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You are here: Home / Howie To The Daily Beast

Howie To The Daily Beast

by John Cole|  October 5, 20105:16 pm| 66 Comments

This post is in: Assholes, DC Press Corpse, Our Failed Media Experiment

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So Howie Kurtz has been picked up by the Daily Beast, and I have to wonder who will now serve as the one-stop conduit for right-wing bullshit to be injected into the mainstream. Basically, for the last ten years, Kurtz’s job has been to troll the stupidest shit he could find in the Red State diary sections and mainline it, and I have no clue who the WaPo will hire to fill that vital role. Any ideas?

We should also take the time to come up with a Greatest Hits for Kurtz. I can’t know for sure, but I think Kurtz is the reason Media Whores Online folded up shop. They were just overwhelmed.

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66Comments

  1. 1.

    Rob

    October 5, 2010 at 5:21 pm

    I have no clue who the WaPo will hire to fill that vital role. Any ideas?

    Andy Alexander will probably push for Breitbart or O’Keefe.

  2. 2.

    WereBear

    October 5, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    Now, Mistah Kurtz, he dead.

    A penny for the old Guy.

    This other Kurtz will have to fend for himself.

  3. 3.

    asiangrrlMN

    October 5, 2010 at 5:23 pm

    I really thought this was a joke. Huh. I’ll take the post at the Post! I’ll take half the monies Kurtz got, and I’ll defend every batshitcrazyrightwing talking point to the death!

  4. 4.

    Bulworth

    October 5, 2010 at 5:24 pm

    You mean he isn’t keeping his Wash Post column? It would seem so fitting with our media class to keep both gigs, write the same stuff for both, get paid double. All for surfing Red State and writing what his friends at Faux tell him.

  5. 5.

    Dennis SGMM

    October 5, 2010 at 5:26 pm

    …I have no clue who the WaPo will hire to fill that vital role. Any ideas?

    WaPo will sponsor a circulation-boosting steel cage death match between Meghan McArdle and Jane Hamsher for the spot.

  6. 6.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    October 5, 2010 at 5:27 pm

    This simply confirms that the (com)Post curried right wingers in it’s allegedly unbiased reporters. Jim Vandehei was one of the worst and there’s one or two others who’s names escape me at the moment.

    You can be guarandamnteed that the (com)Post will put somebody in there equally craptastic, ie., mainstreaming right wing crazy talk.

  7. 7.

    Suck It Up!

    October 5, 2010 at 5:27 pm

    Well since breitbart has turned legit by denouncing the faux pimp, WaPo might check him out.

  8. 8.

    WereBear

    October 5, 2010 at 5:29 pm

    @Suck It Up!: He can’t just denounce. He has to refudiate or it doesn’t count.

  9. 9.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 5, 2010 at 5:29 pm

    @asiangrrlMN: You can’t do it, my friend.

    /McCain

  10. 10.

    Tom65

    October 5, 2010 at 5:30 pm

    My money’s on Halperin.

  11. 11.

    paradox

    October 5, 2010 at 5:33 pm

    [sigh] How I miss the Horse!

  12. 12.

    Dennis SGMM

    October 5, 2010 at 5:33 pm

    I’m guessing that the successful candidate will be the one who can suck a marble through fifty feet of garden hose.

  13. 13.

    Chris G.

    October 5, 2010 at 5:36 pm

    Are there even any Bush speechwriters left for the Post to hire?

  14. 14.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    October 5, 2010 at 5:37 pm

    Considering the Wapo’s main criteria of obsession with Democratic penises, I’m going with Linda Tripp or Lindsey Graham.

  15. 15.

    West of the Cascades

    October 5, 2010 at 5:37 pm

    I’m loving the Michele Bachmann ads on the site these days. Glad to see some of her campaign spending being directed where it will have no effect whatsoever.

  16. 16.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    October 5, 2010 at 5:38 pm

    Should have known referencing male genitalia would get the dreaded “awaiting moderation.” Ah well.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    Howard Kurtz is beyond slimy.

    Glad to see him go, but he did too much damage to the Post while he was there.

    I think he leaves a trail of fatuous ooze as he slithers over to the Daily Beast.

    He will make Tunku Varadarajan look incisive.

  18. 18.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 5, 2010 at 5:40 pm

    @West of the Cascades: No effect at all? Come on, they give you a little laugh and help motivate you to get out and vote against her and hers. Don’t they?

  19. 19.

    DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.

    October 5, 2010 at 5:41 pm

    I was thinking about talking about the “Daily Beast” honey-pot strategy a while ago. Get all these idiots in one place so we can fight them there, instead of fighting them here.

  20. 20.

    Paris

    October 5, 2010 at 5:41 pm

    This is tough. What qualities will this person require?

