By far the most convincing argument for ABC’s Jake Tapper to take over as”This Week” host comes from the most surprising sites of them all – Gawker. In true Gawkerish style, when the rest of the world — including his own network — walked out, they stood by him like a stalwart knight despite having bullied him in the past.

They are first to admit it — they’ve called him a dick, a tool and worse. But something changed along the way and now they adore him. At least they adore the idea of him taking over “This Week” as opposed to George Stephanopoulos, whom they say will be a “disaster” replacement for Christiane Amanpour.

In their most declarative line, they insist, “Tapper is the rightful heir.”

Read the entire post here.

In what has been a very weird news day, in the end, HuffPost‘s Michael Calderone got the scoop that everyone basically already knew: ABC’s Christiane Amanpour is leaving ABC’s “This Week” to start up a new program on CNN International. She’ll remain at ABC.

NYP’s Page Six hinted weeks ago that Amanpour was on her way out the door. But earlier today NYT‘s Brian Stelter committed an online snafu when he tweeted that he’d heard the news from a single source. That was meant to be a Direct Message not a tweet. OOPS! Nonetheless, outlets like Poynter wrote on his premature act extensively and WaPo‘s opinion media blogger Erik Wemple declared him a pioneer journalist.

Soon enough, Calderone weaseled his way in and grabbed the story. We’re not sure who ought to be commended here. Officially Calderone, but unofficially — Page Six?

So now the race is on — will Jake Tapper finally land the “This Week” slot that so many thought he should have already gotten? Come on, Stelter, DM us!

UPDATE: ABC’s George Stephanopoulos will resume hosting “This Week” as well as “GMA.” See the memos from CNN’s Jim Walton and Amanpour after the jump…

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Sometime during the holidays, Carl Hoffman will take off to New Guinea to investigate the disappearance of Michael Rockefeller for a new book, Somewhere in Eden, set to publish in 2013. Authorities declared Michael (son of Nelson) dead in 1963. He either drowned or was killed by locals, Hoffman explains on a cold, rainy morning at Tryst cafe this week. Most days National Geographic Traveler and Wired’s Contributing Editor can be found in faded Diesel jeans on a faded couch there or down U Street at Big Bear. Born and raised in Washington, he graduated from University of Massachusetts/Amherst where he majored in Social Thought and Political Economy. He’s always lived in Washington minus his studies at U. Mass, traveling post college and a year as a ski bum in Vail. “Do you want a bio or something?” he asks helpfully. “I could send you a lot of shit.” Thank you, Carl. We appreciate shit and a lot of it. Hoffman’s bio says he has driven the Baja 1,000, ridden reindeer in Siberia, sailed an open dinghy 250 miles, and traveled to 65 countries. It also says his three children make fun of him often. He recently memorialized his father, Burt Hoffman, who he deems his greatest writing mentor. And rightfully so — his father, who died of lung cancer in Chiang Mai, Thailand, was Editor of the Washington Star and National Journal. Though Hoffman’s clearly at home in Washington, he says it might soon be time to leave. “Might be time to go live in a crowded, exotic, dirty city far away for a little while,” he muses aloud.

If you were a carbonated beverage which would you be? Grapefruit soda.

How often do you Google yourself? I don’t. I have a Google alert.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor (or vice versa)? You’re retarded. How’d that go over? Not well. I come from a long line of burn bridgers.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? I love C.J. Chivers and Anthony Shadid at the NYT. Both are amazing.

Do you have a favorite word? Why.

What word or phrase do you overuse? Why.

Who would you rather have dinner with – ABC’s Christiane Amanpour, CNN’s Candy Crowley or NBC’s Andrea Mitchell? Tell us why. I guess I’d want to have dinner with Christiane Amanpour because she’s been a lot places and she’s seen a lot of things. She must have a lot of curiosity of the nooks and crannies of the world. Definitely not Andrea Mitchell.

You are ordered to go on a road trip to an undisclosed location. You can go with White House Spokesman Jay Carney or Bo, the President’s Portuguese Water Dog. No ones feelings will be hurt. Who do you take? Honestly it’s really hard to travel with a dog, especially the places I go. I’d probably pick neither. It’s much better to travel alone – always more interesting. Although the dog, if you got hungry you could always eat.

What’s the name of your cell phone ring? It’s silent.

It’s 3 a.m. and you get up to use the bathroom or get a drink of water. Do you check your BlackBerry or iPhone? Absolutely.

What word do you routinely misspell? There’s so many. Every word with an i and an e. Handwriting spelling I always got D’s in. Actually, now I’m a pretty good speller because of spell check.

What swear word do you use most often? Definitely fuck.

Find out why Hoffman gets weepy often…

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Yesterday we brought you NJ Editor-in-Chief Ron Fournier cracking on Washington for its treasure trove of political sex scandals. Today we have HuffPost/AOL‘s Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington picking on Washington for stagnation.

