Love and Romance

Mediaite White House Correspondent Tommy Christopher and Breitbart.com editor Dana Loesch started the weekend off right by waging a “You lie! No, you lie!” Twitter war on Friday.

Twitchy.com, a right-leaning site, has the argument played out in full but it’s a complete fustercluck (a word introduced to us recently by the Washington Examiner‘s Kytja Weir) we can barely follow.

The gist: Loesch sent out tweets analyzing the politics of GOP hopeful Mitt Romney‘s repudiation of anti-Obama groups attempting to make Rev. Jeremiah Wright an issue in this election. The blog Little Green Footballs picked up the tweets and suggested Loesch or her Breitbart colleagues were in cahoots with the Romney campaign and attended a “secret meeting.” Loesch  anticipated Christopher would do a writeup on it. He did. Like a ferocious lioness, Loesch attacked, calling Christopher a “hack.” She said Christopher implied Loesch had attended this “secret meeting” in D.C. despite the fact that she was hosting her radio program in Missouri at the time.

The feud turned unnecessarily bitchy. Christopher parsed his words to demonstrate that everything he wrote about Loesch was technically accurate and wrote up a clarification. Loesch thanked him kindly but started a snarky hashtag, #tommylogic, parodying his writing.

Playing off the idea that she could be both at a “secret meeting” and hosting her show simultaneously, Loesch then got her followers to start the hashtag #teleportingdana. Exhausted yet?

The Daily Caller‘s Mary Katherine Ham jumped in, tweeting, “I read the whole piece, Tommy. It clearly & unfairly implies she either was at the mtg…” Enter Loesch’s husband Chris, a producer on Loesch’s radio show, who valiantly defended his wife’s honor. “Love how the left simultaneously cuts down @DLoesch while giving her more powers… She can do everything! #TeleportingDana”

Without taking sides, we note how Loesch riled up her troops followers to gang up on Christopher. For that reason alone, on a scale of 1 to 10 punches, we give this fight 8.5 punches with a headlock for Christopher.

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When we think of April, we think of warming weather, the Easter Bunny, and the clap. Oh, you don’t? Well, then you must not realize that April is Sexually Transmitted Diseases Month! And to help celebrate, an organization called STD Carriers profiled 100 Celebrities with STD’s. The group is trying to keep the spread of sexually transmitted diseases to a minimum. We’re amazed that they were able to keep the list at 100 celebrities who have STD’s. Among the afflicted are actress Anne Heche, who has genital herpes and Keith Richards, who has Hepatitis C. Their website shows pictures of each celebrity in a before and after shot to show how the disease has affected their looks over the years. We were surprised to learn that it wasn’t just Hollywood celebrities that were listed. There are some carriers right here in D.C. Author Andrew Sullivan has HIV and WaPo’s own Gene Weingarten ALLEGEDLY has Hepatitis C. In this swamp of casual sex that we call Washington, make sure that you don’t follow their example and throw a joy bag on before you make the beast with two backs.

We reported last week that Anne Kristol, daughter of The Weekly Standard‘s Editor-in-Chief Bill Kristol, recently got hitched to Matthew Continetti, who works at — you guessed it — The Weekly Standard. But we also learned of more fertile ground at the magazine.

As it happens, Publisher Terry Eastland‘s daughter, Katie Eastland, who works at Commentary and previously The Weekly Standard as an assistant editor, is dating  Robert Messenger, a Books Editor at WSJ who previously wrote for The Weekly Standard.

The pair may be heading toward the chapel themselves — this pis her profile picture on Facebook. Comments include, “It’s about time!” and “Congratulations!! You and Robert look very cute together” and “fiiiiiiiinally!”

Current TV’s David Shuster is filling in for lefty radio host Bill Press this week. He had Politico‘s Executive Editor Jim VandeHei on the program this morning to discuss CNN John King giving what some believe was an easy out to Presidential contender Mitt Romney in last night’s debate. Romney said King gets to ask the questions, but he gets to answer them any way he pleases. King replied, “Fair enough.”

Shuster: “Fair enough, do you agree?” he asked incredulously?

VandeHei: “Not fair enough,” said a chuckling VandeHei. “I mean, the prob for John King after that last debate I think he only had so much wiggle room with these guys and to force them to answer questions they didn’t want to answer. …It doesn’t really serve voters’ purpose…I think what voters would like to know… can we trust you, are you really conservative, are you a fraud? …It would have been nice if John King could have pressed him on that. I do think his hands were a little bit tied based on that previous debate.”

Shuster: “Fair to say, I think that a Jim VandeHei would not have said ‘fair enough’ in response to Romney’s answer.”

VandeHei: (Again, laughing) “I’m a big believer that these debates should be more pugilistic than they are.”

Over the weekend Anne Kristol Continetti, spawn of The Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol, got hitched, according to the New York Times.

Anne, who is studying for her masters in secondary education at George Washington University, is now the wife of Matthew Continetti. Matthew edits The Washington Free Beacon and also contributes to The Weekly Standard.