    1) They need an obvious conflict of interest: this needs to be an existing Faux employee

    2)They should have some professional newscaster or jounalistic experience, but not too much.

    3) They should be imaginative with language.

    4) Be bold, don’t cower from celebrities. Have willingness to criticize and be shameless.

    Answer: Sarah Palin!

  21. 21.

    MoeLarryAndJesus

    October 5, 2010 at 5:44 pm

    The Post has to be looking hard at that fuckstain Ace of Spades.

  22. 22.

    General Stuck

    October 5, 2010 at 5:47 pm

    No need to cut winger heroin and water it down. If you’re looking for a rotten apple, don’t pick one off the tree, pick one off the ground, as close to the septic tank as possible. Or, Drudge, he has been for a long time now, the needle and the damage done for wanker village junkies to get their fix of stupid memes.

  23. 23.

    Anne Laurie

    October 5, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    I’m with Bulworth — Kurtz will keep both gigs, because it’s all the same work. His paymasters will dress it up by claiming that WaPo and Der Beasht are ‘separate media platforms’… Or maybe the Post will announce a ‘ground-breaking new paradigm’ where Kurtz will partner with Sally Quinn on a daily (intern-written) column that will probably not be called “Tidbits from the Trianon”…

  24. 24.

    Comrade Luke

    October 5, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    Gotta love that post title: The Beast with Two Hacks :)

  25. 25.

    JGabriel

    October 5, 2010 at 5:48 pm

    John Cole:

    Basically, for the last ten years, Kurtz’s job has been to troll the stupidest shit he could find in the Red State diary sections and mainline it, and I have no clue who the WaPo will hire to fill that vital role.

    No one. I’m pretty sure WaPo can promote from within to fill that role. They have surfeit of riches.

    .

  26. 26.

    Anne Laurie

    October 5, 2010 at 5:49 pm

    @Dennis SGMM: Ah, I see you’re voting for Sally Quinn as well!

  27. 27.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2010 at 5:50 pm

    Tina Brown on hiring Howie Kurtz to run her DC bureau:

    Howie knows that today the interaction of media and politics is the story.

    True that. In his milieu.

    He combines integrity and rigorous reporting.

    Oh. She lost me.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-10-05/howard-kurtz-joins-the-daily-beast/?cid=hp:beastoriginalsL1

  28. 28.

    Elizabelle

    October 5, 2010 at 5:51 pm

    @DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.:

    Is honey pot actually the word you were going for?

  29. 29.

    JWL

    October 5, 2010 at 5:52 pm

    If not Dennis Miller, who? If not now, when?

  30. 30.

    DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.

    October 5, 2010 at 5:53 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Yeah, isn’t that what the neocons called Iraq?

  31. 31.

    Lev

    October 5, 2010 at 5:56 pm

    What, no Apocalypse Now jokes about Kurtz going crazy?

    As for his WaPo column, I nominate Dennis Miller. I’d just love to read 800 words of arcane references two times a week.

  32. 32.

    Anne Laurie

    October 5, 2010 at 5:57 pm

    Ah, Tom Scocca has the data on how long Kurtz has been angling for a position under Tina Brown…

  33. 33.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    October 5, 2010 at 5:57 pm

    Fine, I’ll paraphrase myself for the administration gods:
    Considering the Wapo’s main criteria for a media critic of obsession with Democratic male private parts, I’m going with Linda Tripp or Lindsey Graham.

  34. 34.

    DonkeyKong

    October 5, 2010 at 5:58 pm

    I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That’s my dream. It’s my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor … and surviving.-Kurtz

    Are you happy now Lev?

  35. 35.

    JimPortlandOR

    October 5, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    hahahaa Howie will remain as the host of CNN’s Unreliable Sources (and ludicris analysis).

    Kurtz and Tiny Brown. Now that’s something to contemplate as deserving of each other.

  36. 36.

    DougJ is the business and economics editor for Balloon Juice.

    October 5, 2010 at 5:59 pm

    What, no Apocalypse Now jokes about Kurtz going crazy?

    I don’t see any method at all, sir.

  37. 37.

    General Stuck

    October 5, 2010 at 6:01 pm

    @DonkeyKong:

    That was the first one I thought of too. But this ain’t too bad either

    What do you call it when the assassins accuse the assassin?

    Damned good question if you ask me.

  38. 38.

    DonkeyKong

    October 5, 2010 at 6:04 pm

    I’ve alway thought of Kurtz as an errand boy sent by grocery clerks to collect a bill.

  39. 39.

    Lev

    October 5, 2010 at 6:09 pm

    @DonkeyKong: Thank you all. I personally would have gone with something about dialectic physics, and about how Kurtz either loves someone or hates someone, depending on if they’re right-wing.

