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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Just when I thought that things would get better

Just when I thought that things would get better

by DougJ|  January 14, 20147:46 pm| 31 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads

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It’s probably not fair to whiny-ass titty babies to call Politico a bunch of whiny-ass titty babies:

Politico editor-in-chief John Harris and chief executive Jim VandeHei are expected to visit The Washington Post on Wednesday to discuss the paper’s recent scrutiny of chief White House correspondent Mike Allen and his influential Playbook newsletter, according to a source familiar with the meeting who is not authorized to discuss it.

The Politico higher-ups are scheduled to sit down with both editorial page editor Fred Hiatt and media critic Erik Wemple, who has aggressively covered Allen and recently suggested the Politico star writer rewards Playbook advertisers with favorable coverage. After digging through Playbook’s archives, Wemple concluded in November that “the special interests that pay for slots in the newsletter get adoring coverage elsewhere in the playing field of Playbook.”

[….]

“Erik’s posts about Playbook are false and insulting,” Allen wrote. “I haven’t responded because his obsessive, anti-Playbook agenda has been obvious for some

[….]

During an December appearance on WNYC, VandeHei said he thought Wemple’s “piece was nonsense, which is why we didn’t play ball with him on it.” On Fox News, Harris described Wemple’s report as “more of a suggestion, insinuation, innuendo in a really unfair way.” Playbook, Harris said, is “totally transparent.”

Check out this awesome Wemple piece (via) on Allen’s non-stop fluffing of Roger Ailes:

Copyright considerations prevent the Erik Wemple Blog from dropping the plenary glory of “FRIENDS PUSH AILES FOR PRESIDENT” into this blog post, yet a few excerpts hint at the genius behind its formulation. The lede: “Friends and associates are encouraging Fox News chief Roger Ailes to jump into the political arena for real by running for president in 2012, top sources tell POLITICO.” The flattery: “Ailes, 69, has an aggessive, winning personality that made Fox News a huge success — and a huge target for liberal critics.” The meat: “Talk of an Ailes run, which informed sources said is based on more than mere speculation, could escalate the White House war with Fox war in wildly unpredictable – and fun – ways.”

I wonder if Hiatt will shut Wemple down. If so, I hope the Times or HuffPo hires him.

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Reader Interactions

31Comments

  1. 1.

    the Conster

    January 14, 2014 at 7:53 pm

    Wemple and Pareene have cracked the code, and now they’ve got nothing except mean girl retorts. Politico is now the Villager Burn Book.

  2. 2.

    ? Martin

    January 14, 2014 at 7:54 pm

    This is too inside baseball for me to wrap my head around today.

    In other news, we surprised my daughter for her 13th birthday by redoing her room while she was at school. Thankfully it was 85 today with Santa Ana’s blowing (6% humidity) so the painting worked in my favor. No sooner did I reach one end of the room and the other end was dry. Full paint job in 5 hours, while Ms Martin made a cake and worked on some accessories for the room.

    But I’m beat.

  3. 3.

    Citizen_X

    January 14, 2014 at 7:57 pm

    Ailes, 69, has an aggessive, winning personality

    Charlie Sheen’s on the line. He says that’s really taking it too far.

  4. 4.

    aimai

    January 14, 2014 at 8:00 pm

    @? Martin: What a lovely gift! I hope she really enjoys it.

  5. 5.

    Citizen_X

    January 14, 2014 at 8:01 pm

    Also, too, they seriously thought Ailes would get any votes beyond the 9% or so who like Cheney? No wonder they love Christie.

  6. 6.

    Eric U.

    January 14, 2014 at 8:11 pm

    anyone that uses the expression “liberal media” non-ironically is in the tank for the republicans.

  7. 7.

    WereBear

    January 14, 2014 at 8:12 pm

    I’ve pre-ordered the Ailes book. It’s downloading on my Kindle. I hope I can get through it without throwing up.

    Mr WereBear has loaded up my mint tea container.

  8. 8.

    Ash Can

    January 14, 2014 at 8:13 pm

    @? Martin: That’s so sweet. I bet she got a huge kick out of it.

    Also, I love hearing about 85-degree Santa Anas these days. It makes me feel warm and reminds me of the awesome drive down the West Coast that M-80, Bottle Rocket and I took last summer. :)

  9. 9.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 14, 2014 at 8:14 pm

    @the Conster:

    Politico = Tiger Beat on the Potomac (h/t that MA perfesser guy who posts in Esquire name of Charles Pierce)

    The best way to deal with scum like Allen and VandeHei is a Kim Jong Un style kennel visit.

  10. 10.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 14, 2014 at 8:16 pm

    Oh, and latest Noismax headline:

    Christie: I Pledge Cooperation With Probes

    Bend over, Outlaw Joisey Whale.

  11. 11.

    max

    January 14, 2014 at 8:17 pm

    On Fox News, Harris described Wemple’s report as “more of a suggestion, insinuation, innuendo in a really unfair way.”

    For which you could totally sue Wemple and the WaPo for millions of dollars.

    max
    [‘Except for the pesky truth bit.’]