That must be one hell of a Take Your Daughter to Work Day over at The Weekly Standard. Congratulations to the Continettis.

By Betsy Rothstein, Peter Ogburn, Eddie Scarry and Piranhamous

Relationships are funny. They can last nights, years, or a lifetime. That can mean an eternity of laughs and love and mutual respect. It can also mean that you get stuck in a rut where it just drags on and on and you can’t stand the way the other person fake laughs at your jokes or crunches their cereal in the morning or never actually FOLDS the laundry, they just throw it on the floor. But, breakups happen. Sometimes, it’s no one’s fault — just simple, obvious incompatibility. Other times, it’s personal. Two people united in a vile hatred for each other. Heated blowups, spitting in food, infidelity, rage-filled silence and threats of lawsuits are all common symptoms of a relationship gone south. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, today we bring you the Top 10 Most Memorable Media Breakups of recent times. Enjoy!

10. Keith Olbermann and MSNBC  — Calling Keith Olbermann a “big fish in a small pond” overstates the ratings at MSNBC. He was more like a goldfish in a cereal bowl. But still, he was MSNBC’s biggest fish. So when they split last year, it came as a shock to his fan(s). It was an abusive relationship, for sure. Tales of Olbermann’s temper tantrums are the stuff of legend. The world in which his ego lives is one in where he his popular and influential, the world in which his body lives is the real world. When Olbermann abruptly announced on January 21, 2011, that that night’s Countdown was his last, his fan(s) cried, and throngs of Americans he painted as enemies, laughed. Both knew he would be back, his ego wouldn’t allow him to keep his opinions to his favorite and most loyal audience – himself. He returned to basic cable last fall, on something called Current TV. With production values just this side of public access and an audience almost as small, Keith quickly returned to his abusive habits. After some couple’s therapy, things seem to be going more smoothly. Not audience wise, no one watches Current TV, but at least Keith isn’t abusing the staff anymore.  Winner: MSNBC. They unloaded an angry man for whom no one enjoyed working. Loser: Olbermann. He’s now in the basement (both in ratings and, from the looks of it, his set). His contract with Current TV is technically larger, but based on company stock which, if the black hole that is his ratings don’t improve, is less valuable than a plastic bag filled with chewed gum. — Piranhamous

9. Pat Buchanan and MSNBC — As the closest thing to a Republican as MSNBC will allow on its air, you’d think Pat Buchanan would’ve had some job security simply based on the network’s desire to hold on to the last thread of a plausible claim of credibility and objectivity. If you thought that you’d be wrong. Buchanan, a former Republican and Reform Party candidate for President, was suspended for having opinions that strayed from the progressive orthodoxy MSNBC has sacrificed its objectivity for. Color of Change, the race-based thought police group, with the help of other left-wing groups, paid for an Astroturf campaign against Buchanan, to which MSNBC brass was only too willing to cave. Buchanan has a long history of saying stupid things, but had comfortably settled into the role of “right-wing” dancing monkey for MSNBC’s left-wing organ grinders. When the pennies stopped flowing he was cast aside for a newer, incredibly stupid model – Meghan McCain. While Pat is smart, McCain is not. Pat would probably call it  “affirmative action,” but it’s really, like our credit rating, a downgrading. Pat could make points and use facts that would stump and contradict MSNBC hosts, Meghan confuses the words “modicum” and “emoticon.” Winner: No one. They’re like the couple that should’ve broken up years ago, but stayed together for the kids. The kids are grown now, though they still live at home, so this break-up was a long time coming. Buchanan is ready to retire, and he’d actually have a larger audience if he retired to The Villages and just gave speeches in the rec room. MSNBC now has a pure line-up of progressive mouthpieces, so their audience won’t be threatened by being exposed to opposing viewpoints. It’s win-win. Well, technically it’s lose-lose, but who’s counting? — Piranhamous

8. Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker–  Almost immediately after ex-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and WaPo‘s Kathleen Parker were teamed up for a primetime show on CNN, there were rumors that things just were cooling between the two. The show, titled “Parker Spitzer,” started in October 2010. Ratings were terrible, usually putting the show in last place in the cable news race. Then,  just four months after its debut, Parker announced she was leaving. A report in the New York Post said that Parker often felt upstaged by Spitzer who was more adversarial in his questioning of guests. The report said Parker “stormed off the set” during one taping of the program in November. But who ever thought Parker and Spitzer, who once had a thing for prostitutes, would make good bedfellows? After Parker scrammed for good, Spitzer was back the following week flying solo with a new program, “In the Arena.” That show itself was canceled nine months later. — Eddie Scarry