  40. 40.

    Kryptik

    October 5, 2010 at 6:10 pm

    @Rob:

    Why bother? Obviously, Mr. Alexander knows what’s really wrong with the media today, why doesn’t he fill Kurtz’ role himself? I mean, the WaPo is already hacktacular as it is, him shifting roles in the paper isn’t gonna change much.

  41. 41.

    eemom

    October 5, 2010 at 6:20 pm

    maybe they will give Weigel another chance. He’s been such a good little bobblebot since Journolistgate.

  42. 42.

    Cat Lady

    October 5, 2010 at 6:50 pm

    Luke Russert, pick up the phone. Katharine Weymouth’s on line 1.

  43. 43.

    El Cid

    October 5, 2010 at 6:55 pm

    @General Stuck:

    What do you call it when the assassins accuse the assassin?

    Assassin-on-assassin-character-assassination.

  44. 44.

    Mnemosyne

    October 5, 2010 at 7:03 pm

    @JWL:

    If not Dennis Miller, who? If not now, when?

    Miller’s doing radio commercials for car dealerships here in LA, so clearly he could use the money.

  45. 45.

    arguingwithsignposts

    October 5, 2010 at 7:21 pm

    Apparently, Howie was learning about all the exceedingly hard difficulties of writing a blog so he couldn’t talk about Marty Peretz, which actually, he was hunting for a new gig. Hmmmm. Roger Ailes has the goods.

  46. 46.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 7:29 pm

    Howard Kurtz’s mainlining of right-wing extremism includes:

    Kurtz’s pimping of Rush Limbaugh nearly a decade ago despite Limbaugh’s (already) long history of vicious smears.

    Kurtz’s repeated attempts to mainstream the sick stalker Michelle Malkin both on CNN and in his WashingtonPost articles.

    Kurtz repeatedly ran interference for FOX’s extreme right-wing propaganda even when FOX was being transparently and brazenly fraudulent.

    Most recently Howard Kurtz disturbingly attempted to white-wash Glen Beck’s fanatic militancy.

    Howard Kurtz’s malignant history of handing right-wing extremists his national megaphones, in print and on TV, regularly poisoned and discredited both CNN and the WashingtonPost.

    Both institutions would do themselves huge favors by cutting him completely loose.

  47. 47.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 7:43 pm

    “We should also take the time to come up with a Greatest Hits for Kurtz.”

    Is there a link-limit or filter on how many examples of egregiousness can be listed for Howard Kurtz’s shoddy reporting, right-wing enabling, and smearing of the left-wing?

    Because I’m betting I could come up with a hundred citations in an hour….

  48. 48.

    Seebach

    October 5, 2010 at 7:54 pm

    I feel really sad that I missed this Media Whores Online site. From how often it’s spoken of fondly by so many people, I feel almost like I grew up in the 60s and was in a coma when Kennedy was shot. I’m missing a key part of my generational makeup.

  49. 49.

    Linda Featheringill

    October 5, 2010 at 8:01 pm

    @Anne Laurie:

    Ah, Tom Scocca has the data on how long Kurtz has been angling for a position under Tina Brown…

    Well . . . She is an interesting woman. If you like meshugenah women.

  50. 50.

    Seitz

    October 5, 2010 at 8:01 pm

    I can’t remember all the details, but my favorite Howie moment came sometime last year when he quoted some blog as an authoritative source, or said something like “Issue x is getting talked up in the blogosphere”. The problem was, the only post that blog ever produced was the one Howie quoted. It was “almost” as if Howie created his own blog under a pseudonym just so that he would have something to quote in his WaPo column.

  51. 51.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 8:10 pm

    Don’t forget Howard Kurtz not-so-subtly blaming the kids that Republican Foley was chasing….

  52. 52.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 8:20 pm

    CrooksAndLiars.com has some classic moments from CNN/WashingtonPost ‘media critic’ Howard Kurtz:

    “Howie Kurtz: FOX is “entitled” to cheerlead for Bush, misinform.”

    It can’t be said often enough, this right-wing enabling hack is paid by both CNN and the WashingtonPost as their purported MEDIA CRITIC.

    Orwell is rolling over in his grave…

  53. 53.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 8:35 pm

    Brad DeLong asked last week “Why Does Howard Kurtz Have a Job?” after Kurtz’s smarmy use of climate change denying charlatan George Will to criticize Paul Krugman’s prescient economic analyses.

    As DeLong notes, “for Kurtz to actually interview somebody who knew something–that would be work.”

  54. 54.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 8:48 pm

    Don’t forget Howard Kurtz’s refusal to take on the birther falsehoods while it was raging full steam….

