Quotes of the Day

CAT LOVER: HuffPost Blog Managing Editor Erin Ruberry — “Just got home from work. Someone really wants some TLC.”

No News Alert!

“Sorry folks, a woman leaving the hospital is not breaking news, even if that woman is the Duchess of Cambridge.” — Marketing writer and consultant Deborah Brody.

Jakes knew jack about call

“POTUS and Boehner spoke today. No further information being provided.” — Politico‘s Jake Sherman.

“POTUS + Speaker Boehner spoke on the phone this afternoon. *End of Transmission*” – ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper.

Analysis: “Never a good sign when it’s actually news that the president and House speaker spoke on the phone.” — HuffPost‘s Ethan Klapper.

Awe!!!

“Today was my last day at HuffPost; I’m leaving to focus on a new accountability journalism project. More deets later.” — HuffPost‘s Dan Froomkin.

Mining for Gold

“Gossip Girl reference in a Club For Growth email. Drink, day’s over, etc.” — BuzzFeed‘s Rebecca Berg.

Dumbass Pitches

“Somehow I don’t think you’re personally following up with me, PR person promoting tap dancing kitchen appliances.” — TPM‘s Benjy Sarlin.

Convo Between Two Journos

Hunter Walker of the New York Observer: Bill de Blasio’s wife met her first female lover when they bonded over wishing they had a joint as college freshmen

Feliz Salmon of Reuters: Hunter, genuinely interested: what did your parents think of this article?

Party time.

“My office is full of Christmas music and Twinkies. It’s a good afternoon.” — Jimmy LaSalvia, founder GOProud. Oh, did he mean the snack cake or something else?

What, no one punched him in the nose?

“In 1967 I fought off muggers 35 stitches. Since then, no crimes. Today, my bike was stolen. I’ll hunt it down.” — FNC’s Geraldo Rivera.

Convo Between Two Egomaniacs With Hair Issues

Mediate founder Dan Abrams: I did say you are widely covered b/c you understand media as well as anyone, but it wasn’t really a compliment.

Abrams: So regardless of whether I agree with you, I do appreciate how well stories on you do on my site and elsewhere.

Donald Trump: Dan, of course stories on me do well. Glad you have found a medium you can actual do well on. TV was not your forte.

Quotes of the Day

“The networks are all driving me crazy to do television shows—“a ratings machine”—but because of Apprentice have been loyal to NBC.” — Former never had a shot in hell presidential hopeful Donald Trump.

Journo meets her twin: Rachel Maddow (And no, we’re not referring to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes)

“Never met Maddow until now. We kind of look alike. My intro: ‘Are you my long lost sister?’ Her: ‘Glad we both got the memo.’ Maddow, heading into West Wing, said she was here for a ‘hippie cabal.’ Asked if I was coming. NO, DAMN IT, I WASN’T INVITED.” — HuffPost‘s Jennifer Bendery.

Capitol Police come to the rescue of a cell phone

“Phone just fell and slid into a member’s personal storage closet. Big thanks to the five Capitol Police who came to rescue it.” — Lauren French, Politico Pro tax reporter.

Dan Froomkin tweets like a 12-year-old

“If u cn give info 2 the press w/no intent of it going 2 enemy & b found guilty of aiding the enemy… that’s scary.”  — HuffPost‘s Dan Froomkin, who has been taking tweeting lessons from Politico‘s Jonathan Martin. Read this 5 times. He links 2 this.

Important Q’s to Ponder: “Didn’t Anna Wintour and Rod Blagojevich get there [sic] hair from same play doh factory?” — Breitbart.com‘s Dana Loesch. And this: What are anna wintour’s qualifications to be uk ambassador other than her accent? (which is very good.)” — ABC News reporter Matt Negrin.

Tapper on Beck’s show to discuss — are you crazy, what else? — The OutPost

“Here I am on @glennbeck’s show today talking about The Outpost.” — ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper. His next appearance: Sesame Street, followed by Snapped.  bit.ly/TMEVDE

Smart ass!

“How about ‘up?’ That’s a direction.” — HuffPost‘s Jeff Young in a moment of dripping sarcasm. He was reacting to this from NBC News: “NASA needs stronger direction to lead in space, report finds.”

Cliffhanger: Journo weighs reconciliation with ex

“After a year apart the ex wants to reconcile. He has definitely changed. #sohaveI #surprisingdecision” — MetroWeekly‘s Randy Shulman. He continued, “Sometimes the only correct answer is no. #doingsomethingformyselfforonce.” And finally: “Have agreed to have dinner and hear him out at least.” Hey Randy, let us know what happens! Now we’re invested.

Senator questions armored cars at pumpkin festivals

“Spending must be cut for #fiscalcliff when gov pays for armored vehicles to guard rural pumpkin festivals. All in my DHS report out tmrw.” — Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).

Hess on fence on nipple-related act

“Is projectile ejaculating frosting from your nipples a feminist act? Katy Perry says no but I’m still on the fence.” — Slate blogger Amanda Hess. She links to this story that she wrote headlined: “Enough with the feminism police.”

Find out what’s making Steve Buttry all nostalgic… Read more

Quotes of the Day

“That was a weirdest thing I have ever seen at a convention in my entire life and it will be the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen if I live to be 100. That was bizarre.” — MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow‘s immediate reaction to Clint Eastwood‘s convention speech in which he spoke to an invisible President Obama sitting in an empty chair.

Journos weigh in on Mitt’s big night

“Romney looking like man of the people — so long as the people are kept behind a rope line.” — U.S. News & World Report‘s Robert Schlesinger.

“Mitt’s a little moist in the eyes.” — Asst. Managing Editor for NYT Jim Roberts with perhaps the grossest description of Romney for the evening.

