", which is like criticizing a roller coaster for being scary. It's supposed to be; that's the whole point and the appeal. Sure, you don't want every show like that, but it's fun to have one where they throw manners out the window. The end of Inside Politics, in favor of a 3 hour show with political news integrated into it, is just another dumb idea. But after seeing how they let their prime-time lineup of hosts blather on instead of just reporting the news straight, I guess that's to be expected.

One thing, however, that Rothenberg wrote I must protest. Among his criticisms, he said they had added an "embarrassing segment" about blogs on the show. He said anyone who cares enough to want to know what the blogs said would read them on their own, which is like saying anyone who cares enough about Iraq to know what's going on would just go find out themselves. The segment Ms. Tatton and Ms. Schechner host is an excellent example of up-to-date, relevant journalism. Kudos to whoever thought it up, because it is the sort of serious, intelligent, professional choice in reporting that distinguishes CNN. One need only consider that MSNBC apparently has "Blogger Buzz" as a way of catching up. Mr. Rothenberg's criticism is like Steve Allen making fun of rock music in the 50s: it will go down as one of the least prophetic things ever said.

So I have no idea what will become of dear Ms. Tatton. According to Rothenberg, CNN will maintain its coverage of the blogosphere. So maybe we'll still have Inside the Blogs, hopefully at a regular time. All we can do is wait and see.

Short week, part three

2005-06-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

Welcome to this week's last post on the world's premier site dedicated to the lovely Abbi Tatton, co-host of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics. By the way, I'm happy that my sidebar has finally returned to the proper place, instead of being way at the bottom, forcing me to scroll down when making sure I don't duplicate post titles. Let's get started:

They had two teasers today, this time showing the co-hosts at their table instead of a news clip. The first one showed Ms. Tatton sitting there with her head resting delicately on her hand, and extending her arm forward, in seeming conversation with her co-host Jacki. Oh, those arms - they are the very picture of pinkish fleshy healthiness. Yes, I know "fleshy" is not one single color, but I'm using it in the old un-p.c. Crayola way for lack of being able to think of another word. The second teaser cut in with no preceding teasers of upcoming stories, perhaps explaining why Ms. Tatton was drinking from a white styrofoam cup which she put down, and then tossed her head in a thrilling fashion. Jacki could be seen chuckling, perhaps at their being caught unawares. For some reason I imagine Ms. Tatton drinking from a cup, suddenly spotting the camera, then spitting out her water in surprise. That would be really funny, and very cute too. Sorry for being so weird.

Ms. Tatton's outfit was a classic. It was a black skirt that looked about knee-length, a black half-sleeve v-neck top, and a white top underneath making a straight line across the v-neck, so as to form a mini-v in white. Does that make sense? Her shoes were again hard to see, but black and the toes looked rather pointy, so I'm guessing they were heels and not simple dressy shoes. I looked and am pretty sure there were no watches or bracelets or anything on her arms (once again, lovely forearms she has). But the magical necklace with the silver square returned. Having studied it, I can't be sure if the corners are rounded or not, but it generally conforms to being a square. It suits Ms. Tatton's swan-like neck well. One other thing that struck me today: Ms. Tatton's hair appeared especially pretty. I know even less about describing hair than clothes, so I won't bother too lengthy a description, but her hair is usually slightly parted. The hair to her right side appeared today to be fresh from a curling iron or something, because the ends formed a sizable ringlet down near the nape of her neck. Very pretty. There didn't seem like any particular reason for it (such as a new haircut); just one of those good hair days I think.

When the actual segment started, Ms. Tatton gave the camera the most sincere smile, before Jacki got underway. Lucky for us, since she spoke to Jacki instead of the camera during the actual substance. The blogs covered were Samizdata, about the death of the European Constitution; and Tapped, about John Edwards's efforts to connect with the blogging community.

At the end there was an interesting coda. Jacki made a comment to Judy about wondering what they had at dinner, and then thanked Judy for the enjoyable working environment. Ms. Tatton also thanked Judy, recalling how fun it was reporting from the road with her last year. This leads me to believe tomorrow is Judy Woodruff's last day on Inside Politics (and that she had a farewell dinner, to which Jacki at least didn't go), although why they didn't save the goodbyes till then, I don't know. Maybe there's no blog coverage tomorrow. As I have said before, I won't be around, but what I imagined missing - hearing you-know-who say her goodbyes and making small talk (possibly even about a party) - I seem to have heard. So I guess I can miss it without worry. Of course, having said that, now there'll be something interesting: Ms. Tatton will debut a new piece of jewelry, or offhandedly say, "Oh, my square necklace fell off! I got it for my sweet sixteen, you know." Or maybe she'll announce she's also moving on, to some other channel and I'll have to flip around till I find it, or possibly she'll be congratulated for getting engaged. Or maybe Jacki, as a joke, will at the end of the segment bring up one last blog, this one, causing Ms. Tatton to blush and cover her head in mock embarrassment. Yes, many things I could miss, tomorrow or Monday. Guess I'll just have to risk it. After all, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Cold comfort, I'm afraid.

Short week, part two

2005-06-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

Welcome to hump day of a short week of everyone's favorite (if they know what's good for them) hobby: Abbi-gazing. I refer of course to the co-host of CNN's Inside Politics's segment, Inside the Blogs, a young up-and-comer named Abbi Tatton. The week is short because, due to tragic circumstances (no joke), this author will be preoccupied Friday. Incidentally, I wonder if that day will be Judy Woodruff's last on the show? If so, maybe I should get my neighbor to tape it for me, seeing as I have no access to a VCR (and my own is broken). Quite a distressingly ordinary post so far huh?

So let's get to the good stuff: they had two teasers today but as with yesterday, the first one did not show the anchors. The second one began with a close-up of a CNN logo, then panned around exactly behind Ms. Tatton, leaving her head in silhouette, before panning around for a quick profile shot. I guess maybe the anchors take turns over getting primo exposure. I can just imagine the camermen fighting over who gets to film Ms. Tatton. There's probably a waiting list in the tech room.

Ms. Tatton's outfit today was a return to earth tones. It's great how she can switch from bright colors to flatter hues and always look terrific. I recall some book or something that proposed to help women choose their "best" colors. I wonder which ones that process would select for Ms. Tatton. Quite frankly, I'm hard-pressed to imagine one that would not be good.

Anyway, her outfit consisted of dark shoes (not heels or anything), a tan ankle length skirt, a brown shirt-top, and a white top underneath. The brown top was truly earth-tone brown, and appeared to either button/zip up or be closed around the waist (it seemed rather taut around the waist so I'm not sure), only to open up in the upper chest area. It had flaps on the chest pockets, which seemed to glint somewhat, suggesting metal buttons (I first thought they were white), and had full length sleeves that were very form-fitting. The top as mentioned opened up in the chest area, and underneath was a white top; I have no idea what a "scoop neck" is (presumably something that sort of looks like a scoop), so I won't use the term, but anyway, this top had the typical gradual curve across the open area of the chest, and was of normal height as well. Actually, I imagine a scoop neck probably refers to a more pronounced curve than was the case today. Ah, how a female reading this must laugh.

Today also marked another appearance of the necklace that (forgive me) reminds me of a rosary, due to its apparent make-up of a series of linked beads, with a center line of beads coming down the front. I feel so insensitive describing in my usual bumbling manner things that must be meaningful to Ms. Tatton. But just watching on tv doesn't allow for much opportunity to see, so I do the best I can. As it stands, I will have to describe the necklace the best way I can, and that is by comparing it to a rosary (who knows, maybe it is a rosary, althought I don't recall from my years in Catholic school if you wear it around your neck or not - I thought you just carried it). Also, during the teaser, I thought I might have spotted an earring, but I am not standing by that. So far I have yet to spot any, although they're kind of hard to see if they're small. But given Ms. Tatton's general disdain for excessive ornamentation, I don't think I've missed any.

Jacki got the first and last word again today, as is more often the case (she's the "blog reporter" so she's supposed to take the lead, I surmise). Ms. Tatton covered Norlos, about Deep Throat's financial motivations for coming forward; a blog I thought contained the word Midlands, which had a post titled "Missouri Breaks" (sorry I don't know more), which had more about Deep Throat; and Oval Office 2008, a roundup of presidential contenders by a British blogger.

This last blog led to an observation by Ms. Tatton. I have noticed occasional flashes of informality by the two anchors, but her comment was as far as I know the first such bit of candor. Ms. Tatton said she felt like she covered a lot of UK blogs. The sweet, slightly embarrassed and modest way she said it was very becoming. I don't think it's true: they haven't covered many UK blogs - only when there's a UK story, and she naturally enough is the one to cover those. The comment reminded me once again of the mystery surrounding Ms. Tatton's own UK connection; perhaps it was what led to her bit of self-reflection.