7. Politico and EVERYONE – Few media outlets have broken more hearts than the behemoth that is Politico. Last year alone, we saw them lay waste to several high profile reporters. Amie Parnes left her perch as FLOTUS-ass-kisser-in-Chief to cover the White House for The Hill. Chris Frates left Politico last year and jumped to NJ. This was particularly heartbreaking, since Frates had been with Politico since the beginning. Soon enough Politico threatened with threats of a lawsuit after Frates allegedly used a reader list for his new job — a charge NJ has always denied. Nonetheless, he pulled names to appease the situation. Kendra Marr resigned after she was busted plagiarizing the work of NYT writer Susan Stellin. We could go on and on and on with all the reporters that left Politico last year, but the most notable was Ben Smith, who left to become Editor-in-Chief at BuzzFeed. Sure, he’s still associated with Politico, but let’s not kid ourselves. They’re friends with benefits at best. — Peter Ogburn

6. David Shuster and MSNBC – This one goes back to 2010. MSNBC just didn’t know WHAT to do with David Shuster. He was their utility man, filling in for Keith Olbermann and various MSNBC shows. He had his own show with Tamron Hall, but no one could decide on which time slot to put him in. All of the back and forth and non-committal behavior from MSNBC prompted Shuster to explore his options. He filmed a pilot with CNN, which is a HUGE no-no. When MSNBC boss Phil Griffin heard of the news, Shuster was “suspended indefinitely” and later, sent packing. Shuster has landed on his feet after the ordeal. Or maybe he’s just landed. He is at Current TV as the primary substitute host for Olbermann and he hosts a weekend radio show on 1480AM. He also has plans to launch an investigative journalism website. Shuster gushed about MSNBC. Think warm fuzzies. “The breakup with MSNBC was amicable,” he told FishbowlDC. “We parted on mutually respectful terms… and I continue to have many close friends there.  Furthermore, leaving MSNBC opened up some amazing doors for me — a rewarding internet venture, weekly radio gigs that are as much fun as one can have in broadcasting, and the opportunity on Current TV to deliver the kind of analysis/commentary that I’ve always desired.  So, I have no regrets and wish the best to everybody at MSNBC.” — Peter Ogburn

See the five remaining breakups…

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NPR has lines you should never use in a bar if you want to get any action. Nonetheless, they are highly creative. They’ve designed 13 cheeky Valentine’s cards this year. Who can resist, with sayings like ‘Your love is like the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation… It supports me.’ or ‘I’m gonna court you so supremely, Nina Totenberg will report on our love story’?

There’s more. “You’re the talk of my nation.” Or, “I wanna take you to the lower end of my dial.” Or, “My volume gets turned up every time you walk in a room.”

We’ll stop there. See them all here and use them to your hearts desire.

Conservatives down on their luck in the love department, fear no more. CPAC has just the event for you. The schedule for the largest annual gathering of conservatives includes a special forum this year for right-wing singles.

Guiding them through daring dating waters will be dating coach Wayne Elise, pictured at right, shirtless and holding a pair of tiny scissors. He has been hailed a pick-up artist and an escape artist (this doesn’t scare us at all). “Learn everything from how to avoid scaring away your own personal Dagny Taggart in the first five minutes of the conversation, to whether Tea Partiers and Occupiers can share something more than a dislike for bailouts,” the description for the event says. For the uniformed, Taggart is the protagonist in Ayn Rand‘s Atlas Shrugged.

The event will be held Thursday, Feb. 9 in the McKinley room at the Marriott.

 

The NYP’s Page Six is reporting news of a budding romance. It may not be so “budding” at this point. Rumors have been swirling for months over these two — it’s MSNBC’s Tamron Hall, 41, and Lawrence O’Donnell, 60. Even network insiders have been hearing heavy chatter about it.

NYP posted the news late last night. They say the pair have been “canoodling at downtown haunts.”

MSNBC declined to weigh in on the matter.

See here.

Politico has been working diligently to defrost its icy relationship with Fox News as of late. And it appears to be paying off, or at least moving in a cozier direction.

FishbowlDC has learned that FNC’s media relations department has been forced to “soften up” on Politico. “From the top it has come down that media relations have to be softer than they are,” a source who requested strict anonymity told FBDC. While Politico reporters may not start popping up on FNC programs by, say, next Tuesday, it is headed that way. “There are certain shows that would like to have them on and I think that will happen,” our source said.

But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves. The two media entities are still in mid-thaw. Fox News and Politico have notoriously not gotten along, with a string of media writers placed on the infamous Black List (which exists no matter what they claim and, in fact, is discussed monthly). Just three months ago FNC PR snubbed Politico reporters, saying they “tend not to rate well” on the network. Politico responded with a sticky-sweet profile on “Special Report” anchor Bret Baier. Fast forward two months to today and Politico has a three-page story on “how Fox News has stayed on top” of cable ratings for a decade. Both stories are by Mike Allen.

We wrote Allen as well as Politico‘s editor-in-chief John Harris to ask if they’ve seen any uptick in FNC booking their writers. To Harris: “Are there any talks between Fox News and Politico to get more airtime for your reporters in the way MSNBC has?” To Allen: “In the past Fox hasn’t booked too many Politico reporters. Has that changed of late? Have you been booked on Fox before?” We also reached out to some of the talent at FNC to get their take on the matter. So far, no word.

Allen’s buttery piece quotes FNC execs as well as talent…

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