    But hey, what could a MEDIA CRITIC who’s paid by CNN say about the birther falsehoods pushed by CNN’s right-wing bigot Lou Dobbs?

  55. 55.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 8:55 pm

    And of course there is endless fodder over Howard Kurtz’s petty attacks on other journalist’s conflicts of interests while glaringly omitting both his own conflicts of interests and those of his employers.

    It’s a wretched combination of hypocrisy and complete lack of integrity that regularly stained both CNN and the Washington Post.

  56. 56.

    asiangrrlMN

    October 5, 2010 at 9:02 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Oh, I sure as hell could–except, my conscience won’t let me, damn it. Sigh. There goes the monies.

  57. 57.

    Batocchio

    October 5, 2010 at 9:03 pm

    On Greatest Hits for Kurtz, I can come up with 4-6 off the top of my head. Maybe I’ll make it a post… although I imagine BJ can come with a stellar list, too.

  58. 58.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 5, 2010 at 9:15 pm

    @News Reference #52:

    Orwell is rolling over in his grave…

    Katharine Graham also.

    And Ted Turner, if he weren’t still alive.

  59. 59.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 9:20 pm

    Rachel Sklar had some pointed comments on Howard Kurtz’s blatant right-wing bias on CNN:

    “Is this dude on drugs? The framing of this question is so biased, so skewed, and such a blatant, scapegoating stretch that I genuinely can’t believe Kurtz had the audacity to say it on the air in a show with the word “reliable” in it. This is even worse blame-the-media-mongering than his recent adoption of the journalists-are-ignoring-good-news-from-Iraq argument, for which he got a well-deserved smackdown from CBS’ Lara Logan. Why? Because it’s actually the SAME blame-the-media-mongering that he’s been pushing, except now instead of being blamed for bad news in Iraq Kurtz is blaming his fellow journalists for bad news about the Bush administration.”

    Of course that was before Howard Kurtz did what he was best at: Being a sycophant.

  60. 60.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 9:30 pm

    And then there is CBSNews’s Lara Logan taking on smarmy Howard Kurtz’s pimping of Iraq War fictions but also his pathetic defense of soulless right-winger Laura Ingraham.

  61. 61.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 9:44 pm

    MediaMatters.org is a goldmine for some of Howard Kurtz’s more obscene moments:

    “CNN’s Kurtz suggests “case [could] be made” that Limbaugh’s race-baiting Obama comments are correct: Politico’s Roger Simon said of the comments: “I find them to be racist and repugnant”.”

    Listening to Roger Simon usually makes me want to wash my ears out with bleach and here he’s taking the high ground to Howard Kurtz’s slimy defense of Rush Limbaugh’s racist comments.

  62. 62.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 10:07 pm

    Perfectly book-ending Howard Kurtz’s perverse defense of Rush Limbaugh’s racism was Howard Kurtz’s jaw-dropping suggestion that African-American women can’t be objective about Michelle Obama.

  63. 63.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 10:32 pm

    Classic piece by Bob Sommersby at The Daily Howler: “Limbaugh savaged “Tokyo Tom.” Brokaw and [Howard] Kurtz left that out[.]”

    Bob Somersby points out how “media reporter” Howard Kurtz deceitfully ignored the national broadcasts of Rush Limbaugh’s viciously acidic and insulting attacks on Democratic leader Tom Daschle, then points out how Howard Kurtz falsely cherry-picked less damaging attacks to create the false impression that Limbaugh’s attacks weren’t as offensive as they really were, and then points out how Howard Kurtz then corruptly asks if the person responding to Rush Limbaugh’s attacks has “lost a couple of screws?”

    To repeat:

    Howard Kurtz is worse than deceitful he is completely corrupt. Kurtz is a cancer on journalism and a blight on both Time-Warner/CNN and the WashingtonPost.

  64. 64.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 10:40 pm

    Another Howard Kurtz classic: “After discussing sexism toward women journalists, [Howard] Kurtz asks Couric about her ‘new hairstyle.’”

    This is what passes as Time-Warner-CNN/WashingtonPost “media reporting”.

    Again:

    Howard Kurtz is a cancer on journalism and a blight on both Time-Warner/CNN and the WashingtonPost.

  65. 65.

    News Reference

    October 5, 2010 at 10:57 pm

    Howard Kurtz uses what I deride as “The Right-Wing’s First Rule: Rules are for Other People” in Howard Kurtz’s use of anonymous quote to attack Jon Stewart, despite his employers purported rules against it.

    Because, hey, how can a MEDIA CRITIC be held to a reasonable standard of journalistic integrity?

  66. 66.

    Nellcote

    October 6, 2010 at 3:38 pm

    @Seebach:

    I feel really sad that I missed this Media Whores Online site.

    To the Wayback Machine!

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