VandeHarris (via Felix Salmon) on Politico’s core mission:
Our fundamental model is not driven by traffic. It’s trying to be as essential to the conversation of Washington insiders, people who live and breathe this, whose careers depend upon it.
As pointless a mission as that is (if indeed that is its real mission, which I doubt), I wonder if the Politico is less toxic than what it replaced, ABC’s The Note, and if The Note, in turn, is less toxic than what it replaced, Sally Quinn’s dinner parties. In many ways, this is certainly true. Sally Quinn’s dinner parties had no journalistic component, whereas The Note has/had interns reading stuff and feeding it to Halperin, and Politico has actual reporters.
I’m still not going to read Politico or link to it, but if it marginalizes Halperin and Quinn, it may be net positive as an institution.
Polish the Guillotines
Translation: We want to influence policy without ever having to face the voters.
Jody
Stuff like this really makes me miss Media Whores Online.
Alex S.
Huffpost reports that Michael Calderone is going to leave Politico. Just for y’all to know…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/29/michael-calderone-leaving_n_517059.html
It seems they aren’t doing so well lately. Or is it intentional?
The Populist
Who the fuck is he kidding? If it’s true guess it’s nice to have sugardaddies to pay your bills and salary, eh Matt?
I guess the GOP are the highest bidders when it comes to buying souls.
kindness
(covers mouth and fake coughs) “bullshit!”
MikeJ
Sadly, the media Horse is now working at a club in W. Hollywood.
asiangrrlMN
So it’s one big circle-jerk? Is that what you’re trying to say, DougJ? Makes sense.
lamh31
guys, this is so off topic, but I just read this over at Sully’s and the first thing that came to my mind was:
“No Shit Sherlock!”
Ricky Martin ” I am a Fortunate Homosexual Man”!!!!
bcinaz
Read our stuff, we’re not accountable for our content and Mike Allen takes dictation from the Cheney Family.
What kind a mission is that?
lamh31
I’ve never been a big fan of Politico. Aside from the fact that their comments section would make a Grand Wizard of the KKK blush at times, but the whole “Cheney is our master” vibe that they’ve got going on skeeves me out.
Bout the only part of politico I frequent is Ben Smith’s blog, and there Politico 44 page detailing the Obama presidency, and even then, they are not the first thing on my daily blog rolls
Just Some Fuckhead
If my career depended on what a few Republican hacks thought was essential, I’d shoot myself in the head.
demkat620
I watched that Kurtz interview yesterday. They are horrible people and Jim Vandehai is just idiotic in his thinking.
Then I had the treat of watching Erick son of Erick tell me he has learned to not make his stupid and offensive comments in public.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@MikeJ:
So who will be the first Dem to stand up and call the GOP “the party of West Hollywood values“?
My money is on Grayson.
asiangrrlMN
@lamh31: Yeah. When I first read the news, I thought, “And this is news, how?”
asiangrrlMN
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: OOOOoh! Can I play? I say Anthony Weiner! Or maybe Barney Frank.
Zifnab
@Just Some Fuckhead: They aren’t interested in getting Republicans or Democrats on the fringes nearly as much as they are of replacing George Will and David Broder. They’re raiding the Village for it’s virgins.
soonergrunt
And when Vandehei’s GOP-fellatio rag ™ folds, as it inevitably must, will Bowties and Spats Revue take over, or will it be something else just as insipid?
Mike Kay
@Jody: awww, the good ole days of The Horse (Media Whore).
Each year they would end with a vote for media whore of the year. In 2003, Russert was the runaway winner, he received 80% of the vote. In 2004, it was Elizabeth Bumiller. But the funny part was, every single year, the runner-up in the long list of nominees was Howard Fineman. He was the Susan Lucci of Media Whores. How appropriate.
Jody
MikeJ:
Really? Don’t tease a man like that. You have no idea how far I’d go just to get one more fix of the Horse.
That site, along with Steve Gilliard, showed me it was okay to be liberal and pissed off. Not a day goes by when I don’t wonder what they’d think about something or other.
MikeJ
@Jody: It was a jokey attempt to cross the streams, as it were. I apologize.
Bill E Pilgrim
I’d say “fixed”, but it will never be fixed, I’m afraid.
Violet
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
I’d go with Grayson too. He’s got the cojones to say it and people wouldn’t laugh at him if he said it the way they would if someone else did.
I love Grayson. He’s a very refreshing Democrat.
Midnight Marauder
This is really not all that different from any of the day-to-day aims of the other big traditional media outlets.
Except CNN; they just cater to morons.
geg6
Heh. Sounds like Politico is going down the toobz. Heh.
