Today we are asking for your expertise in deciding who is the most despised flack in Washington. Is it Clintonland’s Philippe Reines, who last year told BuzzFeed‘s Michael Hastings, now deceased, to “fuck off” and “have a good life”? Under the circumstances–ouch. Or could it be White House Press Sec. Jay Carney, who manages to piss off one reporter or another on a weekly, sometimes daily basis? Or else…Brad Dayspring, the fiery flack who relatively recently returned to the NRSC. Dayspring previously worked in the press shop of House Maj. Leader Eric Cantor. He left that job after a confrontation that nearly turned physical. Forget all that though. Our absolute favorite memory of Dayspring involves those sexy ladies that used to turn up on his Twitter feed. Nah, it wasn’t illegal or even Weinerish. But it was hilarious. We also have a strange nomination in this category for Breitbart‘s Matthew Boyle. We protested, saying he is a reporter and not a flack. But as it was explained to us in the nominating process, “He’s not a flack under the tradition sense of the term, but he’s no journalist, either. I consider him to be a promoter of the GOP and far-right.”

Paying for an unpaid internship — Unpaid internships have become a dreaded necessity, and Capitol Hill is no different. As HuffPost’s Arin Greenwood reports, one aspiring Hill staffer has launched a campaign on Indiegogo to cover the costs of living in D.C. during an internship she’s been offered with Sen. Maj. Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). The campaign, titled “Latina Leadership Fund — Dreams and Political Aspirations,” describes Jessica Padron‘s already-impressive political experience and notes that she’ll be the first in her family to be a college grad once she graduates form the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. So far, she’s raised $2,875 out of the $6,500 she’s asking for.

Weiner gets schooled — Anthony Weiner has dropped to fourth in the Democratic primary race for New York City mayor, and has become somewhat of a punching bag for the media. As TNR’s Marc Tracy reports, that beating of Weiner continued Monday night when the mayoral candidate got “schooled” by Ben Smith at BuzzFeed Brews. Tracy provides a vivid account of the interview, in which Smith got Weiner to state that his wife, Huma Abedin, “has been assigned a role on the nascent presidential campaign” of Hilary Clinton. Smith, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed, was “masterful,” he wrote. While Tracy described Smith’s “keen dislike for Weiner,” Tracy wasn’t shy about his love for Smith.

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Yesterday, we pointed out how NYT columnist Ross Douthat feels about Politico.

He was blunt in his distaste: “I say this as someone who doesn’t particularly like the Politico style or the role it plays in our gilded capital,” he wrote in his Sunday column the New York Times, all while noting he misses the WaPo that could’ve been, if only WaPo hadn’t stopped being a good newspaper.

Just in case you had doubt though, Douthat goes a step further today and tells us how he really feels about Politico.

“…the founders of Politico created a publication that can often feel as solipsistic,  trivial, and insufferable as the cloistered world it’s writing about…”

Solipsistic, trivial and insufferable.

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This is a little disturbing, right?

A tipster (who we’ve met and are acquainted with but who wanted to remain anonymous) sent a note saying, “Ben Freed caught a fish this weekend and killed it with his hands.”

Freed, a longstanding member of the FishbowlDC Fan Club Board, was fired as Editor-in-Chief of DCist last week after defying his boss’s direct orders to not publish a freelance piece in BuzzFeed. According to the tipster, he’s also apparently been spending his free time throwing around frisbee and “throwing bags” — whatever that is.

Just stay off your bike, Freed. We don’t want to hear about any more potential head injuries. And leave the fishes alone! What have they ever done to you?

Have you tried Google Hangouts? Before you sign on to your first chat or host your first live event, learn how the platform works from Google+ expert Lynette Young. An early adopter, Lynette has over 1.5 million followers who tune in for updates on the Women of Google Plus community which she founded.

On Wednesday, August 14, join us for a one-hour webcast, during which we’ll take you through the best practices, tips, and tricks you need to make sure that your Hangouts work properly and reach the right audience. Together, we’ll explore how to set up and run a Google+ Hangout including security settings and Hangout Apps. We will also discuss ways to use the Hangout on Air feature that allows you to broadcast to the world and record on YouTube.

Reserve your spot now! Visit here.

The story behind-the-story of the Snowden NSA leaks must still be interesting. And it’s all getting rather weirdly touchy.

Today, the New York Times ran a transcript of an “encrypted question-and-answer session” between journalist Peter Maass and Snowden, in which Snowden is asked about his initial contacts with Glenn Greenwald and filmmaker Laura Poitras. It’s a preview of a profile of Poitras called “Snowden’s People” that will run in the Sunday magazine.

The most interesting part of it all is when Snowden says he thought Poitras and Greenwald were annoyed he wasn’t older. He’s 30, though we’re not entirely sure why that would matter (Maass apparently didn’t seem to feel the need to follow-up, but it could have something to do with the belabored security-intensive interview method in which Poitras served as intermediary). This was also just Snowden’s impression upon their first meeting—he doesn’t give any real details on why he thought they were upset about his age—and it was an impression he gave while admitting he, too, was annoyed because Poitras and Greenwald had showed up for their meeting early.

