Inside the Beltway

“The carpet scraps used for events in the White House Residence are the remnants of carpet projects in the residence. As you would expect, President Bush’s Oval Office rug is intact and is the responsibility of the curator,” Mr. Earnest says, as a matter of clarification.

JUST SO YOU KNOW

OK. We’re officially scared of H1N1, among other things. The American Society for Microbiology and the American Cleaning Institute - once merely known as the Soap and Detergent Association - has revealed that 85 percent of adults wash their hands in public restrooms, up from 67 percent a decade ago. The group “discreetly observed” 6,028 adults in public restrooms in August to determine this. There’s a gender divide, of course. The massive study also found that 77 percent of men publicly scrubbed their paws, compared with 93 percent of women.

POLL DU JOUR

- 90 percent of viewers who watch Fox News’ Sean Hannity say overall news coverage is politically biased.

- 69 percent of MSNBC “Hardball” viewers and 55 percent of New York Times readers agree.

- 80 percent of viewers who watch MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow approve of President Obama.

- 39 percent of Wall Street Journal readers and 9 percent of Rush Limbaugh’s listeners also approve.

- 74 percent of CNN viewers say they are environmentalists.

- 52 percent of Fox News viewers also say they are environmentalists.

- 69 percent of those who watch MSNBC’s Stephen Colbert support gay rights.

- 27 percent of those who watch Fox News’ Glenn Beck also support gay rights.

Source: A Pew Research Center for the People & the Press survey of 3,006 adults conducted June 8-28 and released Sunday.

- Whispers, rumbles, noise to jharper@ washingtontimes.com.

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