How to you get Dan Rather in a room together with Brian Williams and Tom Brokaw? Throw a charity event, of course. ABC News' Bob Woodruff and wife Lee hosted their foundation's second annual Stand Up For Heroes event last night at Town Hall, benefiting injured war veterans, where CNN's Christiane Amanpour walked away from the auction with Bruce Springsteen's guitar, which she paid $50,000 for. (Springsteen's motorcycle went for $75,000.) And while host Regis Philbin's jokes fell flat (think: "I sneezed and blew her into the second row"), the incomparable Springsteen — who normally plays only for president-elects — more than made up for it, telling jokes between songs. Of the X-rated variety.

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Rielle Hunter, the confirmed mistress of John Edwards and lunatic web publisher, did not father the ex-senator's love child, if you're to believe his interview last night with ABC News (video). But Edwards is willing to take a paternity test, if only Hunter will participate, and share the results with the media. Know what? Hunter's sister Melissa thinks it'd be a good idea that Edwards take that test, which is a signal that at least part of the Hunter camp thinks — and is willing to say so publicly — Edwards is the father. (Worth nothing: Last month Extra reported that Hunter denied the Enquirer's allegations. Then again, Edwards was doing that up until two weeks ago.)

Edwards blames the whole thing on "narcissism" and on feeling "invincible."

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Bob and Lee Woodruff know how to throw a party. Or at least a pre-party. At the private reception (for mega-donors) upstairs from Good Morning America's studio at last night's Stand Up For Heroes event, guests were ushered up to the second floor on a freight elevator that had its own bar. We've already put a call in to our building manager to see about the possibility of duplicating The Best Party Idea Ever here at Jossip HQ.

At the very least, the elevator bar might explain why the CBS honcho Les Moonves was semi-willing to engage us in conversation a little while later, if only to report his company was "making progress" with the WGA strike. And though GMA anchor Robin Roberts – looking flawless and joined that evening by her "chemo buddy" – isn't directly affected, she had "so many friends" who were complaining about their TV shows going dark. Namely, the soap operas. Their pain? We felt.

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As Bob Woodruff makes strides in his health after the incident in Iraq last year, his wife is making strides in her career.

The former P.R. rep, freelance writer (and first billed author of a memoir she co-wrote with her husband) has reportedly landed a deal at Good Morning America as their life and family contributor and will begin appearing on the show this week.

Congratulations, Lee! We’ll leave it at that, however, since there's apparently no way to discuss the incident in Iraq and her new gig in the same sentence without coming off as either mean or weirdly optimistic. Or both.

There’s a pro and con to everything—evenhaving your husband nearly die in a roadside explosion. Con: massive brain damage makes identifying scissors difficult for him. But pro: He’s better around the house.

At least that’s the case for Lee Woodruff, wife of Bob Woodruff, the ABC correspondent who was injured last year outside of Baghdad. The mostly recovered Woodruff told the Times, “My wife has even said I was kind of a jerk sometimes, and now I’m not.”

Well, we won’t say claiming not be a jerk is bit jerky to a man who nearly died while covering the war in Iraq. Glad to have you back, Bob.

Whether Lewis Black will be out to beat the number of times he says "fuck" during an on-stage gig when he performs Nov. 7 at Stand Up for Heroes, a benefit hosted by the Bob Woodruff Family Fund. Conan O'Brien will be MCing, or, more likely, restraining Black.

And by "quietly" we mean David Westin didn't issue a soundbite right off. [AP]

The drinks were flowing at last night's RTCA dinner long before Karl Rove decided to 'get jiggy with it' on the dance floor. And Fox News' gazebo bash was the place to be, attracting throngs of Republican movers and shakers with its luminary candles, easy-listening jazz band and, of course, open bar. Inexplicably, we scored ourselves an invite, and ended up partying with FNC, sipping on Chardonnay with the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Roger Ailes, Geraldo Rivera (finally!) and Bill O'Reilly.

And when we say "sipping on Chardonnay with" we actually mean "guzzling Maker's Mark on the rocks while attempting to eavesdrop." Unfortunately, due to some combination of a loud jazz band, partial deafness and copious amounts of whiskey, we were only able to overhear enigmatic sentence fragments and context-less murmurs devoid of any actual meaning.