Well, for a short week, the posts have been pretty long, which is always nice. Best wishes.

Short week, part one

2005-05-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

This week is very truncated: yesterday was Memorial Day, with no Inside the Blogs segment, and Friday (and next Monday) I will be away and unable to update. So savor the refinements of the dish Ms. Abbi Tatton now while you can.

Yes, the world's cutest news anchor returned today on CNN's Inside Politics. They had two teasers but only one showed the anchors - it slowly pulled back from a close-up of their desk, and one could see Ms. Tatton diligently typing away on her keyboard. No doubt making sure her items were fully up-to-date. Such a dedicated young journalist. I bet if she'd been around she'd've [I've always wanted to use that contraction in a sentence] been the one to get Deep Throat to spill the beans.

Ms. Tatton's outfit was cute as always: I'll start with her shoes. Earlier I had thought I'd seen some white shoes, and today there was a long-enough side shot to see I was correct. They were white, with a single strap delicately arching across the foot, very similar to a flip-flop strap. The heel was not that high, and there were no heel straps, so the shoes hung down from the foot as she sat. There's something about those type of heels: they are heels, but not that high, and they have some kind of elegance without being too "dressy" like a taller heel would. Whenever I see a woman wearing heels like that, it just gives a little thrill, seeing them somewhat slip down when the foot is raised, and hearing them click along the floor. Very nice, and something I am not at all surprised Ms. Tatton would have chosen. Her pants seemed dark, but for some reason I didn't think they were black: maybe dark dark gray? Hard to say. They came almost down full-length, with little inverse Vs in the side - a common enough flourish but still great. Ms. Tatton's top consisted of a white, very thin and delicate blouse, buttoned up halfway, and underneath a green top. This green top, which has appeared before, appears to be somewhat ruffled, which looks to spread out from a central stitching going down the center of the top. It makes a very wide-open V (almost a straight line but not) across the chest, and comes up just past the breasts. It is one of the more flattering tops. It also apparently has half sleeves, judging by the green showing through from under the sleeves (half sleeve, I think) of the thin white blouse. There was no jewelry visible. However, I did spot something else: the open patch of skin on Ms. Tatton's chest seemed a tad red; could it have been that she attended some outdoor activity, possibly involving fire, meat, drinks, and people, the day before (which was of course a holiday and one where she did not have a segment to do) and gotten a slight burn? Then again, it was kinda cloudy yesterday, so maybe I'm way off, or she got it Sunday. Sherlock Holmes would know; I, being merely Watson, do not.

They started the segment early today, around 4:22, so I was thinking it's be a long one, because of the whole Deep Throat thing (gee, think Washington would be interested in that story?) But actually, it was normal length, and they had more stuff after the segment, which usually closes the show. Anyway, Ms. Tatton covered Say Anything, wondering why Woodward would feel required to keep silent if Felt himself was admitting it; the Indepundit, wondering if Felt was just trying to cash in on the whole guessing game; and TPM Cafe, some group blog that has just been launched by the guy from the Talking Points Memo blog.

Well, that's it. Surprisingly more than I'd thought there was to discuss. But that is like Ms. Tatton: she is a never-ending source of interest.

A doughnut without a hole

2005-05-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

There was a truncated version of Inside Politics today on CNN, but there was no Inside the Blogs segment, sadly. I was walking in when they cut away from someone vaguely resembling Ms. Tatton from far away, but I think it was probably Kitty Pilgrim. Oh well. It's like eating your vegetables but getting no dessert. I wonder if Ms. Tatton still needed to show up for work - Judy Woodruff and Bill Schneider did. So many questions, and so few answers. Such is my fate, all too often.

Trolling the net

2005-05-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

Since last week I was pleasantly surprised to see this blog is (right now) the first item to come up when you do a google search for the dear Ms. Tatton, I thought I'd preserve the current state of things by seeing what other sites come up as well. That way, when cultural historians from the Abbi Tatton Historical League, way out in the year 2405, are compiling their multi-volume treatise on the beginning career of one of the most famous persons ever - reknowned throughout the world for her legendary beauty and talent, and serving as a role model for young girls everywhere (not to mention being the #1 pick for Halloween costumes for girls age 3 - 16, beating out Cinderella) - well, I just want to do my part to preserve the historical record. Imagine if only someone had done that for Socrates or some other second-rate (compared to Ms. Tatton) person. I'll just try to note the highlights, though, to save them some time.

So: typing "Abbi Tatton" into Google comes back with 81 hits (415 if you count those "omitted results", which are just within the main sites). Let's try to catalogue them:

First off is this blog, as well as several others that mention it, including one that says when it's updated and two that look like they're selling shares of it. Weird.

Two hits involving a paper entitled "Toxic Dumping by Formosa Plastics Group in Cambodia (CAMWASTE)", put out by the "TED Project" - something about trade and the environment - which seems to be associated with American University. Why does this come up? Because the draft author is listed as one Abbi Tatton, December 1999. Wonder if it's the real McCoy? I think it might be, since it is basically a reporter's kind of story.

A lot of sites with excerpts from when they were mentioned during the show. This is by far the largest category of hits - upwards of 50 or so are like this. One mentions being called by Ms. Tatton - lucky duck. For some reason, there's also a complete transcript of the show when Jacki was in New York at a blogger convention.

There's a story written by Ms. Tatton about the 2004 campaign's final stretch; apparently I missed some of her reporting from the road. In the article, she notes how "one host" was almost blown off her stool by strong winds. An amusing anecdote that further gives credence to my theory of Ms. Tatton as a fun gal at heart. [I recall at one time seeing another story having to do with Philadelphia that also had a picture of Ms. Tatton and a friend posing with cheesesteaks - no sight of it now. But it's nice to know she is down-to-earth enough to tuck into one of those notorious grease bombs. By the way, I saved the picture but it's in a format that I can't post with].

There are several sites commenting on the newness of the segment and offering a review, which seem to mainly express pleasant surprise that CNN's taking the blogs seriously enough to report on them. Some take the anchors to task for that, or at least for taking some blogs seriously. Some are obscene, and some say they cover too many conservative blogs. Some guy at Mass Right demonstrates his utter ignorance by panning everything about the hosts, down to their mannerisms. Clearly a moron.

A very interesting hit: a credits list for the show "K Street", which reveals that Ms. Tatton had a bit part on it. See? I knew she was destined for true fame. It says she played herself, and must have been the episode when Howard Dean went on CNN (the only one I didn't see, of course).

A site wondering if anyone recognizes that Ms. Tatton is the former floor manager of Crossfire.

Something that looks like a list of every newsperson authorized to use the House press gallery.

Wonkette jokingly calling for Ms. Tatton to moderate some blogger panel.

Hugh Hewitt, a conservative blogger, noting the anchors came by his book party at the Jefferson Hotel (his book is called Blog).

Something I can't figure out that apparently refers to video of Ms. Tatton - Don Imus and the Daily Show are also mentioned.

And that's it. Interesting selection, I suppose. Not nearly enough to do justice to Ms. Tatton, however. Give it time, give it time.

A pleasant end to the week

2005-05-27T13:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Friday, which means the last installment of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics for the week. But it has been a good week so one can't be too sad. Even though it means a whole weekend before another glimpse of the darling Abbi Tatton, co-hostess with the mostest.

The teasers today were pretty sedate: Ms. Tatton seemed to be typing in the first one (calling up a webpage in preparation for the segment, perhaps?). In the second she was holding a marker (for some reason she seems to use them; or at least I think so - they look too wide to be pens). Stupidly I didn't note what hand she uses; I'm still not 100% on that yet (I think she's a rightie).

After those capri pants from yesterday (once again, they were great), it was natural for Ms. Tatton to select a more demure outfit today. Wouldn't want to overdo things, now would we. But of course she still looked great in a casual, light choice of a light blue button-up half-sleeve blouse (the kind that is designed short so as not to be tucked in) and khaki pants. I've always liked that combo. It's so preppy-chic or something, I don't know. Anyway, the pants were full length. There were a few semi-views of her shoes, which appeared to be white or some light color like it, but aside from a few straps I didn't get much of a look.

