Remember how we told you last week that the FishbowlDC item about a big shake-up at The Hill newspaper was a bunch of bologna? And then commenters started writing in saying that that our item just couldn’t possibly be true — that if FishbowlDC editor Patrick Gavin wrote it, it must be solid? Well, Patrick clarifies today:

Lesson here: trust us, kids. Also! FishbowlDC is totally great at reporting the “mundane.”

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That breathless post today from FishbowlDC editor Patrick Gavin, stating that “The Hill’s Editor in Chief, Hugo Gurdon, has called a rare all-staff meeting for tomorrow, saying that there’s ‘lots to discuss’”? Full of hot air. Gurdon tells Big Head DC that “it’s just a regular editorial staff meeting of the sort we try to have about once a month.” But you gotta wonder: who is that Hill newsroom source who always feeds Gavin the false leads? And what is his or her intention?

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Yesterday The Hill newspaper stated that Sen. Hillary Clinton was not at a meeting that she did, in fact, attend. Embarrassing video evidence ultimately proved the paper wrong, and its editors were forced to offer a retraction today.

“Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) attended and asked questions Wednesday at an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project,” according to the paper. “Using an out-of-date release, The Hill incorrectly reported that Clinton missed the hearing. Comments attributed to Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla), from the same release, were similarly dated and incorrect. We regret the errors.”

The Hill came under fire earlier this year for employing Jackie Kucinich, who is the daughter of Dennis Kucinich. It was also recently revealed in the reports of Dennis seeing a UFO that Shirley MacLaine is her godmother. Some politicians believe her reporting should come with a disclaimer.

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My favorite Washington scandal mongers just had to talk to that pretty dilly, Betsy Rothstein, about Joe Biden’s Barack-i-tude:

“How is what Biden said not a lot worse than what [Sen.] Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said a few years ago?” asks Gannon, former White House reporter. ”The liberal outrage machine is curiously quiet.”

“By ‘clean’ he meant ‘untainted by scandal, unlike Hillary,’” observed, Jess, a free woman in Arkansas. ”And by ‘articulate’ he meant ‘communicates clearly, unlike myself.’”

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I don’t care what some Minnesota politics journal says. The Hill newspaper’s venerable newsman can’t hold water compared to Wonkette’s Alex Pareene. Even Al Franken can’t compare to Alex Pareene. I love Alex Pareene.

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The Hill newspaper’s Betsy Rothstein has proven that she’s more than willing to milk a cow to death by asking our pal Perez Hilton to provide a quote on the recent non-mysteries surrounding Mary Ann Akers’ e-mail source lists (see last item). Despite being told by Akers that she didn’t accidentally reveal sources in an e-mail she sent before leaving Roll Call, Rothstein decided to forge on, asking Hilton what he thinks about a reporter revealing her sources.

The gossip king (er, queen) told Rothstein that he would never e-mail all his sources in a way that their names would be revealed. “No, of course not,” he told her on Monday. “Never! I would never do that in the first place. There is no reason to e-mail all your sources. If I did, of course you’d BCC everyone. It’s pretty bad.”

Not wanting Rothstein to further encroach on our relationship with the gossip gansta, we quickly contacted him about her column. We wanted to know whether she gushed over him and if he’s thinking about pointing his gossip lens toward Washington more often. While he wouldn’t kiss and tell on Rothstein, he did note that he’s “always peppered my Web site with political items I find of interest.” Hmmm. Perhaps we should be expecting more Washington sightings of the normally LA-based blogger. Stay tuned.

Earlier Report: Wonkette Admits Error

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We at Big Head Rob send our love to Klaus Marre, who’s been selected as the first permanent editor of The Hill’s newish Capitol Hill blog. A former health care reporter with the little newspaper that could, he will now be wrangling members of Congress to get them to post naked photos and dish about beer pong parties. We wish — more than likely they’ll blab on and on about the Oman deal being rotten for working families. (Don’t get this confused with David Bowie’s wife, Iman, like we did. She has nothing to do with working families.)

Insiders say that running the blog won’t be the easiest of tasks. A plethora of old-school reporters work in the news room on K Street and many are not all that keen on these funky new Web logs. A dynamic Internet presence is something that The Hill has long been lacking, so we’re glad to see the management there moving forward with a cool cat like Klaus.

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