Zifnab
@Midnight Marauder: Morons who can’t find the remote. Even your regular moron has standards.
Brian J
I suspect part of the problem with Politico is that its focus is so narrow. After all, even on the biggest, most important issues of the day, like health care legislation and financial reform, there are only so many stories to write about. On other, less sexy issues, there’s probably no point in writing, because the audience(s) aren’t big and/or important enough to care. The focus will then turn to whatever isn’t directly related to policy. And since the audience that is tuned into Politico takes its cues from this publication, consciously or unconsciously, the rest of the media follows what it says.
As for whether it’s worse than other sources, I am not sure. But the dynamic I just described does cause problems, I believe. If the hardcore audience is really small, that means that it’s much more like a small town. It’s probably easier for a major national news source like Fox or The New York Times or CNN to treat someone ridiculous, like Michael Steele, with the proper degree of scorn than it is for Politico to do the same. That’s why it’ll run opinion pieces from someone like Steele on the economy that bear little resemblance to reality. If they don’t treat him with the same sort of respect that they might treat someone on the other side, it’s like they will be doing something to be cast out of the village. Either that, or it’s just run by hacks that don’t give a crap. I’m not sure which is worse.
On the plus side, Michael Calderone is leaving for Yahoo, so I can still get his stuff but not have to give Politico the hits.
The Populist
@Violet:
Grayson is what every dem should be. A guy willing to state facts and truth and call out bullshit whenever it there.
Chuck Butcher
Let me see if I’ve got this right … some one was stupid and egoistic enough to say this where it could be quoted? Not to mention, believe it?
Your mission statement is “we whore to the whores?” If you’re a politician someone is essential if they either bring money or votes – very rarely for bringing ideas, even very good ones. Politico brings what, reinforcement of political spin?
Chad N Freude
OT, but not too far, our beloved Erick Erickson apologizes for some things but justifies himself anyway.
Midnight Marauder
That’s a good point. Even regular morons can’t stomach Wolf Blitzer and his Room of Situations.
Violet
@The Populist:
I agree in principle. If everyone was like him, it would be a bit same-y, though. I like him in that role and I like Obama’s more slow-burn style, too. I think there’s room for all kinds of styles so long as the overriding goal is speaking the truth and working for the people.
morzer
Ah the Politico.. a slightly lighter shade, but still the same rancid horseshit I refuse to read or link to them. The sooner Sally Quinn’s Whoresons go down, the better.
Ash Can
“Less toxic” is still toxic. Just sayin’.
Nylund
Sally Quinn is truly a terrible human being and a major example of what is wrong with DC and why it has problems governing. She deserves to live out the rest of her days in a cardboard box under an L.A. overpass. So, if it marginalizes the likes of her, then I’ll take it. Next, we can marginalize Politico. Maybe it’ll take a while, but just possibly, in 100 years we may end up with a political press that deals with policy and facts, not cocktail parties, election horseraces, and he said/she said BS.
The Populist
@Violet:
Good point, Violet. I guess my frustrations are that I wish more were like him but we need nuanced folks as well.
Violet
@The Populist:
I wish there were more like him too. And get rid of the mealy-mouthed, wishy-washy types. If a Democrat can’t take a stand for the people, they should go back where they came from. But style and substance are very different. Grayson is really good in his role. Not everyone needs to try to be him. But all of them should be trying to speak the truth and work for their constituents, not just line their own pockets and focus on their cushy post-Congress lobbying jobs.
Jody
MikeJ:
No need to apologize. It just made me pine a little more for the days when the Media Horse roamed free, serving up red meat with a side dish of ass kickings.
And Mike Kay, it does depress me that two of my heroes have vanished to obscurity and death (respectively), while the targets they used to mock so well just continue to ply their trade and be richly rewarded for it. It just reminds me how badly we need voices like that. And in that sense, Balloon Juice has gone a long way to fill the void. A voice of angry sanity, if you will.
MTiffany
Christ on a cross — mission statements? Pure douchebaggery. Remember when companies were in business to make money? I think they used to do that by making goods or providing services that other companies or people wanted to buy.
Leelee for Obama
I saw this BS this morning and I thought, yessssss. At least they admit that they want to be insiders among the insiders and the rest of us that USED to read them were nothing but page views to pay the bills. Made me prouder than hell to know I realized early on that they were useless as a news source.
ornery curmudgeon
Thank you for not linking Politico. Seriously.
tenkindsofgrumpy
I dive into politico for Laura Rozen only, comments however is a sewer, one of the few places on earth where you can leave feeling more stupid than when you arrived.
Howlin Wolfe
@Jody: Here, here!