And in what is one of my favorite things to comment on, Ms. Tatton displayed two pieces of jewelry today. One was a thin silver bracelet on her right wrist. Always a nice choice - watching it fall down to the mid-forearm when she raises her arm is a spectator sport par excellence. The other piece was a necklace that I don't recall seeing before today. It was one of those choker necklaces (the name sounds so distasteful) that is tight around one's neck. Ms. Tatton's appeared to be made of black (or at least dark) beads. Maybe there was some marblely quality to the beads because the necklace did seem to have hard-to-define spots of lightness amid the dark, which is why I am guessing it was made of beads. Is that logic circular? Whatever. But those choker necklaces have a playfully daring sort of je ne sais quoi. I think it is something only a mature young woman, confident of herself and of her dealings with the opposite sex, may wear successfully. How I see all that, I cannot say.

Due to some breaking news about the Michael Jackson trial, the segment seemed to end a little early. Ms. Tatton covered Proud Liberal and Jay Reding, about John Thune's not voting for John Bolton; and the Carpetbagger Report, about um, I'm sorry, I am not sure - I think it was about centrists in Congress (sorry, I was looking at Ms. Tatton's necklace).

Well, that's that for the week. It's been fun...

Twin suns

2005-05-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

Today had two sources of bright cheer: the sun came out and it was warm for the first time in too long, and on the Inside the Blogs segment of CNN's Inside Politics, the co-host Ms. Abbi Tatton looked as good as she ever has. So let's get straight down to business:

The first teaser nearly slayed me. It was the usual shot of the two anchors at their anchoring table, but Ms. Tatton sat perched in her chair with such a perfect provocative poise that I was sent casting about for the proper words to describe it, and still fear I have not found them. She sat with her right arm fully extended to her mouse, while apparently holding a remote control in the other. Her left leg was crossed over her right at the knee in that delicate, dainty way women have. Her heel-clad left foot arched downward - never has a foot pointed so seductively. Perhaps I overstate, but I really don't think so. I've pinpointed the reason I felt so moved and will get to it below. The camera in the second teaser swept alongside the table, allowing a great view of her right calf, which naturally enough was much more than Greek.

The reason all this was possible was the fact that Ms. Tatton was wearing capri pants, or at least pants that ended just slightly below the knee, leaving a significant amount of calf to descend and flow gracefully into a pair of black heels (the heels with the tight-X toe straps with no discernible heel strap). This vision raised up on heels must surely create a stir around the office building as she sashays down the hallway with a cool confidence. I can imagine it: some denizens who share the building with the CNN cohort comparing notes: Hey, have you seen that statuesque dark-haired beauty around? "I think she works in CNN's offices." "I overheard her chatting in the elevator and she's British." "I sure hope her visa doesn't run out!" "I think she takes lunch around 1 - I'm going down to the commissary then to see if I run into her." It happens that way.

Ms. Tatton's outfit was completed with a bright orange vest-top. I seem to have a hard time describing this color, but it is a bright orange - I think I have described it as blood orange, because it has a sense of redness to it. It is not neon in any sense, though; it is a very flat kind of bright. Ok, I sound crazy. It had pocket flaps on the chest and was buttoned closed; I didn't see if it tucked in but I suspect not given its vest nature. Underneath and barely showing through was a glimpse of a black top, but with the vest closed there was little open space for it to show out.

There was, however, enough open skin to display the return of the square silvery necklace ornament hanging around Ms. Tatton's neck. What is one to make of the significance of this? I imagine a deep and emotional history behind the piece of jewelry - all jewelry should have that. I thought perhaps it is the gift of a long-ago paramour who stills lives on at the cusp of manhood in Ms. Tatton's heart. Perhaps it is a keepsake from a current beau - I dreamily conjure a storyline: she playfully calls him a "square" for working so hard, so he gives her the necklace as a memento of the "devoted square" who cherishes her. Perhaps it is simply an elegant design that caught - nay, matched - the sparkle in Ms. Tatton's eye one day when she was out treating herself. A present from her family? The truth remains shrouded in mystery, like so much else about her.

After all this, the blogs seem beside the point, but since it's important to Ms. Tatton, then well, you know: she covered Andrew Sullivan, about the Newsweek Quran story's new legs; Powerline, about how the left is wrong to crow over it; USS Neverdock, about the allegations being old news; Balloon Juice, considering whether the allegations may be true; and briefly Talk Left, about an Australian being held in jail in Indonesia.

Finally, Ms. Tatton got the last word today; in fact, when they cut to her they had an extreme close-up that made a pleasant surprise. So all in all, there was quite a bit in today's segment. A full, rich day, one might say. Perhaps I'll go buy a lotto ticket.

Coldest May ever, but warmest in our hearts

2005-05-25T15:05:00.000-07:00

I saw on tv last night that this is on course to be the coldest May on record here, which I believe considering it's been overcast basically every day. But that can do nothing to quell the warmth in the nation's hearts, inspired by the satisfying glow of Ms. Abbi Tatton alighting across our tv sets every day as she co-hosts the Inside the Blogs segment of Inside Politics on CNN.

Today had a true teaser: they showed clips of some laboratory and I thought we weren't getting any teaser, then suddenly cut to the two anchors sitting at their table. Ms. Tatton was attaching her microphone to her suit jacket, and then tossed her hair as she looked back up. That toss of her hair - ooh la la. In that brief instance, she threw off definite signs of sultriness. The second teaser zoomed in on the segment's logo at the base of their table, on the way giving a great view of the nicest right knee I ever saw. I came up with a new term for these ground-level shots the cameramen always use: the proposal-cam, since they give the view of Ms. Tatton one would have when declaring what must surely be anyone's truest desire towards her.

As for Ms. Tatton's outfit, it was sophisticated. She wore a navy blue skirt-suit; the jacket that had been unbuttoned during the teaser was fully closed during the segment, closing in at a typical V around the upper chest. There was a matching skirt that was nearly knee-length. Under the suit was a simple blue top with no collar but which came up fully around her neck. Her shoes were the black one-strap-around-the-heel shoes seen previously, and which are quite nice-looking (there were several chances at profile viewings today).

Ms. Tatton covered Captain's Quarters (which may have been for the second day in a row - see yesterday's post), about how Tom Delay would have handled the filibuster fight; Instapundit, about a murder solved through reference to the victim's blog; Ink & Paper, about the North Carolina church calling to "flush the Quran"; and Biblical Reporter, saying the preacher who did that was just looking to get his name in the papers.

Again, as has been the case lately, Ms. Tatton's co-host Jacki got the first and last word, but since she's technically the reporter (and Ms. Tatton the producer) I guess it makes sense for her to take the lead. During the sign-off, something Judy Woodruff said turned Ms. Tatton's usual smile into a slight laugh, betraying a flash of the cute girlish and fun side that has definitively revealed itself over the course of repeated viewings. Sigh - Thursday can't come fast enough.

Here comes the rain again

2005-05-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

Well, more rain today, but more sunshine also, in the form of the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN’s Inside Politics. The source of the sunshine, to be specific, being one of the hosts, Ms. Abbi Tatton, a woman of some refinement.

They had the usual two teasers: I got a phone call during the first but it seemed as if Ms. Tatton was smartly adjusting herself in her chair at the anchor table. The second one was a shot past Ms. Tatton, mainly of the other host Jacki. Perhaps they alternate shots of the hosts?

Ms. Tatton looked very cute today in a pink blouse. It seemed to be a standard blouse: collar of average width, etc. Due to the brief full length shot, I didn’t get too good a look at it, so I don’t know for example if it was half-sleeve or not (a style that Ms. Tatton clearly seems to favor). She had black pants and dark shoes – they sort of looked a tad grayish but they probably weren’t. Again, the shadows under the table make it hard to tell. Most excitingly, the necklace with the square or squarish silver piece hanging from it made a return. It’s a very understated yet classy and quite appealing piece, and surely matches the inner qualities of Ms. Tatton, as all well-chosen jewelry should. I particularly like the modest quality of its rare appearances; perhaps one may detect a certain shy pride in Ms. Tatton’s demeanor on the days when she chooses to sport ornamentation?

For only having one turn at the podium, Ms. Tatton sure zipped through a lot of material: she covered Martin America, about the GOP “buckling” on judges; quickly quoted Michelle Malkin, Powerline, and some blog starting with "Capt." (sorry I didn't get it - it might have been Captain's Quarters) and their disapproving adjectives; noted Patterico’s Pontifications’s comments about John McCain; and lastly Outside the Beltway and Jeff L. Thigpen, with more about the whole filibuster stuff. If Ms. Tatton were a dish detergent, she’d make the most suds for the dollar.

My blog isn't good enough

2005-05-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Can anyone tell me why the sidebar of my blog has mysteriously dropped to the bottom of the page? I have checked other blogspot blogs and it's in the right spot for them. I have no idea why mine isn't. I checked the template and the code for it looks fine. Any light on the subject would be greatly appreciated. I feel terrible that my tribute to a vision of perfection is so imperfect. It is at heart an insult, I fear.

