When the clock struck 6:39 p.m. last night, RedState Editor and Fox News Contributor Erick Erickson released a tweet that would draw mountains of hate from lefties his way. Before he did it, he released Bible verses. Some 171 retweets and 87 favorites later, was it worth it?

The tweet that blew a gasket:

I wonder when President Obama will find out about Oklahoma.

— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) May 20, 2013

Asked whether he regrets his remark, Erickson told FishbowlDC: “I think the blowback certainly has to make me reconsider whether it was wise to do at that time. And I probably should have waited, though I think the senator who raced to the floor to make it about global warming set a very high bar for politicization that I did not reach. The reality though is had I tweeted that today, tomorrow, or next week the accusations would be the same though not as intense.”

Do the obscenely negative responses affect him? “I’m used to it,” he wrote by email. “It also highlights just how angry some people are — to an irrational level of anger. You can disagree with and be offended by that tweet, but I’m not sure how it makes me evil, racist, or not a Christian.”

Erickson pointed to another tweet that also sparked hatred. It came from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palinand involved prayer. “Honestly, what stuck out more to me was Sarah Palin’s tweet praying for the people of Oklahoma,” he wrote. “I pulled it up to retweet it and on my Twitter app, right after she’d done it , the app showed the first response to her from someone was ‘shut up you bitch.’ Amazing.”

Also amazing to Erickson was this: “The people fixated on that tweet ignored the many dozen others I tweeted or retweeted encouraging people to pray and donate to relief efforts.” In conclusion, he said, “Odd for me to say given my job, but I’m more and more convinced that the 24 hour news cycle focused on tragedy outside anyone’s control is just not helpful for people’s well being.”

And the 8 best in worst reactions to Erickson’s remark… Read more

Oklahoma Publications…

Credit: c/o The Newseum

And Washington, D.C. … Read more

Quotes of the Day

“News helicopters being told to back off because HWY Patrol can’t hear people crying for help #tornado #oklahoma” — Robin Marsh, news anchor in Oklahoma City.

Fallout: Bring Up Politics at Your Own Risk 

“I’m a douche low-life scumbag jackhole ghoul for noting Coburn already wants offsets to fed aid and Inhofe is climate change denier.” – Politico‘s Glenn Thrush, who got bombarded when he wrote this: “It’s striking that OK’s sens are 1) a federal spending skeptic and 2) global warming denier.” In response to the above, Kristina Ribali, director of new media at Freedom Works remarked: “@GlennThrush I didn’t say you were slamming them, I said you were being an ass. Have some class.” Labor reporter F. Bill McMorris wrote simply, “#douche.”

Did someone speak too soon? 

“Thank God tragedies like this one in OK bring out the highest and best in everyone – politicians, first responders, government, media.” — CNBC and NYT‘s John Harwood.

More media in-fighting…

The Nation‘s Katrina vanden Heuvel: “If GOP going to use IRS ‘scandal’ to demolish government,they may wish to look at need for very same government in Oklahoma tornado disaster.”

National Review Online‘s Jonah Goldberg: “.@KatrinaNation what’s really in poor taste how your point is so pedestrian and lame. Why bother? Jeez.”

The Day After: “It is always the next day when the sun comes up that we learn the extent of the horror.” — Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren.

And a few confessionals…

“Sometimes the disaster voyeurism on Twitter makes me uncomfortable.” — Blake Hounshel, managing editor of Foreign Policy mag.

“I lost some family that meant a lot to me in the AL tornadoes. Think I’ll clock out of coverage for the evening and pick it up in the AM.” — FBDC Contributor and Bill Press‘ producer Peter Ogburn.

“The partisanship in the wake of tragedy stuns me.” — WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza.

The Preacher

“When you turn your TV off and stop tweeting tonight — stop. Sit in peace. Too many people don’t have that tonight.” — WaPo producer Jeff Simon.

Emotions on high: A Variety of Calls for Prayer

• “Terrifying photo of tornado damage nyti.ms/10R5Ly2 May the dead rest in peace. May survivors get help to heal and rebuild.” – Conor Friedersdorf, staff writer for The Atlantic.

“Worst part about Oklahoma news is you know it’s going to get worse. And that’s just heartbreaking. #PrayForOklahoma” — Rory Cooper, communications director to House Maj. Leader Eric Cantor.

