MAKING AN ENTRANCE AND AN EXIT: Host of “CBS This Morning” Gayle King walked into the Washington Hilton on Saturday night in an eye-popping kelly green gown by Vicky Tiel. On Friday night, she was spotted leaving the Turkish Embassy residence where The Hill was hosting its pre-WHCD party.

“Don’t hurt yourself.” — A St. Regis employee to guests of Friday night’s TIME-People party at which partygoers, many of whom were White House correspondents, received gift bags so heavy they could give you a hernia. More on the contents later…

Humility is…

“I have been told many times I look like @MatthewPerry. I just saw him at #nerdprom. He is far better looking.” — The Hill’s Managing Editor Bob Cusack.

Editor wants WHCD weekend to be more substantive

“It kind of sickens me when you’re here for the White House Correspondents’ Weekend that there are not more substantive discussions.” — Steve Clemons, Editor-at-Large for The Atlantic, who hosted a discussion over the weekend with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Sen. Joe Manchin (R-WVa.) at the Ritz. The banquet room was packed. Breakfast disappeared too fast. The discussion centered on American military power today. Attendees included BuzzFeed Washington Bureau Chief John Stanton, NJ‘s Brian Fung, Yahoo! News‘ Chris Moody, Newsweek-Daily Beast‘s Eli Lake and The Atlantic‘s Jay Lauf.

A plea for help

“Someone catch me up on the last 9 days of news.” — Politico White House Correspondent Byron Tau.

Important Q to Ponder: “In a cab going to the airport but our driver is sleepy so he has the window down – to freeze or get into an accident?” — Oversharing Sherri Shepherd, co-host of ABC’s “The View.”

HuffPost‘s Sam Stein “impressed” with Politico

ThinkProgress‘ Judd Legum: “Politico currently has 54 separate links to stories abt WHCA Dinner on its front page.”

Huffpost‘s Sam Stein: “I’m kind of impressed.”

And in Bob Schieffer, Claire Danes father-daughter news… 

“Someone asked Bob Schieffer if he was Claire Danes’ daddy.” — former White House reporter Myles Miller.

Some buzz on BuzzFeed Party

“CSPAN showing super long line for @BuzzFeed party. A lot of sad faces who can’t get in #buzzfeedbbq” — Washington Examiner‘s Charlie Spiering. And this from Roll Call HOH’s Warren Rojas: “Crowd in #BuzzFeedbbq just let out very self-satisfied collective whoop after @cspan live shot of line @JackRoseinDC #counterwhcd”

Psy or is it more like Sigh?

“Psy just walked by me. I feel somehow cooler. Or at least more relevant.” — WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza. Good thing Cillizza didn’t actually try to communicate with Psy.

Starting new pub is stressful

“Rare has oped from Jeb Bush today so big relief we can get the big names when so new. I’m on pins and needles every day.” — Rare Editor-in-Chief Brett Decker. See here. Will Jeb run or won’t he? Who knows, but his last graph sounds rather presidential. He writes, “American greatness comes from the power of individuals – not the government – to create wealth and opportunity through competition, innovation and empowerment. Not only must we pursue reform, we must do a much better job communicating how these reforms protect and promote the genius of America.”

More WHCD fallout…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Rare‘s Publisher Leon Levitt was in full mingle mode. “We think there’s an opportunity for a strong conservative voice that’s not mean spirited,” said Levitt, senior veep at Cox. Really, never mean? “I think you can have an edge without being mean,” he replied.

Though Levitt’s clearly on the business side of the operation, he studied journalism at the University of Las Vegas in 1979. Asked what he learned there, he said, “The most important thing is honesty and integrity.” Then he leaped into the state of journalism today. “We have made journalism much more time-starved,” he remarked. “If you can find the 25th hour in someone’s day, you win.”

Soon enough we got down to the business of asking the members of Rare‘s staff to name the rarest thing about themselves. It’s not an easy question — you don’t want to seem like a pompous prick and yet you’d like to think there’s something worth mentioning. As we reported earlier in the week, American Spectator Editor Bob Tyrrell struggled with the question and finally declared he wasn’t a narcissist like ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner and had no response. He told us to bug his wife, Jean, about it. But she slipped away before we could grill her.

The first person we approached, Rare‘s Managing Editor Tabitha Hale, had an easy time with her answer. “I’m a bit of a hippie,” the long wavy hair blonde in the vintage-style low-cut dress said. “I was raised by Dead Heads.” She spent six years in Nashville working in publishing followed by stints at Freedom works and The Franklin Center. With the tattoo “Love” cascading down her left arm, it was clear she wasn’t a typical political Washington type. She told us she has two other tattoos — one, Ephesians 6, 12 and 13 on the top of her foot; the other she wouldn’t initially discuss (our imaginations went to bad places) but ultimately she said it was something tribal on her back.