Anywho, today is pretty dreary (whatever happened to summer?) but not that dreary; after all, my favorite segment Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics is back, and I got to see my favorite co-host, a certain Ms. Abbi Tatton. Woo-hoo!

They had two teasers today: one of a close-up of the screen that pulled back to view the hosts (and their legs) sitting in their chairs, and another from behind and below Ms. Tatton that for the first time gave a clear shot of her shoes.

Ms. Tatton was wearing a purple jacket-type of top. I know my descriptions are terrible, but I am clueless as to the actual names of clothing. It was one of those tops that looks too heavy to be just a shirt, but not substantial enough to be a suit jacket; removing it in the open and exposing whatever thin item was underneath would surely make any modest woman blush. The purple was a particularly vivid type - it is the color of royalty too (wink). It looked great with Ms. Tatton's dark hair. The top had some semi-wide lapels, and was buttoned or closed down around mid-torso. Underneath was a simple white (seemingly ribbed) top that made an infinitesimal, almost imperceptible downward slope to the middle of the chest, then began an equally imperceptible upward slope until disappearing under the top. The fabric did come up past the breasts, but left a fairly sizable space of open skin. In an earlier post I described Ms. Tatton's skin as fair, but that is not really true. It is fully flesh-colored, and a picture of soft, robust healthiness. Today, I was especially moved gazing upon its loveliness, which I had paid far too little attention to until now. Her skin must be one of her best features. Rounding out her outfit were a pair of black pants and black shoes with a single behind-the-heel strap. Quite a treat, all around.

I also have over the past few segments gotten a better look at the opening. First there is a closed eye, then it is clicked on by a cursor and opens up, then it breaks up into little letters that reassemble along with the cursor to form the words Inside the Blogs.

As with Friday's segment, there was a wealth of material covered today. Clearly, Ms. Tatton is no slacker. She covered CitzCom and View from the Right, about sex offenders getting governement-bought Viagra; Rathergate, about Newsweek's changing their policy on anonymous sources; and Ezra Klein and Centerfield, about NARAL endorsing Lincoln Chafee. Whew.

Well, that's that. Here's hoping my sidebar returns. Of course, I also hope that Ms. Tatton will too, tomorrow around 4:25 p.m. EST.

We're #1

2005-05-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

Much to my surprise, this week I did a google search for "Abbi Tatton" and this blog came up first. I thought I had been pretty vigilant about checking to see if we were noticed, but I looked at my history folder and I hadn't searched since last week. So sometime, perhaps last weekend, Google's search spiders found us. Funny, since I thought the key was to have links to your page. As far as I know, there's only one page that links to this blog (so far). Anyway, it's certainly grounds for celebration. I kinda thought it would take a few months before there was enough stuff here to draw any notice.

Now I feel somewhat selfish about taking the top spot in poor Ms. Tatton's search results. Surely she should get to have say over the number one pick. It's like taking shotgun in a car, or maybe changing the radio station while she's driving: she should get it, or get to choose it. Maybe CNN will put together some official biographies of their anchors (and not just the "big" names) and that will become the first item. Come to think of it, Ms. Tatton's biography might look something like this:

Ms. Tatton was born to a solidly middle-class family in Britain, and had several parts in commercials after being spotted at an ice-cream parlor by a photographer and his agent. In her teens, she became a highly-sought-after clothing model, allowing her to start a foundation dedicated to preserving the tropical rain forest. She also was known as one of Prince William's favorite regular companions. She developed an interest in journalism, and after winning the prestigious Walter Cronkite Award for Distinguished Reporting at age 21 for her writing in the Cambridge Observer, she joined her local newscast in her hometown of [wherever she's from, Britain]. Two years later, she won the Pulitzer Prize for her report on the National Health Service's infamous Bristol Row scandal, and earned a commendation from Prime Minister Tony Blair for saving the British taxpayers millions of pounds in doing so. This led to Ted Turner enticing Ms. Tatton across the pond to join the staff of CNN's Washington bureau for a reported million dollar starting salary (although he was turned down for a date). Now she is on the track to become a primetime reporter, or whatever she wants to do because she's so great.

There, now when anyone searches for Ms. Tatton, they WILL get her biography. And I'm quite sure all that stuff is either true or close to it.

Rainy day, dream away

2005-05-20T13:24:00.000-07:00

This Friday has been a rainy, depressing one. Depressing because it's raining, and also because it's the last installment of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics for the week. We'll have to wait till Monday to get another dose of the unique blend of womanly maturity and girlish fun that is producer and co-host Abbi Tatton.

There were two teasers today: one with a camera angle from the floor behind the other host Jacki, where Ms. Tatton could be seen crossing her arms, and one from the floor that zoomed in on both of them sitting there. The teasers have been a little sedate lately; I'm still waiting for another one that captures Ms. Tatton in mid-laugh or some other unguarded moment. These glimpses of the beauty within are rare and highly sought after.

Ms. Tatton's outfit today consisted of a dark blue pinstripe pantsuit. The jacket was buttoned, and I won't try to describe the lapels (they were like the lapels of those 4 button suits men sometimes were - very circumscribed in their length). Ok, I guess I just did describe them, fairly evocatively if I do say so myself. Underneath the suit was a pink top with an up-to-the-neck collar. At first I thought the top was purple, so maybe the pink was a sort of blend, but it was pinkish anyway. It was cute. Once again, due to the graphics and the legs of her chair, I didn't really see her shoes. I did get a glimpse of the soft hue of her feet, but not what they were surrounded by. I also noticed that she had some glimmery thing around her right wrist. It looked silver and may have been a thin chain or a watch, but no closer views were forthcoming so I don't know.

There was a generous sampling today: Ms. Tatton covered Swing State Project, Think Progress, and something that sounded to me like "Blog 'n Lust" (it was by John and at typepad.com - sorry I didn't get it); all three were about Santorum's Hitler comparison. She also covered Powerline, which was mentioned by that last blog but only had something about Miss Universe (she's got nothing on you, Ms. Tatton); and finally Moderate Voice, about the New York Times's story about innocent Afghans being beaten to death. Quite a full segment, but once again Jacki got the last word, as she has for several days now. I guess Ms. Tatton, as the producer, is simply being selfless. How typical.

Don't let me down

2005-05-19T13:31:00.000-07:00

You know how many things in life can be disappointing? You look forward to them, and they prove to be less fun/exciting/interesting/good than you thought they'd be? Well, that is a sad fact of life, but there's one thing that's consistently good every day: the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics. The reason? One of the hosts, a Ms. Abbi Tatton. True, she and her friend/co-host Jacki simply go through some interesting blogs. But it's always a highlight.

Today was no different. There were two teasers: one where Ms. Tatton could be seen clasping and unclasping her hands as she sat at the reporting table, and another where she stretched out her long lovely limb to use her computer mouse. Here I noticed that she held her pen in her right hand, possibly providing a conclusive answer to the question of her writing hand.

For a regular day, Ms. Tatton also managed to look quite enlivening. This was because during the segment, her top half was blocked by the cameraman. This focused my sight on her wide, ankle length skirt and her very pretty feet. She seemed to be wearing Cinderella slippers. Ok, maybe that's a little much. But they looked silvery or possibly clear with very thin and minimal straps and were generally barely there and delicate. Very flattering and attractive. As for her top, it was an orange half-sleeve v-neck top. For some reason I'd describe the color as "blood orange", if that makes any sense. She appeared to have a thin leather bracelet strap around her right wrist - I hope I am not shamefully underestimating it, but it looked kind of like a leather strap that you'd make in arts & crafts. My eyesight isn't the best and it could have been her usual watch. But the band seemed thin like a piece of cord. Guess that one will just remain a question mark.

Lastly and most interestingly, for only the second time that I know of, Ms. Tatton had a necklace. Now, I know I am not proficient in describing things, but I'll do my best here. The design reminded me of a rosary. It was made of silver (Ms. Tatton seems to like silver, which is great because it looks great on her - like everything). It seemed to be a set of small flat ovals linked together - the type of tiny ovals you see hanging off some bracelets. You know the type: they look like they might contain someone's name or a poem quote, except they are a little small for that. Anyway, the necklace was made of these, with a stone attached in the front, from which three (I counted) more ovals hung down the center of her chest. The stone was turquoise colored I thought, so I'm guessing it was (duh) turquoise. It's been a while since I saw a rosary, and I'm not sure if it's proper to wear it around one's neck, so I'll take no official position on what the significance if any was of the necklace. I'm probably way off base with the whole rosary bit. What do I know about necklaces? Suffice it to say it was silvery, very pretty, and accentuated the snow-white skin of Ms. Tatton's well-sculpted neck.

