The insular White House press corps is said obsessed with Beltway inside baseball. But it can also pander to the masses as well as any tabloid — or Hollywood studio.

Several of the questions at tonight's presidential news conference — from AP's Jennifer Loven, CBS Radio's Mark Knoller and of course NBC News' Chuck Todd — make us wonder if reporters are taking cues (subconsciously or otherwise) from disaster movies and Fox action serials.

Not to say we've never imagined swine flu quarantines, ticking-time-bomb terrorist interrogations or sending commandos after nuclear weapons, but recent history would seem to show it's the boring topics, like inter-federal-agency memo circulation, SEC staffing and intelligence vetting, that end up making the biggest impact.