The Washington Scandal That Keeps On Giving & How I'd Book It

THE MIDDLETON INN IN LITTLE WASHINGTON, VIRGINIA

Almost by the hour the plot thickens in the Petraeus scandal,with new information coming from here in Washington, down in Florida, and now Afghanistan, too. The entry of the other-other woman, Jill Kelley, in Tampa prompted me to tweet Bravo's Andy Cohen to ask him to please get with it and produce a "Real Housewives of the Joint Special Operations Command." Press accounts describe her as a "socialite" with a "mansion" and "married to a doctor." That's tailor made for Real Housewives. If you doubt me even the slightest, read this from the Tampa Bay Times. I'm intrigued by her "good friend" in the FBI, who may have bent some rules for her. The Wall Street Journal reports tonight that Kelly's agent friend sent her shirtless photos of himself. Is that great, or what?

But an even bigger bombshell is that the FBI is also investigating Gen. John Allen, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan and up for a big promotion, for an alleged trail of "inappropriate" communications with...Kelley! 

The scandal that keeps on giving. 

Pretending for a moment that I'm back in the talk show producing business, I like to play the game of who's the biggest "get" at any given moment. This is how it shakes down for me, who I'd book and on what show, because eventually everyone of these players in the scandal will do a TV interview (and books):

Jill Kelley - for Anderson Cooper (he gets the set up)

Holly Petraeus - for The View (empathy, obvious)

David and Holly Petraeus together - Oprah (couples therapy, obvious)

Paula Broadwell - 60 Minutes (Morley Safer, delicious)

The "Shirtless" FBI Agent - Greta Van Susteren (scolding, she's so damned PO'd at the FBI)

FBI Director Robert Mueller - Meet the Press This Week The Daily Show (well, why not?)

Another part of the story happened this past weekend out in Little Washington, Virginia. That's where Scott and Paula Broadwell spent Thursday and Friday night at the romantic Middleton Inn. For a while I lived part-time in Little Washington and still have good contacts there. Needless to say the Broadwell visit was Topic A in the town today. It's a small town. Word spreads fast. I put a story together for The Washingtonian: The Broadwells Little Washington Getaway.