Ms. Tatton's blog reporting consisted of Chrenkoff, about the supposed political references in the new Star Wars movie; Patrick Ruffini, with some Star Wars political photoshopping; and Oxblog, about the Newsweek Quran story. Again note the British angle there. Perhaps Ms. Tatton's alma mater? My quest to discover the source of her accent continues. Till tomorrow...

Wednesdays are fun

2005-05-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

So it's Wednesday. I personally have always liked Wednesdays - something about how normal and regular they are. Mondays and Tuesdays are when people are just getting back into the drudgery of work, and Thursdays and Fridays are when all you think about is weekend plans. But Wednesday is in that gray area. If I were a society type, I'd have a weekly dinner party on Wednesdays. Bizarre, huh?

Anyway, I mention it because today had another installment of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics. It was pretty routine, but of course with the co-host Ms. Abbi Tatton appearing, the segment is always special.

They had two teasers today: both with Ms. Tatton and her co-host Jacki sitting at their table, smiling in awareness of being filmed (the second teaser had a close-up of Ms. Tatton which then pulled back to the whole table - at least that's all I remember; I only have eyes for her).

Ms. Tatton's outfit was Office Chic, you might say. She had a white half-sleeve blouse that was buttoned/tucked in down at the bottom, allowing it to fall open in the chest area. Underneath was a black undershirt with a collar that was up to the neck. The open shirt gave off an air of casualness. This played counterpoint to the formality of her gray skirt, that ended just above the knees. It looked like that gray material that has the tiny pattern through it - not just plain gray cloth but with tiny lines and still gray - no chalkstripes or anything. Who knows if I'm being clear. But it's a very nice design and I've always thought it looks great. Ms. Tatton's shoes appeared to be simple black slip-on shoes. Again, it's hard to see below the table, especially with the crawl and logo on the screen. She also was wearing the same watch with a black strap that she had yesterday.

I had meant to watch the intro more carefully, but did not brace myself for it. Again, there's a new intro to the segment: it's an eye that breaks up into colorful squares like computer bytes, then there's a cursor arrow, then the title appears. More detail as I become familiar with it.

Ms. Tatton covered several blogs today: Archidose, about the plans for the new building at Ground Zero; NYC Bloggers, about some local NYC bloggers; and the Mudville Gazette, about why some bloggers choose to remain anonymous.

As for why I do, it's probably because my Yankee reserve prefers that feelings are kept inside and private - that's why those evangelicals don't play well up North. It might also be that I'm pathologically shy.

So fresh, so clean

2005-05-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

Ah, today's installment of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics was so refreshing. The co-host, Ms. Abbi Tatton, is such a sweetie. I just had a feeling welling up of wanting to give her a big hug. I bet she was voted Boys' Choice of Sister in her high school yearbook.

In the teaser watch, they had two: the first showed Ms. Tatton setting down a plastic cup on her table and getting out a pen. I wonder how much that cup would bring on Ebay - hundreds, probably thousands. "Touched by the lips of Ms. Tatton!" I was annoyed at myself for not taking note of which hand she held the pen in - I'm trying to determine which is her writing hand. Right at the end of the teaser, she looked over at the camera as if to say, "Are we still on?" The other teaser had the camera sweeping behind Jacki, the other host, as Ms. Tatton sat nodding at something. Interesting camera shot.

Also interesting was the new intro to the segment. I can't sure 100% sure, but I don't think it was on yesterday - I was there but might have assumed it was just part of the ads. But the intro has representations of computer bytes - a bunch of colored squares - all floating around and then forming the word "blog", and then the title Inside the Blogs appears. At least, that is my recollection. I bet Ms. Tatton, as the political producer, commissioned the graphics department for something snazzy for the show. Earning her keep, for sure (to do that, all she needs to do is glance at you).

Today Ms. Tatton was dressed in a baby blue half-sleeve top. Funny enough, I had just been thinking how baby blue was a color that always attracted my eye. I am clearly under her spell. The top had a simple neck-high collar. She wore a watch with a silver face and a thin black strap (again on her right arm). Her pants were full length and black, and she had some simple black shoes - the kind you just slip your foot into. I noticed for the first time the slight gloss of her lips - this won't come as a shock, but she sure is pretty. It's hard for me to tell what someone's eye color is but today I looked awhile and think hers is blue, perhaps dark blue. It's hard to tell from tv, though.

Ms. Tatton's actual job involves covering blogs, and today she covered Pressthink, about Newsweek's retracted story, Londonist, about the British MP who testified before a Senate committee, and Andrew Sullivan, about the New York Times charging for certain op-ed articles. I noted that she covered the British MP story; still curious about her whole British connection. But in the meantime, it sure is nice to listen to her voice.

As they cut away, the cameraman was standing in the way, so that the only view of Ms. Tatton's head was her smile, brightly shining away. I bet when she was in grade school (oh, how cute she must have been!), she got gold stars all the time for being such a well-behaved and positive young lady. She just seems that way to me. Pretty neat that I can see all that from just a smile, huh?

So nice to see you again

2005-05-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

Today reminded me of going back to school after a semester break or vacation and seeing that comely looker you'd had your eye on again. It was a highlight of your day to run into them in the hallway. That's how I feel today because after my shameful performance Friday of falling asleep (who needs Morpheus when you've got Venus?), I made it (barely) for today's edition of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics. As you may know, I am rather fond of one of the hosts, a producer-cum-vision of loveliness named Abbi Tatton.

I only was able to tune in at 4:15, but I'm quite sure I got to see the only teaser. This one was exquisite. Normally, they have a wide-view of the table and show Ms. Tatton and her co-host sitting at their table waiting to go on. This time, it was a close-in shot of Ms. Tatton, framed like a passport photo, as she (apparently) looked over her computer screen. To have missed the last segment, and waited all weekend for the next one, and then to get such a treat, well, it just reinforces your faith in the decency of mankind.

When the segment started, they explained why it only showed Ms. Tatton: her co-host Jacki (whose name I have been mispelling all along here - sorry) was in New York attending some blogger convention and would report from there. But first Ms. Tatton went through some blogs: Cox and Forkum, with a cartoon about Newsweek's story about a Quran flushing, Roger L. Simon, with more about it, National Debate, with more about it, Atrios, about Ken Starr's supposed support for filibusters, and Right Pundit, with more about it. So there you have it.

Now, for my favorite part of posting: Ms. Tatton's outfit. The close-in shots of her in the teaser and segment were great (I almost nailed down her eye color), but they did not allow any chance of viewing her below mid-chest, so I have no idea what she was wearing for pants/skirt. But she had a red red red suit jacket on. It might have been orange-red. Well, not that bright, but it was vivid and vibrant, just like sweet Ms. Tatton herself. It had two pockets with flaps on each breast. It was apparently buttoned up at the bottom, because it closed in the way a man's suit jacket does. There was a tiny sliver of a white top underneath the jacket, too tiny to describe properly. Again, no jewelry visible.

So that was it. After Ms. Tatton's part, they cut to Jacki. Quite an interesting segment all around. Adieu.

Creepy or sweet?

2005-05-15T15:01:00.000-07:00

So I write a blog about a woman I only know from watching TV. Every day I note down what she wore on her show, what she said, and any other random comments I think of. I am completely anonymous and if she's seen this blog she has no way of knowing who I am or why I want to write about her (except for what I say in the blog, which she has no way of knowing is true or not). She is not particularly famous or well-known, and in fact is really just a normal person with a fairly workaday job, so although there are many celebrities with fan sites, unlike her they also have the money and jobs that enable for some distance between them and the public. I have made some references to a certain locale and if she is nearby, then she might wonder if I know that and/or do anything about it. All in all, this makes me blogging about her somewhat unusual and possibly concerning.