Huffington writes an editorial headlined, “‘Right-to-Rent’: A Simple, Sensible Idea That Dysfunctional Washington Is More Than Happy to Let Die.” In it, she takes us behind the scenes of ABC’s “This Week” With Christiane Amanpour and a snapshot of House Speaker John Boehner showing her a laminated copy of his jobs legislation.

An excerpt: This is the latest clownish manifestation of a growing Washington phenomenon. It’s now a monthly ritual: jobs numbers for the previous month come out, they’re labeled “disappointing,” and there’s a lot of hemming and hawing and throat clearing and pronouncements about how “something really must be done,” and about how vitally important it is to “get America back to work.”

Read the full piece here.

ABC “This Week” host Christiane Amanpour is getting noticed for being a “distinguished” and “accomplished” Iranian American. On Sept. 18, the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans is honoring her along with a small group of notable  Iranian Americans, including Anousheh Ansari, the first Iranian woman in space, and Nazanin Boniadi, an actress who appeared in “Charlie Wilson’s War” and on the ABC soap “General Hospital.”

The hosts of the event, being held at GWU’s Lisner Auditorium, are Iranian American comedian Maz Jobrani, and former CNN anchor Rudi Bakhtiar.

In the past week MSNBC “Hardball” Host Chris Matthews has significantly upped his Twitter following by doing one simple act: Tweeting.

For months now, he had one measly message on his feed. In one night — the evening of the GOP Presidential Debate in Simi Valley, Calif, — he increased his following by approximately five thousand. All because he announced on his “Hardball” program that he was going to be tweeting that evening.

Though Matthews’ tweets have so far been boring and bland, he caught flack for it, with FNC’s Ed Henry baiting him with ALL CAPS imitations of how he presumed Matthews, a shouting interrupter in real life, would be. And there were others who couldn’t quite imagine an online world infused with Matthews.

At the moment he’s broaching 20,000 followers (to be exact: 19, 957). He follows 65. So which lucky Washington journalists top Matthews’ list? Being at NBC certainly helps, but it’s not the only deciding factor. Politico‘s Mike Allen is on there as is HuffPost‘s Howard Fineman, C-SPAN’s Steve Scully, ABC’s Christiane Amanpour, USA Today Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page, NYT’s Jeff Zeleny, WaPo’s Dan Balz and Anne Kornblut, former CNNer Larry King and White House Spokesman Jay Carney. NBC colleagues include everyone from Joe Scarborough, Savannah Guthrie and Andrea Mitchell to Domenico Montanaro and Luke Russert.

Naturally Twitter is an opportunity for Matthews to offer a more controlled version of himself — a man who reveals himself slowly and thinks before he speaks. But here’s to hoping he unleashes his true self and gives fans what they want.

It’s Christiane on her sofa. Or Christiane on her telephone. And 18 hours with the anchor who has been shifting towards a more domestic lifestyle than that of an international journalist. At least so her image might portray.

In the September issue WSJ Magazine visits ABC “This Week” host Christiane Amanpour‘s Manhattan abode. The short story talks about Amanpour being on more of a “domestic frontier.” But there are few marks of that in the story, unless you count two photographs and an interactive version of a clock that shows what she might be doing at any given time in a day.

For instance, if it’s 9 a.m. she’s dropping her son off at day camp. But if it’s 3:45 p.m. she’s chatting with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

See the whole thing, including the interactive here.

Nestled right between JP Morgan Chase Asset Management CEO Mary Callahan Erdoes and GM’s Mary Barra on Forbes’ “Most Powerful Women List” is our very own Greta Van Susteren.  The FNC host was named #75 on the list of 100 top ladies from business, media, politics and entertainment.  Forbes credits Van Susteren’s power to unrivaled access to politicians, high cable news ratings and a rabidly loyal pack of supporters.

“The conservative newscaster is fast, fiery and often controversial, and her husband, John P. Coale, has served as an adviser to Sarah Palin,” says the profile.

Other journos on the list include Arianna Huffington at #32, #44 Christiane Amanpour, #47 Diane Sawyer, Ann Curry at #66, #69 Anna Wintour, and Tina Brown in the 81^st spot.

You can check out the entire list here.

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) announced yesterday that Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski will headline their November 1st ICFJ Awards Dinner.  The duo from MSNBC’s “ Morning Joe” will serve as masters of ceremony for the event honoring ICFJ’s Founders Award winner Christiane Amanpour, host of ABC’s “This Week.”

The annual fete brings together more than 500 members of the media and supporters to honor outstanding colleagues whose stories have helped improve societies around the world.  The event will be held at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington DC.  For more info on the dinner, visit the ICFJ site here.

This is the first picture of ABC “This Week” Host Christiane Amanpour with Mayor Bloomberg and the couple Bloomberg is marrying this weekend.  The interview airs Sunday on “This Week with Christiane Amanpour.”