Since early this morning, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has been the object of ire from liberals for comments he made regarding criticism from the “professional left.” After clarifying, but not apologizing, to HuffPost’s Sam Stein, Gibbs missed today’s briefing (Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton attributed it to “sniffles and a sore throat”), but Burton further refocused Gibbs’ remarks toward liberal cable personalities. Tonight, Grand Poobah of the ‘Professional Left’ Keith Olbermann delivered a Special Comment directed back at Gibbs.

There are some liberals who are freaking out about Fox News’ move to the front row of the Brady Briefing Room. Not helping matters was Bill O’Reilly‘s joking suggestion that he and Sean Hannity “hog-tie” Major Garrett and go tête-à-tête with Robert Gibbs themselves.

If it helps at all, I can personally vouch for the fact that nothing like this will ever happen. But even if it did, I don’t think it’d be such a bad thing.

It may sound corny to some, but Helen Thomas is never very far a way from my thoughts, but the occasion of the White House Correspondents Association’s re-assignment of her iconic front-row center seat in the Brady Briefing Room provided me with the impetus to speak with Helen for the first time since her controversial retirement. I called her this afternoon to reconnect, and to get her reaction to the news. I was surprised to learn that my call was the first she’d heard of it. Her reaction, and those of some of our colleagues, after the jump.

The subject of today’s Inside the White House Press Corps is the New York Daily News’ Ken Bazinet, proprietor of the Mouth of the Potomac blog. He’s the guy in the briefing room who best fits the image of a hard-boiled reporter that we’ve all seen on TV. Here, he offers us his insights on covering the White House, and how Robert Gibbs is growing into the role of Press Secretary.

There was a funny bit of back-and-forth at yesterday’s White House press briefing in which Press Secretary Robert Gibbs accused the press corps of having called the President “overexposed,” resulting in some crossfire and several straw polls that indicated, among other things, that I’m one of only 3 or 4 White House reporters who want to win the lottery. Beneath the jocularity, however, lies a legitimate media criticism.