So I want to take the opportunity to explain why: basically, it's all in good fun. Yes, that's it. The whole thing was started as a lark, and continues as such. Larks needn't be brief, you know. I was looking at blogs, had once started one only to post once and feel uncomfortable, and just wanted to become a part of the blogosphere. I always have watched Inside Politics, and thought Ms. Tatton was quite charming (which is one of my highest forms of praise). Quite suddenly and prosaically, the idea of composing a blog in her honor struck me. I have always been given to overly flowery types of praise for women, which I mean mostly seriously, so writing about it was a nice way to indulge myself without going on about my life like most bloggers do and which I, not given to self-introspection, dislike. I also thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if I started blogging about someone who most people would be surprised to see a blog about. The fact that she reported on blogs herself was surprisingly not much of a factor, if at all. I only thought she'd just be one more person surprised at my subject matter. As for what I assume is the most common reason for starting a site about a woman - in hopes of meeting her/romancing her/marrying her/living for ever after with her - that was not a reason nor is it. Sure, chatting up Ms. Tatton would be nice, and I do find her attractive (obviously), but more in that pedestal way. Quite honestly, that's all. I like to compose little tributes to an examplar of feminine beauty in all its glories, and hope she finds (or will find) them sweet and nice to hear and possibly funny, and doesn't think anything else of it, because there's nothing else to it. I swear.

And just in case she doesn't, or her parents or friends or significant other feels uneasy at the whole thing, she (and she alone for verification purposes) may always e-mail me at the address in my profile and ask me to stop, and I will. And no, I wouldn't do anything with her e-mail address. Please, give me some credit.

Friday the 13th got me bad

2005-05-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it happened. I knew it would someday. But not like this. I missed most of the segment. Why? That's the real shame: I fell asleep. Yes, I did. I had already been having not so great a day - a touch of the ol' black irish. Anyway, I also managed to be awake at 3:30 and asleep at 4:15. I'll skip the details but I should do better. I was dreaming about bizarre things too: I dreamed I was reading something about "Senator Robert Bork of Stafford" (I had been looking at a map of Virginia earlier - where Bork came from is beyond me; probably something to do with all the articles about judicial nominees.) Then I heard the voice of Abbi Tatton, co-host of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics, and realized I was missing it! I looked up and saw Ms. Tatton dressed - well, somewhat differently. She had a big off-white knit skirt on, like something a hippie would wear, and a red stripe shirt like Waldo from Where's Waldo has. But she also had earrings - (blue stripe plastic clunkers and also some reddish ones). I was thinking how I'd have to note that down. Then she put her head in her hands and mock-pulled her hair out at irritation at something. I thought I'd definitely have to note that in my blog. Suddenly, my head picked up, and I realized I had been dreaming it all. The voice of Ms. Tatton's co-host Jackie now rang in from the other room, presently switching back to Ms. Tatton. I ran into the other room and caught the last blurb. What a tragedy! But it was kind of cool dreaming to Ms. Tatton's actual voice from the tv.

So today's post is necessarily limited. Ms. Tatton had a black pair of pants, and a violet button-up blouse. The violet was slightly deep, like - well, I don't know, just rich and deep. It looked classy and great on her. Everything does. She seemed smiling and jovial, from what I saw. She was just mentioning the Puffington Host about something, which Judy misheard as Puffington's Toast. No clue about the others mentioned. Oh well - I missed a whole bunch since they started the segment back in February. But I feel lousy anyway.

So, better luck Monday. Today has been a bust all around. Maybe I'll get a frozen pizza. At least I have my ticket for the Wednesday midnight showing of Revenge of the Sith at Union Station.

Thursday's oh so sad

2005-05-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

Why is Thursday sad? Because the daily installment of Inside the Blogs, a segment on CNN’s Inside Politics, is all over. But for a bright shining moment, America was cheered up by the indescribably cute co-host, Ms. Abbi Tatton.

There were two teasers today. The first one was notable: while the other host Jackie laughed at something, Ms. Tatton was sitting on her chair leaning forward into the table, with her arms crossed on the desk. This casual pose accentuated her very trim waistline.

Today Ms. Tatton went in the other direction with her clothing choice. Yesterday she was decked out in bright colors; today she went with more earth tones. She can wear anything. Today it was a pair of tan or maybe olive pants. I tried but the shoes were too hard to see – I think I might have caught a glimpse of a regular black shoe, but with the shadows underneath the table, I couldn’t tell. As for her top: she had an outer top that was sort of like a jacket but not really. It was a shirt that was tucked in and buttoned up a few buttons down at the tummy, creating a V of open space at the top, like a man’s suit jacket. On the chest it had large pockets with flaps (like army shirt pockets), which is why I thought it was like a jacket. The right pocket (which was the only one I could see) had a round silver button that at first I thought was some kind of lapel pin. I was excited to comment on this rare piece of jewelry – Ms. Tatton is not given to displaying much. I actually don’t recall noting the sleeve length but I seem to remember seeing her forearms (lovely lovely) so I guess it was half-sleeve. Now the color: at first I thought it was chocolate brown, but then it seemed to have some tones of red, so I am unsure exactly what it was: picture chocolate brown with an effect of redness, if you can. There was a definite brightness effect hidden in the brown. Under the top, Ms. Tatton had a red top that formed an arc gently curving up across the open space of the shirt. No sights of watches or anything else.

The blogs covered were Confirm Bolton, about Voinovich and Bolton, Blogs for Bush, more about Voinovich, The Left Coaster, about the lack of a terror warning for many government workers, and Conyers Blog, about the British memo about invading Iraq. All that, and Ms. Tatton got to do the sign-off back to Judy Woodruff (which seemed uncommon – not sure who does it regularly).

A pretty good segment, fortunately not blocked by cameramen this time. But I and the rest of us fans are blocked from seeing more of Ms. Tatton, at least until tomorrow.

I can hear the soft breathing

2005-05-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

I wonder if you can guess what that title has to do with today's post. Yes, it's time once again for me to discuss the wonderful vision known as Abbi Tatton, who co-hosts a segment called Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics. I'm a fan, you see.

Incredibly, there was no sighting in the teaser today because some doofus cameraman was standing in the way, perfectly blocking sight of Ms. Tatton. What a chowderhead.

The bumbling cameraman only heightened the anticipation of that first thrilling peek at Ms. Tatton. Regular viewers of the segment know they usually show both co-hosts sitting there before going to Jackie to begin the segment (as she always does). This time they didn't do that; so the first glimpse of Ms. Tatton came when it was her turn to speak. Normally we would have had two good views before that (the teaser and the opening). The anticipation richly paid off, because today Ms. Tatton was looking particularly pretty with richly contrasting colors. The warm weather clearly allows for a different class of clothing choices, and today was a great example. Ms. Tatton had a white half-sleeve blouse that was entirely open. The white was again a pure, true kind of white that I thought was impossible to maintain on this imperfect mortal coil. But it is a kind of leitmotiv for Ms. Tatton and her beauty. The blouse was accompanied underneath by a green top. The green was somewhat of a lime green, I would say. It was a low top, sallying across the top of the breasts with no real sights of any upward turning of a collar or shoulder straps. A black microphone attached squarely in the middle created a little divot of decollatage. To be honest (and I place a very high premium on honesty) the top looked hot, in the tasteful way Ms. Tatton excels at. Her pants were hard to see well, and seem to have been black and full-length. Her shoes looked like they had straps similar to flip-flops, which as I did yesterday leads me to conclude they were regular shoes and not heels. At least they didn't look to have heels, for my limited vantage point.

Ms. Tatton also had something on her right wrist. Unfortunately I didn't get a great look at it. In an earlier post I mentioned she seemed to have one of those wide-strap watches on. This looked like one of those: I thought I saw the gleam of a watch face, but it seemed too gleamy to be one of those wristband watches. I thought those things were just a wide piece of leather with a watch attached. But Ms. Tatton's accoutrement appeared to gleam generally. Maybe they have more upscale versions, but it might have been a bracelet. If so, it could have been one of those dark brown ones that sort of looks like marble. But the brief view as the camera panned over her was not good enough to say definitively. One more thing for me to watch for. Lastly, I noticed for the first time that her hair has some length in the back. Interesting. I think her hair looks great how it is, but maybe she is wondering what to do as it grows out.

That was a long description, perhaps to make up for the fact that Ms. Tatton didn't get that equal a segment today, sadly. She covered the Counterterrorism Blog, about the terror scare, and also Elizabeth Fisher, about the same thing. I'm not sure about that second link - her co-host Jackie had already mentioned it and Ms. Tatton just referenced it again. I don't take note of the blogs Jackie mentions because I'm too busy bracing myself for the next cut to Ms. Tatton. Sorry. But the blog had something to do with a corner.

One final indignity: the camerman was again blocking the view as they wrapped up, only to step back just before they cut away. Truly appalling.

Tuesday's Gone

2005-05-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well, today's segment of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics is all over and we'll never get it back. Fortunately, I can post all you'd want to know. As you know, I am a fan of a certain co-host of the segment. Her name is Abbi Tatton. She's someone you should know.