Anneke Green, a Rare contributor, also didn’t have to think too hard. “I have a motorcycle, an ’86 Rebel 450,” she said. “They only made them for two years.”

Read about more rarities, see who showed up…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Such was the case last night at the launch of the new conservative media outlet, Rare, at the Newseum where American Spectator founder Editor-in-Chief Bob Tyrrell was mingling and toasting his longtime friend and Editor-in-Chief Brett Decker (both pictured at right). Asked if he was worried about Rare digging in his readership, he remarked, “I’m not nervous about much of anything, especially after a glass of wine.”

The longtime conservative Washington editor reasoned, “Financially we’re a lot stronger than the liberal media. Rare is starting out, I think it looks very promising.” Tyrrell joked about the Washington Post constantly changing it’s bottom line. And what about TWT‘s ongoing financial issues? “They’re still coming out everyday,” he replied.

Turns out Tyrrell is quite the talker after a little vino. We’re not suggesting he was inebriated, just that he was ready to let his hair down a little and dish, especially on the recent NYT Magazine story about Weiner. Asked to name the rarest thing about himself, Tyrrell hemmed and hawed and struggled to come up with an answer. Instead he said, “Answering this question assumes that I’m a narcissist. You want a narcissist? Ask Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer. Weiner? Hell, he’ll even send you a picture!”

Asked if he’d read the lengthy weekend magazine story on Weiner, Tyrrell said that there have been a shocking three NYT stories on Weiner in recent days, including a piece by Frank Bruni. “I found it soporific,” he said of the magazine feature (which means it induced drowsiness, much like a narcotic). “He’s interested in you women, so how you feel about him matters.”

And then, the penis joke. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New conservative publication brands itself with Bush slogan– Rare, an online news site for “today’s conservatives,” makes its official debut April 15. The publication, headed by former TWT Editor Brett Decker, is hosting two events at the Newseum to mark the occasion, one an interview by Decker of a to-be-named “high-profile” guest, the other a video showing “a modern, fresh, technologically savvy approach to conservative media.” Noteworthy: The video calls for “a new way forward” in branding conservative ideas, according to a press release from Rare. “New way forward” was the slogan adopted by the Bush (43) administration in the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.

Glenn Greenwald on Margaret Thatcher and “death etiquette”– Unless the person was truly vile, it’s customary to withhold any strong dumping on someone immediately after his or her death. Writing in The Guardian, Glenn Greenwald says it’s time for that to stop when it comes to political figures like former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. “When a political leader dies, it is irresponsible in the extreme to demand that only praise be permitted but not criticisms,” Greenwald writes. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with loathing Margaret Thatcher or any other person with political influence and power based upon perceived bad acts, and that doesn’t change simply because they die.”

In any case, Thatcher helped invent soft-serve ice cream… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

See the actual parrots below.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Pushing the literal concept of “rare” in a release Editor-in-Chief Brett Decker said Rare will do its best to stir the pot, promising “a refreshing, positive alternative taking on subjects others avoid like the plague. The existing media-entertainment complex can’t be allowed to define the parameters of debate over what this country should be.”

He also commented on the recent internal friction at CPAC. “Controversies at the recent CPAC conference about who’s in or who’s out of the conservative movement demonstrated the wide range of views that make up the red center of America, but what once was a strong coalition has broken down into a bitter family feud in which angry members don’t talk to one another across the dinner table” he continued. “We will provide a platform that serves, connects and resonates across conservative thought to get at the heart of what our enormous national base of readers has in common.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The ad reads: “Qualified candidates must have  excellent interpersonal skills, a huge drive to succeed, an outstanding work ethic, character, integrity and professionalism, and be a team player.”

This directly contradicts the sentiment in Green’s resignation letter from December in which she went after the bosses for their lack of professionalism. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“Out of the gates we’re looking to build up our network of outside contributors, and there are a couple of full-time slots,” Rare Editor-in-Chief Brett Decker told FishbowlDC. “A full-blown caffeine addiction isn’t necessarily a job requirement, but these will be very fast-paced gigs with aggregating, reporting, writing and social media components — and preferably all with an edge. Sort of like Lois Lane meets Matt Drudge with a little George Will and Dennis Miller mixed in.”

Decker says there are no litmus tests for this team.

See Rare‘s first hire. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Former TWT Editorial Page Editor Editor Brett Decker has secured a new job with Rare, a conservative web site to be launched by Cox Media Group. Decker will assume the position of Editor-in-Chief and will be based in Washington. Rare will launch on April 15, 2013 at the Newseum.

Decker quit his job at TWT in November of 2012. He appeared on newspaper boxes like the one above all over the D.C. metro area for months even after he left TWT.

So why a new conservative site now after last year’s electoral thumping?

“I think the timing is perfect for a new conservative outlet to shake up the establishment,” Decker explained to FishbowlDC. “With the economy in the toilet, just about anyone should have been able to beat President Obama in the 2012 election, but Republicans blew it in spectacular fashion. Serious soul-searching needs to occur to figure out what the hell went wrong so it can be fixed. Some of these discussions won’t be easy.

“I came to Washington amidst the excitement following the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress,” he continued. “Conservatism was so ascendant back then that even the Democratic President, Bill Clinton, said ‘the era of big government is over.’ How we got from that point to today’s age of trillion-dollar deficits and $16.7 trillion in national debt is a collapse that needs to be discussed frankly if conservative ideas of fiscal responsibility, bureaucratic restraint and individual liberty are to be relevant again. That’s what we’re going to do at Rare.”

See comments about Decker from Ambassador John Bolton and rocker Ted Nugent. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“I never do this type of stuff, but as many of you know, my wife Jenn is an avid dog lover and dog trainer,” Guerriero wrote this morning in an email blast to a handful of media types, including FishbowlDC. “Last night she strong-armed me into reaching out to some folks I know in hopes there might be some dog lovers among you.”

Later in the email Guerriero urges recipients and their friends to purchase tickets to the event and explains that until last year, he wasn’t aware “that the show brought out a veritable ‘who’s who’ D.C. crowd.”

Noteworthy names CCd on the email include… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Anneke Green

Green, who infamously trashed her bosses as “unprofessional and dishonest” in a recent resignation letter, has joined the White House Writers Group as a Senior Director. She comes to the firm from TWT, where where she was Deputy Editor for Op-Eds.

“Anneke will bring new value to our clients through insight gained from her many accomplishments,” said Clark Judge, Managing Director of the White House Writers Group in a release. “Her experience in journalism, politics, and publishing, as well as being a former ‘white house writer,’ makes her a great fit for our firm.”

Green’s work history includes… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

But there’s a catch. Sources tell FishbowlDC the would-be hires are being asked to sign four-year contracts. To his credit, Steve Bannon, who is heading up the hiring process in Washington, is succeeding despite rubbing some the wrong way. Some who have dealt with him say he tells you what he needs to and skimps on the truth. So far, however, he has snagged The Daily Caller‘s ever controversial Matthew Boyle and over the weekend TWT’s Kerry Picket announced on Twitter that she is going to work for Breitbart.com as an investigative reporter.

Reporters around town being wooed for Breitbart.com include: Katie Pavlich of Townhall, Lachlan Markay of Heritage, Charlie Spiering of the Washington Examiner, Caroline May of The Daily Caller and Daniel Halper at The Weekly Standard.

Some have described a cultish feel to the process, with phrases such as “This is the way Andrew would have wanted it” being bandied about in conversation. But some in conservative media circles aren’t taking any of this all that well. “I predict this cast of misfits once fully assembled are now going to walk around events in DC slinging their cocks around like they’re the new cool kids,” said one scribe. And another: “They look like a bunch of a folk that were rejected from working at BuzzFeed, who was like, ‘Can they post cat pics?’ And then said, ‘nevermind’ to hiring them.”

Picket, a well-known conservative reporter who wrote TWT‘s The Water Cooler blog, is well regarded within Washington’s media… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

That’s his Siamese fighting fish, not his lunch.

“The company has made its decisions and it’s time for me to ramble on,” Decker tells FishbowlDC. “Life goes on. My biggest concern now is finding a foster parent for General Tso, my Siamese fighting fish who lives on my desk at work. I can’t take him home and leave him unsupervised with Chop Suey, my cat. So in short, yes, a lot to worry about amidst the transition.”

Asked if he wanted FishbowlDC to assist in finding him suitable foster parents for General Tso, he said…

Also, meet the formidable Chop Suey after the jump… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

TWT

At least outwardly everyone is playing nice, although the release couldn’t sound more stiff and political. President and CEO Larry Beasley “thanked Mr. Decker for his contributions in furthering The Times’ reputation as a leading voice of conservative thought and opinion, and said The Times will continue to build on that reputation as it adapts to serve its readers in today’s fast-changing digital news environment.”

TWT is on the prowl for a new Editorial Page Editor. Until then… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.