  12. 12.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 14, 2014 at 8:19 pm

    Who reads Politico? They read like a gossip rag about DC politicians not as interesting as gossip about movie stars. Besides other Pundits who reads Politico?

  13. 13.

    jl

    January 14, 2014 at 8:28 pm

    I think from now on, any blogger writing about Mike Allen should do it in ‘Mike Allen style’ a la Alex Pareene’s Hack List.

  14. 14.

    Anne Laurie

    January 14, 2014 at 8:30 pm

    Mandatory:

    @mlcalderone @mikeallen @erikwemple Who in their right freaking mind would care enough about Playbook to be "obsessive" about it??

    — billmon (@billmon1) January 15, 2014

  15. 15.

    WereBear

    January 14, 2014 at 8:33 pm

    @Anne Laurie: Well, there is that “right mind” caveat.

  16. 16.

    Schlemizel

    January 14, 2014 at 8:35 pm

    I hope the Times or HuffPo hires him.

    Why, you want him covering nip slips and side boobs?

    I think it would be wonderful to get that lard loaf into the goopers primary. for one he would be exposed to actual questioning (not from the media of course) and for two it would be fun to see the slimy little Koch suckers try and attack him in ways that would not preclude getting hired after they fail.

  17. 17.

    schrodinger's cat

    January 14, 2014 at 8:35 pm

    Speaking of twits, here is my review of the second episode of the soap opera about entitled upper class twits.

  18. 18.

    danielx

    January 14, 2014 at 8:56 pm

    Ailes, 69, has an aggessive, winning personality

    On which planet would that be, again?

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 14, 2014 at 9:00 pm

    @? Martin: That’s a brilliant gift. I’m sure she loves it already, and I hope you or Mrs. Martin had a camera at the ready to capture Martindaughter’s reaction.

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    January 14, 2014 at 9:00 pm

    @danielx: Planet People-Who-Work-For-Ailes, of course. Go out past Jupiter and make a hard right turn, you can’t miss it.

  21. 21.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 14, 2014 at 9:02 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Bend over, Outlaw Joisey Whale.

    Ew ew ew, why did you say that, get it OFF!!!

  22. 22.

    ranchandsyrup

    January 14, 2014 at 9:10 pm

    Allen is defending himself by invoking his honesty and integrity as if those things actually existed.

  23. 23.

    ? Martin

    January 14, 2014 at 9:27 pm

    @aimai: @Ash Can: She’s pretty excited. The room was in good shape before, but it was a color we picked for a little kid, when she was around 7. She got to (unsuspectingly) pick the color and Ms Martin did coordinating comforter and all that jazz, along with some new accessories and furniture. It looks like a proper teenage girl room now.

    It was fun, but exhausting. I’ve painted every wall of my house at least once, and I’m pretty good at it, but speed has never been important. I get good results, but full top to bottom paint for a room (trim, walls, accents, ceiling) usually takes me a week. I’m not fast. I knew it was possible, I just didn’t know if I could do it. Had it rained today, there’s no way it would have worked out.

    But yeah, she’s really excited. She wasn’t expecting it.

  24. 24.

    ? Martin

    January 14, 2014 at 9:28 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Unfortunately we didn’t. It was a scramble right up to the last moment. I discovered that the light in her ceiling fan wasn’t working right and endeavored to fix it and that blew my time budget – she walked in as I was working. Oh well. Close enough.

  25. 25.

    the Conster

    January 14, 2014 at 9:29 pm

    @? Martin:

    I love paint color names – what color did you paint it?

  26. 26.

    ? Martin

    January 14, 2014 at 9:58 pm

    @the Conster: It’s called ‘Barely Teal’, and it’s an apt name. It has just the slightest hint of green to it, but is a nice light blue with hardly any black in it. It’s a really nice cheery color.

    Her furniture is a smooth alabaster white (slightly warm) so they have a nice contrast. Many of the accents are a darker iteration of the same color – and we’re still pretty amazed that we found not just fabric in the same hue, but also polypropylene for drawer liners, etc.

  27. 27.

    HinTN

    January 14, 2014 at 10:15 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: It was poifect!

  28. 28.

    Shana

    January 14, 2014 at 10:20 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat: Well, to our benefit the National Treasure that is Charlie Pierce does.

  29. 29.

    JustRuss

    January 14, 2014 at 10:45 pm

    Ailes, 69, has an aggessive, winning personality that made Fox News a huge success — and a huge target for liberal critics.”

    Yes, that’s why liberals hate Ailes: his winning personality. I guess that also explains why Bill Clinton can’t get any respect from Democratic voters. /sarcasm

  30. 30.

    SFAW

    January 15, 2014 at 7:54 am

    Ailes, 69, has an aggressive, winning personality

    You know who ELSE had an aggressive, winning personality ?

    I wonder if Hiatt will shut Wemple down

    Why ever would he do that? I mean, didn’t he promote Froomkin to something like Chief Editorial Writer Guy?

  31. 31.

    Paul in KY

    January 15, 2014 at 8:26 am

    @WereBear: You are a trooper. Good luck!

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