Funnily enough, they ("they" being Ms. Tatton and her co-host Jackie) discussed how bloggers can admit to being addicted to blogging. Addicted? Gee, I'm quite sure I have no idea what that could be like.

In the "Teaser Watch", we got glimpses of Ms. Tatton and partner sitting at their table, waiting to get under way. They were smiling and chatting - I imagined they might be joking about the extreme camera angle, which was basically from the floor right in front of them up. I speculated that they might be discussing ways to protect their modesty.

Ms. Tatton looked quite lovely today - she conveyed a springtime sense of brightness that matched perfectly the warm weather today. She was wearing a V-neck half-sleeve top that was burnt orange, as near as I could guess. She has a roguish way of wearing tops that defy easy color categorization. This one straddled the line between orange and perhaps red or pink. I'll stick with burnt orange, but as with most words, they do not do justice to the unique beauty displayed by Ms. Tatton. The top was nicely complimented by a white skirt. The white was of the most extraordinary, purest variety - matching Ms. Tatton's loveliness. It was slightly above the knees, with ruffle trim around the bottom. I'm sure you've seen the style nowadays. It allowed for occasional sightings of a very well-turned calf, and was a refreshingly girly type of choice, once again well suited to the day. Her shoes were white - I couldn't see the degree of heel, but the straps were similar to those of flip-flops so I'm guessing they were more of a shoe than a true heel. This is of course just my bizarro classification system.

The blogs she covered were Buzz Machine, about Arianna Huffington syndicating her blog, Roger L. Simon, about a consortium of blogs, Jackson's Junction, who is asking for readers to contribute, and Talking Points Memo and its offshot TPG Cafe, also trying to get readers to contribute and/or work. The theme here was how to make money doing blogs.

Me of course, I'm only in it for the reflected glory of propounding on the charms of Ms. Tatton. Life can have no sweeter reward.

Monday was everything I wished it could be

2005-05-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

So the most wonderful show on tv was back today. Of course I'm talking about the Inside the Blogs segment on CNN's Inside Politics. Why is it so wonderful? Because of the charms of the producer and co-host, Ms. Abbi Tatton.

In the "Teaser Watch", Ms. Tatton was sitting quietly at the hosting table, waiting for the upcoming segment to get started. Her colleague Jackie looked like she was organizing her materials, but Ms. Tatton wasn't smiling or doing much of anything. Just looking ahead and waiting to go - what a calm professional.

Ms. Tatton had a stylishly casual look today. She was wearing tan pants - I first wondered if they were capris but I saw they were full length. They were very well-fitted and quite flattering. I barely got a glimpse of her shoes, but they looked like a silvery, strapy heel. I think silver is such a great color and the sparkly sight I got of Ms. Tatton's shoe gave me a real thrill. I know - I'm easy to please. But such a classy choice - I'd expect nothing less from her, of course. Her blouse was a bright pink - perhaps it was hot pink, or maybe fuchsia (I'm not sure what color that is). It was brighter than just pink - like you mixed orange in with it. It was a regular button-up type of blouse, with full sleeve length. Once again, I spotted no jewelry. Ms. Tatton clearly is too modest for ostentatious displays of glamour. How charming.

As for blogs covered, she began with Damian Penny, about the Arianna Huffington blog, Puffington Host, making fun of the Arianna Huffington blog, Just One Minute, about the New York Times report on how to reach more readers, and Filibuster Frist, the site for the Princeton students holding a mock filibuster. All in all, a decent segment. Thankfully Ms. Tatton has been getting equal time lately. Clearly CNN knows quality when it sees it. Sadly, that is all to comment on...

A fantasy? A dream? A nightmare

2005-05-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

Midway in the point of the journey through last weekend, I found myself in a dark slumber, where my viewing of the White House Correspondents' Dinner was lost. I saw it all: somehow Judy Woodruff had extra tickets; Ms. Tatton got to go with some others from the staff; she and Jackie met up to get ready; Ms. Tatton had a black and white gown and looked radiant; they shared a table with that Other Guy who sometimes did the Inside the Blogs section, plus their cameraman friend; Ms. Tatton and Jackie repaired to the bathroom for giggling and wondering if there was any flirting; the foursome settled back at someone's house for after-party drinks; Ms. Tatton shared a cab with the Other Guy. Was there a spark of something there?

Then I awoke, sure my dream had been reality, and the only thing that could calm me down was a large order of pork with string beans from that Chinese place near AU.

How can I enjoy today (when I know about tomorrow?)

2005-05-06T13:23:00.000-07:00

Do you think that title would make a good country music song? I think so. What does it mean? It means that today is Friday, so it's the last installment for the week of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics. I've got to go the whole weekend without being cheered up by a certain comely looker named Abbi Tatton. Hurry Monday!

Today was plenty enjoyable, though. I've noticed they have teasers pretty regularly, so I'll have to be sure to pay attention. Also, the segment came on a little earlier than usual; it wasn't the last thing on the show. So that's another thing to watch for. Now, today Ms. Tatton had a pretty top - the sleeves were down to her mid-forearms this time. The collar was normal - no v neck or anything. The top was sort of - I first thought peach colored, but it was lighter than that. Then I thought maybe the color was called seashell. Then I thought, it's the same color as Spongebob Squarepants' sidekick. I know, I've gone off the deep end. Ms. Tatton also had what I first thought was a bracelet on her right arm (which due to the side of the table she sits on is the side that always faces the camera). But after trying to get a closer look, I think it was actually one of those watches that has a very wide, leather strap that is basically a wristband - like a diver or some military style of watch. I'm sure you've seen them - they are fairly common. I think this selection displays a charming insouciance on Ms. Tatton's part. For sure, it very flatteringly set off her lovely forearm. It was also worn face side up, which as I said in my last post was something I had been wondering about with another watch of hers. The ensemble was completed with a simple pair of black pants, and what appeared from the very brief glimpse I got of them to be the same pair of black shoes with X toe straps that I had spotted last week. Also today, they showed her face long enough to note that she had no earrings. It's nice that she can be so elegantly understated. She should teach lessons to those women who wear full makeup, jewelry, and hair spray every single day.

One thing that is frustrating is how brief the actual shots are: they cut away to the computer screen with just a little screen of her face inset. This limits the full views of her. I understand they need to show the screen, but it's still unfortunate how brief the views are. Sigh.

The blogs Ms. Tatton covered were Politics of Dissent, about the lack of outrage over the Iraq war, Daily Kos, about a North Carolina church kicking out Democrats, Outside the Beltway, about the USAToday reporter who got fired, and BlogNashville, about an upcoming blogger convention (Wonder if she and Jackie will be speakers?)

So it was about as good as I could expect. Of course, knowing about the impending dry spell of the weekend, I had to savor every moment. Thanks to my detailed reporting, you can too.

Victory from the jaws of defeat

2005-05-05T15:32:00.000-07:00

I'd had given up hope of seeing the object of this blog today, since CNN seemed to be pre-empting Inside Politics to cover some press conference about the runaway bride. Give me a break - do they really need to cover that live? Anyway, there was also a press conference about the New York bombs (no, not the Yankees), so I was seriously annoyed. But then, like a ray of light, they suddenly come back and go right into Inside the Blogs as a finale to the show. Clearly, they have SOME brains. I think Ms. Tatton, as a producer, knew enough not to settle for tabloid journalism and insisted on maintaining her and the show's high standards. Plus she had the cutest look on her face when they cut to her: she looked right through the camera, smiling as if to say, "Here's what you were really looking for..."

I had to work fast since the segment was short, but she was wearing a black v-neck top - the "v" was quite deep, and a white undershirt type of top underneath, to create a pretty look that reminded me of an "old master" painting, if that makes any sense. I now realize I didn't note the sleeves, but I did notice for the first time she had a watch, on her right arm interestingly enough. It looked understated and elegant - a brownish leather strap was all I saw, but it looked like she might wear it face down (you know, underneath the wrist). So I'll have to "watch" for those two slightly unusual choices. Come to think of it, I should also see which hand Ms. Tatton writes with - if she's a lefty, that might explain the watch on the less common right arm. No other discernible jewelry. Oh, and she had a black skirt, down to the knees, and a pair of flattish black shoes - they looked like the type you just put your foot into, with no strap around the top of the foot. You get it, right?

As for blogs, she covered Knit One Chick Too briefly, about the runaway bride, Chicken Yoghurt, about the British election, and the Guardian Unlimited, also about the British election. She got most of the limited airtime, probably related to the fact that she appears to be British herself (or at least has the accent). Still curious about that whole story. Perhaps she's a legal resident. Maybe she moved here when she was 4. Who knows? I want to.

Well, today's lesson: never give up hope. Till next time...

