Taegan Goddard Describes My Life

This describes a lot of my life w/ a few caveats. I really like to read Political Wire before the WaPo or NYT, and having a dual-tuner TiVo means never having to get out of bed to tape anything on Sunday. Plus, the PBS and local weekend political shows are always worth watching. I'm also pretty much over Prime Minister's question hour until there's a new PM (though that's just a matter of taste and I think we should require something similar of our President(s).


Instructions for becoming a political junkie, courtesy of Political Insider. (Required reading for college students and budding politicos).

But enough about me.

The routine of one obsessed political junkie:

DAILY TASKS: Wake up. Check Drudge. Read the NYT and WaPo. Check Political Wire, the hotline blog, politico.com, the AP wire, the Reuters political wire, and MSNBC.com. Read ABC's The Note when it arrives in my inbox, around 10am. Throughout the day, check Drudge at least once an hour, check Political Wire a few times, check the hotline blog every hour or two. Once or twice a day, read Wonkette, Political Insider, potomacflacks.com, cqpolitics.com, HuffingtonPost, and TVNewser. Watch Hardball at 5pm or 7pm. During commercials, check in on Sit Room.

MUST READS: Everything by Howard Fineman (Newsweek). Almost everything by George Will. Everything by David Yepsen and Tom Beaumont (DM Register). Everything written by Mike Allen and Roger Simon (Politico).

TRICKS OF THE TRADE: Keep '08 staff list. Google alert names of spokespeople from campaigns to follow messaging. Check presidential websites weekly.

MONDAYS: Read Dana Milbank's Washington Sketch (WaPo).

TUESDAYS: Read E.J. Dionne's column in the WaPo.

WEDNESDAYS: Read Maureen Dowd and Tom Friedman's NYT columns.

THURSDAYS: Read Novak's column. Read John DiStaso's weekly Union Leader column. Read David Brooks' Thursday NYT column.

FRIDAYS: Read the Time articles that matter. Tivo HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher.

WEEKEND: Savvy political junkies know that Novak's must read "Inside Report" column is printed on townhall.com on Saturday, a full day before it's available in his syndicated column. Read Maureen Dowd's Sat column in the NYT. Read David Brooks' Sun NYT column. Tivo all three network Sunday talk shows and FNC's Fox News Sunday. Tivo the Chris Matthews Show. Tivo McLaughlin Group and McLaughlin One-on-One. (Sunday recording requires taping shows at the same time). Watch at my leisure on Sunday. Watch C-SPAN's Road to the White House on Sunday night. Fall asleep watching Prime Minister's questions on C-SPAN.

REPEAT