"Jerry Seinfeld was bawling his eyes out every day."
"Has anyone seen Geraldo?"
"Hate the speeches, love the food."
"Totally. Wait, Bill Richardson is the one with the jowls, right?"

And so on, and so forth. But it wasn't until we were seated inside that the real fun started.

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• Here's the unofficial list of Pulitzer contenders. Sadly, In Touch magazine just missed the mark (again) this year.

• Barry Diller and Dow Jones are making their very own personal finance site aimed at "younger audiences." Our dad can't wait for it to launch!

• CSM just doesn't like the idea of an encyclopedia written for the people, by the people.

• Bob Woodruff, very understandably, has no interest whatsoever in returning to Iraq; Brian Williams respectfully disagrees.

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Nancy Grace has her missing white girls. Anderson Cooper has Hurricane Katrina. Lou Dobbs has immigration. Chris Hansen has child predators. Katie Couric has colon cancer. And Sam Champion has global warming.

Those are the issues these journo types are building their brand on — and USA Today's Peter Johnson argues more and more media men and women are looking to "own" advocacy journalism like never before. Call it the Oprah effect. (Though you might get confused with the other Oprah effect: Getting movie stars to treat your decor like a trampoline.)

The latest example: ABC World News Tonight anchor Bob Woodruff's accounts of how he recovered from serious head injuries after a roadside bombing in Iraq, and how U.S. soldiers suffering from head trauma aren't faring as well because of inadequate government medical care.

Though, to be fair, it's not like Woodruff intended to own that story, galloping into the newsroom with the pitch. It sorta just fell into his temporal lobe.

Woodruff's reporting packs an emotional punch because he is, quite simply, a man who cheated death. Never before had an anchor for an American broadcast network been injured in war. Woodruff instantly became a symbol of the dangers that journalists face in Iraq, and is trying to use his higher profile to illuminate the plight of soldiers who struggle with these injuries far from the spotlight.

–Howard Kurtz via the Washington Post, discussing ABC World News Tonight's former anchor, Bob Woodruff, and his dramatic return to television.

• A-Listers and power-players converged at the Beverly Hilton yesterday evening. Their agenda? $2300 for one night with Barack Obama. Sexy-time!

• Scooter Libby trial moves into closing argument phase; Jossip moves into "we're already over it" phase.

• Deborah Norville signs enormous multiyear deal that prevents her from going "outside" Inside Edition.

• New York Post's top editor is suddenly reluctant to speak badly of their arch-nemesis, the New York Daily News.

• Fortunately for all, Post columnist Keith Kelly has no squeamishness whatsoever.

• Months after sustaining a head injury from an insurgent attack in Iraq, former World News Tonight anchor Bob Woodruff is still recovering. Which is almost as sad as ABC's decision to post X-rays of his skull.

Bob Woodruff's To Iraq and Back hour-long special – where he recounts the horrifying IED attack (and shrapnel injuries) he and cameraman Doug Vogt survived through in Iraq nearly a year ago – was supposed to air in the spring. Then came word that his special was being moved up to a Feb. 27 air date. The official reason? Something about Woodruff recovering much faster than expected.

Also, Feb. 27 is sweeps week.

We're just sayin'.

• Jon Friedman points to Time.com as evidence that the magazine industry is finally understanding the web. Our first (and last) clue, however, was ShopVogue.com. [Marketwatch]

• Project Runway racked up 5.4 million fags, fag hags, and their malteses for a ratings record-breaking finale. [AP]

• Recovering former ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff is putting together a primetime special and book about his Iraq war injury and recovery. Set to air next spring, it'll coincide nicely with another half dozen journalists kidnapped by then. [AP]

• The first substantial inkling that Jesse Oxfeld, in the lovely tradition of other ex-Gawker editors, carries on the source torch. [Gawker]

• GLAAD is keeping mum on the Mark Foley scandal so as to not elevate the voice of congressional pederasts and their sympathizers. [Queerty]

Yesterday, Bob Woodruff, who is still being referred to in the present tense as "ABC News anchor" visited his old New York studio for the first time since being injured during a bombing in Iraq on January 29 of this year.

Woodruff surprised his coworkers (former coworkers?) with the visit, and was greeting by lots of cheering and clapping and warm embraces.