Once again the wonder

2005-05-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

Betcha don't know where the title of today's post comes from. Anyway, welcome back to the devotional page par excellence of the internet. Ok, maybe it's a little rudimentary, but I know next to nothing about web design. I'm hoping my charm will outweigh all that.

I don't know if they had a early teaser today (I'm talking about a teaser for Inside the Blogs on the show Inside Politics, of course). I only saw the one right before commercial before the segment itself. No glimpses of the unguarded Ms. Tatton today; she and her cohort Jackie were just sitting there waiting to get started.

For those who care, and I know that doesn't narrow it down much, Ms. Tatton was wearing a dark blue or black pantsuit (hard to tell the color from just tv). At one point I thought it might be pinstripe but I'm backing off that. Underneath she had a blue (my favorite color) top on. It really was just blue too - not baby blue, or powder blue, or sky blue, or light blue. Well, it was kind of light, but not that light. The top formed a line passing across the open space of the suit jacket, creating a little V of skin. You know the type, right? It made for a most enchanting but entirely chaste and not at all revealing decollatage. Very nice and just the sort of thing I'd expect a young woman of Ms. Tatton's obvious style and beauty to select. Her shoes were black (I assume) heels with a single ankle strap round the back of the heel - I'm sure you know the type. The toes were the basic style - not too pointy or anything. How the fashion writers would laugh at my attempts at description.

As for the substance of the segment, Ms. Tatton covered GrassrootsPA, in favor of Rep. Sherwood, Dump Sherwood, opposed to Rep. Sherwood (big surprise), and Patterico's Pontifications, about the nuclear option. A segment of average length, and her fair share of air time too. The only sad news is: it's over.

That time of the day again!

2005-05-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well well, it's 4:30 here and Inside Politics just ended, and I have another sighting to report on:

We got a wonderful little peek as they were doing the "upcoming segment" shots. Ms. Tatton was sitting there, apparently highlighting an important item. She was leaning slightly forward towards her partner Jackie and appeared to find something amusing: she shook her head ever so slightly in that way girls have, while raising her eyebrows and smiling. At this point Jackie turned around, apparently due to whatever Ms. Tatton was amused by (the cameraman possibly). But all in all, the effect was one of slightly naughty girlish humor. Very cute.

Sadly, the segment itself was not a long one, and Jackie got most of the airtime. But we did get several views of Ms. Tatton's shoes (which as you know has been a sticking point so far). To be thorough: Ms. Tatton had a half sleeve shirt (she seems to favor them - and she should because they show off her lovely forearms) with a v-neck, and it was a darker shade of orange - perhaps close to burnt orange. This was accompanied by a classic choice of black pants. The shoes were heels - no ankle straps or anything, just the kind that hang down when the foot is raised, creating a flirtatious effect. The toes had a tight-X strap pattern (in black or some dark color). Very classy all the way.

Ms. Tatton only got to cover two blogs (the segment came on kind of late, and like I said Jackie got a lot of it - well, she is the "reporter"; Ms. Tatton as the producer surely defers to her). She covered Skippy the Bush Kangaroo (which I listed below under its URL) - they discussed how Democrats should keep their noses clean in order to better criticize Delay; and she mentioned Sandra Howard's blog, from the British campaign trail. Interesting selection, since Ms. Tatton has a most charming British accent. Still curious what the whole story is there.

But till another day.....

A drought, despite the rain

2005-05-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

It rained a lot this weekend, and today too. But that didn't end the drought of having to go two whole days with no glimpse of the bright, effervescent personage of the darling Ms. Abbi Tatton dancing across the digitized pixels of the nation's television screens. Fortunately, something else did: Monday's edition of Inside the Blogs on CNN's Inside Politics.

We lucky happy few (many?) got an early glimpse of Ms. Tatton, as they previewed the upcoming segment. I'll have to be on the alert for those teasers in the future. For this segment, Ms. Tatton was wearing an wide, ankle length tan skirt, with a collarless black knit top with half sleeves. I'm sure there's technical fashion terms for these things but darned if I know. The top had a wide arc open at the neck, revealing the soft-hued color of Ms. Tatton's neck, as well as showing off an interesting piece of jewelry: a necklace with a silvery square hanging from it, elegantly laying below the base of her neck. Wonder if there's a story there. Once again I didn't get a good look at her shoes, even though the teaser had a camera angle from the floor up. As far as I could see, they were strapy, even like (but probably not) flip-flops. It is a continuing quest, to be sure.

As seems standard procedure, Jackie went first. Then Ms. Tatton essayed Jackson's Junction, which had some comments about Bush. She and Jackie alternated comments (which also seems standard). Ms. Tatton in turn covered The Swift Report, which published a satirical article about imaginary protests of the White House Correspondents Dinner; mentioned a CNN poll that only 26% of people are familiar with blogs (to which I say: Ms. Tatton, you are the one who can cure that, if anyone could); the Mudville Gazette, which has an "Everything you always wanted to know about blogs" type of page; and La Shawn Barber, who criticized the "runaway" part of the runaway bride story. All in all, a fairly sizable segment, and it wasn't the last item in the show either. So I'll have to remember for future viewings.

Alas, however, it'll be 24 tortuous hours till my next fix. Oh, woe is me and all my fellow suitors...

A May Day basket of good wishes to you

2005-05-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

Ah yes....so it's Sunday. Nothing new to report. Except that it's a nice day here now (it rained last night but is warming up now). It's also May Day. Somewhere, pretty girls are receiving baskets of flowers (or whatever it is you fill them with for May Day) from their sweethearts. Wonder if anyone has given one to the lovely Ms. Tatton? Probably hundreds. I can see it now: she opens her door, sees the basket on the doorstep, clasps her hands together in joy and cries out, "Oh, [Insert guy's name here]!" I'm green with jealousy. Yes, I'm sure it's like that. Pretty girls don't go through life unnoticed. But I can enlist as one more candidate for the heart of the wonderful Ms. Tatton.

A bright spot on a dreary day

2005-04-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

So you-know-who was just on CNN's Inside Politics, specifically Inside the Blogs, the feature at the end of every show. Now I've been watching for a while, but only recently was moved to compose this page as an ode to the exemplar of grace, style, and beauty known as Abbi Tatton.

Today Ms. Tatton had a lovely segment. She was dressed in a black sleeveless sweater with a white blouse underneath, the kind with sleeves only down to the elbow. Those blouses are so cute and very flirty, really; basically what guys picture their imaginary hot secretary wearing. She also had a black skirt, at a tasteful lenght of just slightly above the knee (of course, she sits during the segment so it's hard to tell somewhat). Try as I might to glimpse her shoes, they were hidden from view, like so much about Ms. Tatton really (for me anyway).

She had a great segment with a sizable chunk of air time, zipping through four blogs: xnerg.blogspot.com, with a liberal take on means testing for Social Security, powerline.com, with a conservative take on means testing, Ankle Biting Pundits, about the way networks pulled away from Bush's press conference before the end, and lastly (after a turn by her co-host Jackie) Roger L. Simon, who is trying to get together a consortium of bloggers to attract ad revenue.

All in all, an intellectually nutritious sampling - showing how well-educated Ms. Tatton is (as if anyone expected something different?) Yes, it is true that her interests are interesting. Plus I was heartened to see she chose a blog from the same weblog creator (Blogger) as mine. Sure, it's probably the most popular one, but it is a start, right?

Sadly, there'll be no blog reports till Monday - I need to find out if there's any segments during the weekends. I doubt it, but perhaps during Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer? Or maybe Reliable Sources, if that show is still on? I can check, I suppose. Till then....

My true love

2005-04-28T13:37:00.000-07:00

So there I was innocently watching Inside Politics like I always do. They have a new feature called "Inside the Blogs" - they go through blog postings and read off the interesting/funny comments out there. But that's not what grabbed my attention - it was one of the persons doing the reading. Seems they got two young ladies to sit and take turns covering the blogosphere. One is named Jackie. But the other....oh the other. A vision of tech-savvy hotness. Her name is Abbi. What a pretty name. I've always liked it and as soon as I heard her get introduced I looked up. Soon I was enchanted with her mellifluous British accent as she ever so sweetly read over her selections. I knew I was in thrall to a new addiction: tuning in to "Inside the Blogs" to catch sight of the fair Abbi.

So I decided in tribute I should dedicate a blog to the lovely Ms. Tatton. Makes perfect sense, don't you think? So here is the first entry. As Elton John said (he was British too), "I know it's not much but it's the best I can do." Today Abbi had a very cute pink top so I chose pink for the background of this blog. Stay tuned.....