• “The sad news from Oklahoma keeps rolling in. Everyone at TheDC is thinking of the folks affected, & will keep you in our thoughts & prayers.” — The Daily Caller.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Oklahoma tonight. #okc” — Newt Gingrich.

Uh oh.

“CIA source says Fox News scandal the ’4th Shoe’; says it goes much deeper; says WH also sitting on “something” that has top aides terrified.” — Drudge Report and TWT Columnist Joseph Curl.

GOP Spox Prediction: 60 Minutes to land first Obama interview

“White House/Obama scandal tsunami is growing. Odds that the White House offers Steve Kroft the first POTUS interview?” — NRSC Strategist/Spokesman Brad Dayspring in an unfortunate display of using a weather analogy on the wrong day.

Rubin Vs. Shuster

“Watching lefty media meltdown re Obama media spying is like a kid finding out Babe Ruth was a drunk. Sorry to disillusion but long overdue.” — WaPo‘s
“Right Turn” blogger Jennifer Rubin.

Shuster guts Rubin like a fish…“When it comes to RWNJ’s, including @JRubinBlogger, who are mentally ill + psychotic, best to ignore them.” — Lefty radio host David Shuster. “[Jennifer Rubin] proves again she is a habitual liar. And, asking @CNN to cut the mic of somebody responding to her lies? Psychotic.”

Bureau Chief takes firm stance on exposed pits

“Phew, getting people blind drunk in bars in order to get them to tell you things isn’t in DOJ’s list of treasonous acts that reporters do.” — BuzzFeed Washington Bureau Chief John Stanton. And this from a few days ago, but we couldn’t resist it: “I’m a firm believer that sleeves are mandatory for dudes in a restaurant situation. Nobody wants your pits exposed near their food.”

Watch out, ladies, your purses are germier than you think

“Not the dinner hour yet so if you carry a purse tune in at 4. Report shows more germs on your purse than a toilet. News4 @nbcwashington.” — Jim Handly, anchor, NBC Washington.

See more Morning Chatter…

Read more

Congratulations, you’ve made it this far through Monday. Now here is some afternoon reading to get you through the rest of the day.

Obama Left in the Dark — The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports that White House Press Sec. Jay Carney said today that though White House officials were notified of an inspector general report on the IRS by the Treasury Department, President Obama was not. Carney said he supports the decision of White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler’s decision not to disclose the report, saying it would have been inappropriate for the President to be involved in an ongoing investigation, as conclusions often change in the final stages of inspector general reports.

Prosecuting the Press — Politico’s Josh Gerstein examines Attorney General Eric Holder’s stance on prosecuting journalists. Though Holder rejected the idea in last week’s hearing, Gerstein explains that the Justice Department has used the possibility of prosecution to obtain warrants. Citing the case of Fox News’ James Rosen, reported in the WaPo article above, the piece looks at how the Privacy Protection Act of 1980 has been interpreted and which protocols were followed and which were overstepped.

DOJ Deja Vu — The DOJ subpoena is being labeled a major scandal for the Obama administration, but as WaPo’s Ann Marimow reports, it’s not the first time this happened. The piece tells the story of the eerily similar tracking a few years ago of Fox News reporter James Rosen by the Justice Department, which was investigating leaks about North Korea in 2009. In addition to phone records, the DOJ made use of security badge access records to track when Rosen came and went to the State Department as well as his personal emails.

IRS Not Alone in Conservative Targeting — Apparently, the IRS wasn’t the only government agency targeting conservative groups. According to the story by The Daily Caller’s Michael Bastasch, the EPA made acquisition of government records more difficult for conservative groups while giving preferential treatment to environmental groups. Republican lawmakers are now launching an investigation into the claims.

Odd choice for a Friday night, but a functional toilet isn’t something you can just do without. CQ Roll Call‘s Neda Semnani kicked off the weekend by repairing hers.

“The toilet’s been running for months. Its just old or/or maybe poor quality,” she told FishbowlDC in an email. “I didn’t want to pay for a plumber unless I had to, so I went to the hardware store and got a kit and I followed the instructions.”

Semnani tweeted just after 9 p.m. that she was going to get wine and set out on her toilet adventure. Forty-five minutes later she returned and tweeted a photo of her tools, along with Huckleberry, her dog.