All that was the point of a short transcript that Talking Points Memo highlighted in a post this morning under the headline, “Snowden: Greenwald Was ‘Annoyed That I was Younger’ Than He Expected.” Normally that would be that, but then Greenwald chimed in to help us understand why Snowden’s age was so off-putting.

You see, Greenwald is just easily annoyed.

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Is the galaxy really big enough for everyone?

As BuzzFeed‘s Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith monopolized the set of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today – Politico‘s favorite home away from home – BuzzFeed‘s publicist Ashley McCollum was firing off an inflamed tweet about Politico‘s Mike Allen.

Amazing that @mikeallen and Politico still won’t put BuzzFeed in Playbook. Not sure what that is – maybe our emails go to spam?

— Ashley McCollum (@McCollumAshley) August 13, 2013

When asked for comment on if there was any truth to Playbook ignoring BuzzFeed, Allen told FishbowlDC, “Earlier this summer, the top of Playbook linked to a BuzzFeed piece as ‘Juicy Read Du Jour.’ Also awarded BuzzFeed a “Headline of the Week,” and gave prominent coverage to McKay Coppins’s book deal. I’d be grateful to hear from Ashley any time: mallen@politico.com. Please don’t post it, but my cellphone is BLANK. I always try to be helpful and accessible.” (Ashley, if you’d like Mike’s cell for Playbook requests, prank calls or texting, we’re happy to share offline.)

A sour taste has been lingering between the two outlets for several months now. In March 0f this year, Politico started doing their own version of “BuzzFeed Brews,” calling it “Playbook Cocktails, causing some media observers to start throwing around accusations and get their feathers rumpled. And when BuzzFeed Brews first began, BuzzFeed Political Editor McKay Coppins described it as essentially the same thing as Politico‘s Playbook Breakfast, “minus the stale bagels, plus the beer.”

What makes this subtle griping particularly awkward… Read more

After Ariana Huffington collapsed in 2007 from exhaustion, she made some changes in her life, changes that have seeped into the culture at HuffPost.

No one is expected to answer work emails after hours or on weekends, for example. She also built sleep pods at the New York offices that she didn’t think would catch on at first, but now are constantly booked. D.C.’s recently renovated newsroom has mediation space, a yoga room and even a kegerator.

Taking time to recharge or get drunk, Huffington says, makes you a better employee. She didn’t exactly say that drunk part, but remember—kegerator. With two taps.

And then, there’s the cheese. Cheddar cheese, specifically. From the Bath Chronicle in the UK:

“Her other ‘little joys’ she says are ‘listening to the country music I love, having a great cheddar cheese, you know, looking at a gorgeous bouquet of flowers.’”

Hmmm. We prefer something a little more exotic to get through our days, like muenster.

This morning CQ Roll Call has the details on Chris Battle‘s funeral.

The former Capitol Hill aide and reporter died last week after a lengthy fight against kidney cancer. He previously worked for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette when former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) snagged him to come to Washington and handle his communications.

See the service and donation details here.

Friends recently shared the news of Battle’s death.

Chris battle, 45, passed Thursday morning after a long and courageous fight against kidney cancer. Chris was a well-loved fixture among Washington journalists — as a sr Hill and Admin aide (rep Asa Hutchison, DEA, DHS), a reporter and editorial page editor (ark Dem Gazette) and a communications strategist (adfero). He and his wife Dena Battle fought his cancer with characteristic wit and everything else they could. In addition to dena, he is survived by his two young daughters, his parents and siblings, and more friends than can be counted. Washington lost a good man this week, but Heaven gained one.

“You can take the sexual piece out. That is a funny story for a child.” — BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” discussing his interview with New York mayoral hopeful Anthony Weiner and the reaction of his kids to the story. Specifically, he was referring to taking a picture of your penis and putting it on the Internet.

EGG ON HIS FACE: “Really, because all this time I thought you were paid to spit on a camera lens.” — Daily Show’s John Oliver on MSNBC “Hardball” Host Chris Matthews claim that “this is what I do” in terms of predicting presidential candidates that he has consistently gotten wrong. Matthews predicted former Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) would be nominated in 2012. This time his money’s on Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Journo avoids barfing in cab

“Had to get out of a taxi and take the subway home for the first time because I was going to vomit from car sickness. 1st time for everything.” — BuzzFeed‘s Andrew Kaczynski.

In awe of Rob Lowe

“Amazing @RollCallAbby: Rob Lowe just retweeted me. If the 14-year-old in me had any clue what Twitter was, she would faint.” — CNN’s Laura Bernadini, supervising producer for CNN’s White House unit.

In anticipation of Sydney Leathers

“I am interviewing Sydney Leathers when I sit in for Geraldo tomorrow morning. What would you ask her if you were me?” — WMAL and Breitbart‘s Larry O’Connnor last night.

Just a little light abortion tweeting

“Human life does not magically become life whenever a pro-choice woman conveniently thinks it becomes life. #ScienceSaysSo” — Breitbart Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro.