Others  may not be as fortunate. continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Say hello to Benjy Sarlin, who covers politics for Talking Points Memo, where he is readjusting to life after the 2012 election.

His colleague, Evan McMorris-Santoro, says this about Benjy: “Benjy is a Twitter virtuoso. He needs to stop making me look bad by being so good at hashtagery.” But another colleague, Igor Bobic, jokes on Twitter that he’s a “total dick.” (At least we think he’s kidding.)

Previously Benjy reported on national politics for The Daily Beast, where he was Washington correspondent. Born and raised in New York City, he covered city politics for the New York Sun until its untimely death (though, it’s still in shambles with the occasional zombie editorial). To be truthful, we’re still don’t think we’ve gotten to the core of Benjy Sarlin. But we do know a lot of seemingly useless details.  He has an unhealthy attachment to barbecue and Twitter. “Twitter is like my Kryptonite, both the source of my reporting strength and its biggest weakness,” he tells me in an email exchange. “I get annoyed when I see stupid stuff floating around and if you’ve seen something silly pop up in one person’s feed, you’re about to see it everywhere, only worse. It’s fun engaging with people over these little dust ups, but I think I’m irrationally invested.” On the subject of astrology: “I don’t believe in astrology, but I’m willing to be convinced if Nate Silver posts some kind of chart.” Strange hobbies: He insists he is an accomplished juggler. Fine dining: He wants to dine with George Washington (if he could, that is).

Perhaps one of those most interesting things about Benjy is his name and its weird spelling. “My name is almost uniformly misspelled thanks mostly to those dog movies in the 1980s, even by friends and family,” he explains. “‘Benjy’ was the name of my dad’s closest childhood friend, so that’s how I ended up with the particular spelling. My folks are Jewish and you’re not supposed to name someone after a living person, but at the time I was born the original Benjy was in the Hare Krishne and had changed his name to — I believe — Paramananda Das. Since then, he’s left the Hare Krishne and gone back to his old name, so I’m actually not sure if it’s kosher for me to stick with Benjy. Maybe I’ll change my byline to Paramananda Sarlin?”

If you were a carbonated beverage, which would you be? 

I’d like to think of myself as pre-Schumer Four Loko, but I’m really not hardcore enough to justify it. Let’s go with root beer.

How often do you Google yourself? 

Phsaw, I got alerts for that.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor/boss (or vice versa)?

My first day as an intern out of college, my only task was to set up a device to record a phone interview between an editor and Joe Wilson. I blew it and the whole thing was lost. To the editor it was probably the most minor daily annoyance, but to me I had just screwed up the only real world task I’d ever been assigned about as badly as possible. I was all nerves for a week after that.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? 

Present TPM company excluded (and really, they are the best), I’m a big fan of Molly Ball at The Atlantic. It’s hard to find good campaign reporting that has a broad national scope but also involves talking to actual voters and she’s amazing at tying the two together. Voters have interesting things to say, really!

Do you have a favorite word? 

“Gluttony” is an incredible feat of English language. Say it out loud — gluttony. It sounds exactly like what it means. Aliens could land tomorrow and understand “gluttony” the first time they heard it.

Who would you rather have dinner with – CNN’s Candy Crowley, ABC’s Martha Raddatz or Fox News’ Megyn Kelly? Tell us why.

Funny enough, I was on the same plane as Candy Crowley on the way back from the final presidential debate last month. We had a coffee while we waited to board and she could not be nicer. I’d just spent the last week talking to Republicans in Florida who were incensed over her mid-debate Benghazi fact check and passed on a couple of choice quotes. I was extremely impressed with the way she handled both the debate itself and the backlash afterwards. She took the complaints against her seriously enough to defend her performance but she had enough perspective to not make herself the story and enough wisdom to know everyone would just move on to the next outrage in a few days time. Which is a long way of saying that I’d be glad to get dinner.

Much more on Benjy after the jump…

continued…

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They cast all “political reporters” as disgraceful, move on to calling them “legacy media” and never call them “mainstream media” as they are typically dubbed by conservative media. Carlson and Patel describe this media as “lazy” and “tapped out.” They write, “The good news is, it’s almost over. The broadcast networks, the big daily newspapers, the newsweeklies — they’re done.”

Quick question: Did they land an off-the-record interview with Nostradamus?

“Through their dishonesty the legacy media hastened their own end,” they write ominously in the last graph. “Their moral authority has evaporated. So has their business model. Wave them goodbye on the way out.”

CNN’s Candy Crowley takes a hit in the piece. They say she “broke character” to defend the President. And poor Jonathan Alter… continued…

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

WHAT THE HELL? “Why Nikki, is that a debate moderator on your shoulder?” — The Washington Examiner‘s gossip scribe Nikki Schwab talking to herself with a miniature CNN’s Candy Crowley on her shoulder. So much weirdness here we don’t know where to begin.

Reporter gets “super insidery”

“In super insidery stuff, Steve Scalise brushing back against RSC founders, taking his chairmanship bid to full body.” — Politico‘s super insidery Jake Sherman, linking to this super insidery story.

In other “disgusting” news…

“The disgusting Romney burger (lobster, hollandaise) has SURGED to a lead over the disgusting Obama burger (hot dog, relish) in BGR’s sweeps.” — The Atlantic‘s Molly Ball.

Priorities.

“I was going to watch the third party debate, but then I realize that I’ll be dead one day and don’t want to waste my life.” — Slate‘s Dave Weigel.

Lucky dog!

“Literally only one other dude on my flight from LGA to Columbus tonight. Closest I get to flying private.” — Politico‘s Ben White.

Journo finds power of love

“Definitely rocking out to Huey Lewis & the News’ ‘Power of Love’ at my desk.” — National Journal “The Hotline’s” Chris Peleo-Lazar.

Peter Ogburn contributed to this report.

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PBS’s Jim Lehrer was thrown to the dogs by Democrats and their supporters for coming off as a pushover and seeming to let GOP Candidate Mitt Romney call the shots in the first debate. ABC News’ Martha Raddatz was hit by the right for not putting a muzzle on Veep Joe Biden‘s toothy grin. And for several days CNN’s Candy Crowley was blasted by Team Romney for her real-time fact checking in the second presidential debate.

With Schieffer, Romney didn’t do the tit-for-tat rule rattling he gained a reputation for in previous debates. (Though he tried once and backed down immediately when Schieffer told him he’d already had his turn.) President Obama wasn’t heard repeating, “Bob. Bob. Bob” as he did with Crowley’s name while trying to interrupt her.

So what gives? Is Schieffer just that awesome of a moderator? Did he outclass the others in pedigree?

Take our Fish Poll below. We’ll post the results tomorrow.

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1. What did you think of CNN’s Candy Crowley in this week’s debate…and, should her weight be a topic of discussion online or anywhere?

It was about what I expected, and what she projected. She wanted to be a part of the show and she was. The most telling moment I found was when she said if she let Romney keep talking at one point she’d be “run out of town.” Romney was about to smack down Obama, and she saved him. And should her weight be an issue anywhere? No more than her opinions should’ve been. As it stands, the scales, so to speak, are about even.

2. Do you think David Corn‘s career will be furthered by him getting the scoop on that 47 percent video?

The guy is writing for Mother Jones after working for legitimate outlets in the past, so in one respect, there’s nowhere to go but up. On the other hand, there’s a reason he’s now reduced to writing for Mother Jones and pushing a video that was more hype than substance, so I don’t expect a return to mattering for Mr. Corn. But, like his namesake you eat, he has a weird way of popping back up when you least expect it after going through a bunch of shit, so you never know.

Question #3: See Piranhamous’ radical advice for CNN… continued…

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And here’s what you told us.

A predominant 42.2 percent of you declared that Snow Caps best reflect Crowley’s debate behavior. In other words, you said, she’s in the tank for President Obama. Second place goes to the Jolly Rancher — 30.37 percent of you think the world of her. The lowest score (11.8 percent) was for the Blow Pop, which indicated she was imminently fair and all things to all people.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“John Feehery, in a strange way you have a point.” — MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Hardball Wednesday in the rare instance when he concedes anything. Feehery works at Quinn Gillespie & Associates and regularly appears on the program.

Goddamn deep thoughts with Byron Tau

“Man, it’s only been 17 days since the last goddamn fundraising deadline. Too. Goddamn. Soon.” — Politico‘s Byron Tau.

Anonymous Tips from the past 48 hours…1. “Mormon men do not think of women as equals, butt [sic] subject to them, so he will never approve equal pay.” 2. “Romney puts women in binders and dogs on the roof of his car.”

The Jokester: “Binder? I hardly know her! ” — Democratic blogger John Aravosis.

From the Dept. of Bragiculture…

“So I am now officially Chief Economic Correspondent for POLITICO. But you can just call me ‘chief’ or ‘dude.’” — Politico‘s Ben White. We’re just relieved he resorted to ALL CAPS for our viewing pleasure. Congratulations Ben!

Commenter to the rescue! A reader calling himself (or herself) “Coconut” under FBDC’s Peter Ogburn‘s story on anti-Candy Crowley stories dominating right wing news sites Wednesday: “Candy you did an excellent job!!! Retards get over yourselves!”

The Observer

“You could say Lance Armstrong is having a pretty bad news CYCLE –> sadtrombone.com” — ABC News reporter Matt Negrin. Get it?

Reporter survives on Guinness

“I’ve been up since since 3a.m. One Guinness, and I feel like I could go another 24.” — The Washington Examiner‘s David Freddoso.

Quote Taken Out of Context

“Ana Marie Cox, let’s put it this way– they are cork-heel orange satin slingback pumps with white polka dots. They are audacious.” — GOProud Advisory Board Member Liz Mair.

Journo hailed as “national treasure”

“‘@BresPolitico is a national treasure,” an influential reader emails.’ That was awesome.” — Politico‘s James Hohmann referring to his colleague, John Bresnahan.

Congrats to Nick Massella who has been hired by BrandLinkDC, a public relations and marketing firm that engages reporters around town. He begins his new job as Public Relations Manager on Oct. 29.

Eddie Scarry contributed to this report.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

This opened the floodgates for conservative pundits and pubs to swoop in and come after Crowley in a fast and furious manner. (They talked about that last night, too. That’s a WHOLE different story.) In the aftermath, the Daily Caller ‘s links for Wednesday had a one-track mind. In fact, four out of the top five stories on their website featured damning critiques on Crowley.

They aren’t alone. Breitbart has two stories up today about Crowley showing favoritism to Obama. Leading the pack on anti-Crowley stories, however, is Newsbusters. Since the debate, they have run 11 stories on Candy’s job as moderator. I think I might get diabetes taking in all that Candy.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It’s aptly called “Candy, Interrupted.”

Might want to schedule a massage before you watch.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Given that CNN Candy Crowley appears on national TV on a regular basis, it’s inevitable that she faces any and all kinds of comments about her appearance. But this is the second time that her looks, more specifically, her weight, have received widespread attention online within three years.

New York magazine has a Twitter roundup of the criticism of tonight’s presidential debate moderator– pointedly, observations about her weight. They include the following nasty missives.

“Hope you & your big fat over weight ass have the courage to stand up to Obama and ask him some tough questions at debate,” said one asshole.

“Candy Crowley is a disgusting liberal pig,” said another. “Why in the fuck is her fat ass moderating the debate Tuesday night?”

And a third: “If the leftist fat slob Monica Crowley is meant to be a fair moderator, why not Rush Limbaugh, Barry Farber, etc.?”

It’s not necessarily a journalist thing or even a sexist thing. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was and still is often talked about in terms of his girth.

Nonetheless, DoubleThink‘s J.P. Freire says there’s a difference. “Christie isn’t judged purely by his appearance,” Freire told FishbowlDC. “In many ways, being large is an asset to a man where it most certainly isn’t considered so for a woman. And let’s be clear too: Christie has joked about his appearance.” He added, “The point is, let’s get past this superficial nonsense and just recognize that it takes strength and talent to get to where these people are. Now pass me some more cheese.”

TheGrio’s Joy Reid went on the offensive for Crowley. “Candy Crowley attacked about her weight by unpleasant right wingers on Twitter,” she wrote in a tweet last night. “Stay classy, #tcot!” The hashtag Reid included is a call out to the “top conservatives on Twitter,” who were among Crowley’s harshest critics.

LAT‘s James Rainey wrote a whole column on Crowley’s weight in 2009. After some Google-browsing, Rainey noticed a fair amount of blog posts that referenced Crowley’s weight loss. So he asked her about it. From the column:

[A] few days after I first made contact, the veteran of eight presidential campaigns agreed it might be worth talking, a little, about her new incarnation. She wanted to thank the many fans who have been e-mailing to express their admiration. And she wanted to knock down a few myths.

So here it is, straight up and on the record: There has been no Lap-Band. No gastric bypass. No surgery at all. Rather, Crowley said, she has been dieting, swimming and working out, sometimes with a trainer, since last December.

At the time, Crowley told Rainey she feels “great physically” and that she’s “lighter now in a lot of ways,” thanks to taking up transcendental meditation.

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“The tweeties. What are they called? They were blowing up today.” — Actress Rosie Perez on MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show” last night in reference to Twitter.

Oh no he didn’t.

“For the record, Candy pronounces her last name wrong.” — TIME‘s Michael Crowley referring to CNN’s Candy Crowley, moderator of tonight’s presidential debate.

Speaking of Candy…

“Modern campaigns are endless exercises in caution and cowardice. This Candy episode is only the latest example. Toughen up, folks.” — Reuters’ Sam Youngman. In other Youngman news...”With 22 days to go, I need a haircut, some clean clothes and a Keith Richards-style blood change. It don’t get no funner though.”

The Observer

“You know what I think is really screwed up? The number of people commenting on a reporter’s physical appearance. Learn some manners.” — DoubleThink‘s J.P. Freire, disgusted after reading negative comments about Candy Crowley’s weight online. He told FishbowlDC, “Saw a few tweets about it that were so upsetting — and from men too. One thing I’ll never get is some men’s willingness to offer commentary on a woman’s physical appearance as though (a) they’re qualified judges given their own defects (b) they have any taste to brag about (c) they think all a woman has to offer is her looks and (d) anyone would care after such statements. Anyway I was just being indignant.”

Perks: “Nutella giveaway at the Metro. Breakfast of champions” — The Atlantic‘s Brian Fung.

Wisdom is…

“Even the most contrite confession is incomplete without penance, reparation. Our political class needs to learn that — both parties.” — Washington Examiner‘s David Freddoso.

Recipe for a five car pileup

“Surreal. I’m driving and just heard the @washtimes radio ad about me for the first time.” — TWT Senior Op-ed writer Emily Miller.

Journo speaks of computer like it’s human

“There’s something so poignant about my laptop installing updates as I’m about to get rid of it. The poor thing has no idea.” — The Atlantic‘s Molly Ball.

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“ENGAGED! My beautiful bride to be @augstums, and me, in Aspen.” — Todd Harris, media consultant and GOP political strategist.

The Observer: Did Rich Lowry have a manicure?

“Anyone else disturbed by Rich Lowry’s nails? You think they’re always that done or did he just gussy them up for #MeetThePress?” — Miss Spot.

Self-appointed media critics

“That was the interview? Well, at least Breaking Bad is on tonight.” — WSJ‘s Neil King.

“Takeaway from 60 Minutes interview: Romney and Ryan have a clear rapport with one another. Romney less antsy than during other interviews.” — The Hill‘s Managing Editor Bob Cusack.

“The 60 Minutes interview with Romney/Ryan: Bromancing the White House.” — Syndicated op-ed columnist and Editor-in-Chief of Soapblox Tina Dupuy.

“One major problem is that Paul Ryan speaks so f—ing fast, tough to transcribe.” — HuffPost‘s Sam Stein.

“Just For Men has apparently perfected robotic hair color#Watching60MinutesAds #PiningforTivodelay” — TPM‘s Evan McMorris-Santoro.

Coming to his rescue…

“Haha, @RichLowry totally nailed @maddow on her answer. Don’t know why she pretends to be an innocent bystander in politics.” — WMAL Exec. Producer Heather Smith.

But wait, not so fast…

“If Rachel Maddow broke Rich Lowry’s nose right now, that would be the best thing NBC has aired in months.” — Chuck Sudo, a Chicago viewer.

Mom’s verbiage makes editor uncomfortable

“My mother is referring to her flip-flops as ‘thongs.’ This makes me uncomfortable.” — HuffPost Deputy Editor Erin Ruberry.

Journo gets drunk

“Haven’t had this much to drink in a long time. My brain feels fuzzy and that feeling is awesome.” — WaPo page designer Tim Wong.

And another is on his way…

“Vacation cocktail #1″ — TPM‘s Brian Beutler.

Hungover Boybander sure loves his band mates

“I’m hungover in coffee shop so you’ll have to Google the links but@ezraklein & @daveweigel wrote excellent pieces on politics of Ryan pick.” — Wired.com’s Spencer Ackerman.

A date to remember

“Me and my baby boo @THERealLyndaDC enjoying a hot date@FSWashington with each other!” — Paul Wharton Style’s Paul Wharton and ex-Real Housewives of Washington star Lynda Erkletian.

Romney VP news added work for journos

“I know I said I was sleeping in today but how abt a lil Romney veep pick special w/ @wolfblitzer instead?” — CNN’s Brianna Keilar.

Reporter’s aunt was confused

“One of my liberal aunts went to a Ryan town hall last year. Left there wanting Ryan as Obama’s VP.” — The Weekly Standard‘s John McCormack.

Enthusiasm is…

“Cannot succinctly explain the adrenaline rush and stress of producing four hours of breaking news coverage. Or maybe I can: Awesome. #CNN” — Jeff Simon, Assoc. Producer for “State of the Union” With Candy Crowley. We don’t want to worry about Simon too much, but later on in the weekend, he added, “Entering delirium. I feel like I was deep in REM and someone called me and asked me to explain quantum mechanics. Need to snap out of it.”

Uh oh.

“And now I hear I am selling iPADS. My account has been hacked. What do I do about this? Anybody?” — Washington Examiner‘s Mark Tapscott.

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Ric Grenell

Grenell’s angst is far-reaching in the world of news media. Just look at all the trash-talking he did in less than 24 hours.

This morning Grenell took a shot at Politico‘s media reporter Dylan Byers for a post Byers did on political columnist Glenn Greenwald‘s move from Salon to The Guardian. “Not a single critique of the left, Greenwald or Salon in that piece,” Grenell wrote of the post, which was straightforward in its reporting by any measure (mine).

In response to a tweet from Mediaite that simply linked to a clip of Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, Grenell said, “You tweeted a ‘Stewart Rips Romney’ link recently. Is this a new series for Mediaite?” The clip was more Stewart mocking conservatives in media rather than Romney himself. Further, Mediaite, along with countless other blogs that cover media, regularly pulls bits from The Daily Show. Shockingly, almost on a daily basis.

Grenell’s tweets aren’t all fiery, though. Again this morning he tweeted a compliment to CNN’s Candy Crowley. “We need more reporters like Candy Crowley covering the presidential race. Smart, tough and always fair,” he said.

Back to the spicy. Over a two-hour span of time last night, Grenell went after Reuters‘ Sam Youngman for a story he did that didn’t acknowledge a new national NYT/CBS News poll that showed Romney with a slight lead in the election. Or rather, Youngman didn’t acknowledge the poll until the third paragraph.

More of Grenell’s Youngman aggression from last night:

• “Washington media types love to quote the NewYorkTimes until the NYT has a poll showing Romney up. Then silence. Que more Romney tax stories.”
• “You want evidence of Washington’s media bias? new poll shows Romney up and Reuters leads with 3 paragraphs on Mitt’s taxes!”
• “Shhh don’t tell Reuters’ Sam Youngman.” (here Grenell retweeted a link to the NYT/CBS News poll)

Youngman responded, “I wouldn’t have led with someone else’s poll. Sorry we didn’t get to work together. Good luck to you, sir.”

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