What ensued was a series of tweets in which Semnani demonstrated her lack of knowledge of all things commode-related, with her Twitter friends following along: Read more

Journalist Lizzie O’Leary got Twitter all excited on Friday afternoon when she casually tweeted, “Pregnanté.”

Naturally, several people on Twitter assumed this was O’Leary announcing that she was with child. This would have been big news considering that, not long ago, O’Leary spoke to Cosmo about her battle with endometriosis, which puts a damper on baby-making. The congratulatory tweets started coming in. Bloomberg’s Ryan Sutton tweeted, “ZOMG congrats! counting the days until your offspring annihilate(s) the competition on teen jeopardy!” WaPo’s Jim Tankersley responded, “!!!!!! that’s great news.” WSJ’s Victoria McGrane kept up the overuse of exclamations by tweeting, “CONGRATS!!!!!!!!”

So, what’s the problem? Read more

Over 70 percent of Wired is freelance written, and, once you’ve scored a byline, you’re well on your way to landing more assignments. Senior editor Sarah Fallon urges writers to think of Wired‘s coverage as a continuum: “Science leads to technologies. Technologies spawn businesses and whole industries. Businesses flourish and end up influencing and changing culture,” she said.

Based in San Francisco, Wired has a laid-back but focused West Coast feel and a sensibility that welcomes everyone from the worldly generalist to the Vine junkie. There’s plenty of room for freelancers, too, so long as you’re pitching fresh meat. “We want to cover stories that you wouldn’t find in any other magazine,” Fallon explained. “If you’re going to pitch something mainstream, make sure you have a unique angle.”

For more info, read How To Pitch: Wired.

The full version of this article is exclusively available to Mediabistro AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, register now for as little as $55 a year for access to hundreds of articles like this one, discounts on Mediabistro seminars and workshops, and all sorts of other bonuses.Land $1.50 a Word (and Up) at Wired

On “Saturday Night Live” this past weekend the show once again mocked MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton‘s inability to read off a teleprompter. More importantly, it suggested that WaPo columnist Dana Milbank, who once called President Obama “our first female president,” has a feminine name.

“What is this about?” Kenan Thompson, who played Sharpton, asked Jason Sudeikis, who played Milbank. “I mean, you’re a man, but your name is Dana.”

Sudeikis replied, “Well, Al, there’s lots of men named Dana.

“Well I don’t trust it,” said Thompson. “You know what– I’m going to call you Dan A.”

Pictured above is a screengrab of SNL’s “Milbank.”

Watch the skit here.

Twitter followers of WaPo‘s Mike DeBonis were rapt Saturday night as the reporter revealed a whole lot more than even he thought he would. Typically DeBonis covers the District of Columbia. But this was infinitely more personal than that. The headlines: 1. Father has a medical emergency. 2. DeBonis pops the question; girlfriend says yes.

First, a warning.

So I’ve had quite a week, and I’m gonna go all @clintonyates Saurday evening Twitter tale on you in a second

— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) May 18, 2013

And so the Twitter novela begins: “So a week ago I had dinner with my parents in Chicago, visiting for a old friend’s wedding. Just like always…martinis, wine, too much food. I told them, after two martinis and a glass or two of wine, to expect a call noontime Saturday. As in today. That’s all I told em.”

The tension builds. “What my mother didn’t tell me, because she couldn’t, was to expect a call from her, at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning,” he wrote.

His father was in the hospital undergoing open heart surgery. “Airlifted by helicopter in the wee hours,” DeBonis wrote.

My old man always talked about ‘having the big one’ … His heart was healthy, but he knew the martinis and the cigars carried a risk.

— Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) May 18, 2013

DeBonis explained, “Aortic dissection. Google it. Better yet, YouTube it. The lining of the aorta separates from the outer vessel and high pressure blood tears it away, from the heart to the groin. If the outer layers don’t hold, you’re a goner. Something like 60 percent of cases, you’re dead before you make it to the hospital. But my old man knew something bad was happening.”

Read more

The White House Soup of the Day, as reported by MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” is…

Tortellini.

“Tortellini Soup.” [CRAZY LONG PAUSE] “It’s PASTA, with a little extra broth,” said host Chuck Todd, taking a stab in the dark on what to say about it.