"You could literally see the emotion in each hug. There was barely a dry eye."

Woodruff talked about his rehabilitation, how he wanted to get back to work and how wonderful it was to spend time with his four children, Banner wrote.

"There are a lot of happy faces around the newsroom today," he said.

The joyous tale ends like this:

He was World News Tonight co-anchor with Elizabeth Vargas at the time of his injury, and Charles Gibson is now the sole anchor of the broadcast.

Maybe instead of being greeting with pictures of rainbows and stuffed bunnies and sunshine, he would have preferred ABC greeting him with a job? Hmm. Maybe Elizabeth Vargas needs a manny?

ABC News anchor Woodruff visits newsroom [USA Today, AP]

The National Organization for Women, along with other leading women's organization, ain't having this Elizabeth Vargas bullshit.

Vargas and ABC claim her depature from the World News Tonight anchor chair was brought upon by her pregnancy and secured by their want to offer viewers routine; by putting Charlie Gibson in the chair permanently, Vargas returning and recovering Bob Woodruff's iffy status wouldn't confuse newswatchers.

Or, as NOW, the Feminist Majority Foundation, and the National Council of Women's Organizations believe, Vargas was unceremoniously ousted from the top spot for being in possession of XX chromosomes. And she may very well have been, as the chattering classes suspect. But given Katie Couric's ascension to the CBS news throne, it's going to be hard to hear their argument over the roars of skepticism in September.

Was Elizabeth Vargas' departure really voluntary? [Broadsheet]

We hate to be the bearers of bad news … well, unless that news is of a celebrity car crash … but, we wouldn't be covering the media if we didn't inform you of the happenings abroad.

In the wake of Bob Woodruff's injuries we have just come across this breaking news from Iraq:

Two members of the CBS News team, cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan, were killed today in Baghdad when the military unit they were embedded in was attacked. In addition, CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier was seriously injured and is in critical condition.

They were reporting on patrol with the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, when their convoy was struck by a roadside bomb.

The attack was among a slew of car and roadside bombs left about three dozen people dead before noon Monday, including one explosion that killed 10 people on a bus.

So, out of respect for this tragic turn of events, we will not make fun of CBS for the rest of the day.

Deadly Attack On CBS News Crew [CBS News]

World News Tonight anchor Bob Woodruff is back home in upstate New York making "great progress on his road to recovery."

With a fully intact face, Bob will be spending time at home recovering with his family, as well as continuing treatments in the city. ABC News president David Westin has circulated an email through the press (no idea how we got skipped on that one) written by Woodruff himself.

Because he's come so far, he'll be spending more of his time at home as well as continuing his treatment in facilities here in the New York area. But, knowing Bob as we do, you'll understand that he'd rather speak for himself. So, here's something he wrote and asked that I pass along to you.

The full e-mail, thanking his fans, doctors, nurses, family and friends, after the jump.

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• Adam Moss and New York feel the pressing need to call out the business' middle aged, hotshot magazine editors. Can you believe they picked all guys? [NYO]

• Dying is more fun when people are laughing at you. [USAT]

• People haven't been this emotional over journalists since Judy Miller made the staff of New York Press cry. [B&C]

• David Pecker pumps up Weider style. Ok, more like Pecker style … it was his board, not his pecs. [Ad Age]

• Manohla Dargis does not deserve a Pulitzer. She doesn't even deserve to have her column read … according to one jealous colleague. [WWD]

• The "Final Four" potential buyers for the Knight Ridder papers have been announced. Fine, we promise no more attempts at sports humor. [NYT]

• Get ready for Wednesday, when Elizabeth Spiers tunes into the Wall Street gossip with her long awaited blog, DealBreaker. Finally, some gossip about people with money. [Fishbowl]

• Spending all day in your apartment in sweatpants doesn't mean you'll never fall in love. The blogosphere's first torrid romance was consummated this weekend. [Media Mob]

• When you're nasty rich, nobody cares that you're a geek. Bill Gates, anyone? [MSNBC]

• Hey, remember when Bob Woodruff showed us that Iraq wasn't so bad by covering an ice cream parlor and a ballet school? Too bad that was before he got his face blown off. [WaPo]