“No prepared remarks much to every reporters annoyance.” — ABC’s Karen Travers.

“This is like Ward Cleaver’s salute to June.” — Rolling Stone National Affairs reporter Tim Dickinson.

“After saying he’s Mormon, he immediately talked about how it doesn’t matter. There’s a man of faith for you.” — HuffPost‘s Dan Froomkin.

“When Mitt tells jokes an angel dies.” — Sports Editor at The Nation Dave Zirin.

“Romney doing what he needs to do here. Not spectacular but very, very solid.” — WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza.

Ana off the Wagon? “MEDICARE LIE. Drink.” — The Guardian‘s Ana Marie Cox.

“Yo teleprompter guy, cue Mitt to nix the lip smacking #RNC2012″ — HuffPost‘s Senior Political Economy Reporter Zach Carter. He soon added, “Should you really hug your kids a little longer when gas prices go up?”

“I feel bad for Mitt. He’s everyone’s second choice in the primary, and now he has to follow Clint. The poor bastard.” — Jared Keller, director of Social Media for BloombergLP.

Convention Commentary

“I vote for conventions without politicians.” — WaPo‘s Jennifer Rubin.

“1) Eastwood: Whoa!! 2) Rubio: too long, pushed Mitt too late 3) Mitt: just fine, and unlike Ryan mainly true. But enthusiasm in hall???” — The Atlantic‘s James Fallows.

“Dear Republicans, I thought we’d all agreed to not do embarrassing white people dances at#GOP2012” — RedState.com and CNN’s Erick Erickson.

“I’m not sure those dance moves should ever be done. But they should definitely not be done in a grey suit.” — The Atlantic‘s Megan McArdle.

“Fuck some asshole delegate brought a baby to RNC – someone call protective services.” — InTheseTimes.com labor journo Mike Elk.

Speaking of white guys commenting on Taylor Hicks…

“I never regretted my vote for Taylor Hicks and I never will.” — Slate‘s Dave Weigel.

“Quote of the night goes to @Ari_Shapiro: ‘For some reason I thought Taylor Hicks was a woman.’” — Reuters‘ Sam Youngman. Shapiro is a White House Correspondent for NPR.

Journo takes stab at NBC

“When will Republicans learn and NOT give NBC News press credentials for their convention. NBC News is not the press.” — Real Clear Politics‘ Ian Schwartz.

And an Esquire writer blasts them all…

“The political media are reminding us all this morning how irrelevant they are becoming.” — Ex-Romney foreign policy spox Richard Grenell.

And a Breitbart.com editor reflexively lashes out at BuzzFeed

“I’d pay real money if @McKayCoppins would give it a rest.” — Breitbart.com editor John Nolte, later adding, “These #BenSmithers are all professional trolls.” Ben Smith is BuzzFeed‘s Political Editor.

Blah blah who cares?

“The beauty of the restaurant business is we gratefully serve the left, the right, and everyone in between.” — Mr. Norah O’Donnell i.e. Geoff Tracy during Mitt’s speech.

“Folks, we got a Jim Bunning sighting on the floor.” — Politico Senior Reporter Jonathan Martin.

And now…onto Charlotte

“15K overtired, overworked, high maintenance, often hungover journalists are about to descend on Tampa airport. This will go well.” — Politico‘s Ben White.

Balloon photograph above by AP’s Phil Elliott.

Jefferson Morley is back.  After a two-year, book-writing sabbatical, Morley will reenter the DC media scene next week as Washington Editor  for Salon. The veteran author and journalist explained to FishbowlDC that his new position is part of Salon founder David Talbot”s commitment to reemphasize political coverage of the Great Recession, the 2012 race, and the sorry state of American public life, with the mission of calling out the responsible and calling attention to those who are doing good.

“Salon is a great brand, not only because it was an online pioneer, but because its always had good writers, aggressive reporting, and smart analysis,” Morley told us. “I’m hoping to contribute to that tradition. Only a journalist would say it but good colleagues plus bad times equals lots of fun.”

Morley brings to the job a wealth of experience from his nearly 30 years in D.C. media.  From 2007 to 2009, he served as editorial director of the nonprofit Center for Independent Media, where he oversaw a national network of state news sites, including the Washington Independent.  Before CIM, Morley worked at washingtonpost.com with Dan Froomkin and Jim Brady editing the Post’s foreign coverage online and writing the World Opinion Roundup column.  He also spent time working in the Sunday Outlook section after beginning his journalism career at Harper’s and the New Republic.

Morley starts his new gig on Monday.  His book “Snow-Storm in August: Race and Unrest in Washington City, 1835,” the true story of the first race riot in the nation’s capital, is due out in July of 2012. Congrats to Jeff!

In a most thoughtful weather advisory, ABC 7′s weatherman Doug Hill looks out for everyone, even the hair challenged. Who needs to watch out? Below we devise a usual suspect list of lawmakers, political types and journalists for whom the wild wind could affect on a day like today.

“With the winds expected to gust over 40 mph today, I had to issue my ” CombOver Advisory” on WTOP. Wind Advisory from 9 am thru 4 pm via NWS.” — Hill writes in a Wednesday morning tweet.

Men who need to watch out if in Washington today for having comb overs or just hair that might fly out of control: Donald Trump, Rod Blagojevich, HuffPost‘s Dan Froomkin, Reps. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) and Tim Johnson (R-Ill.), Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), and DCRTV’s Dave Hughes (who could scare small children in or out of a wind storm). Note to readers: If you think of more, please write in and tell us at FishbowlDC@mediabistro.com.

> Update: New suggestions: Newsweek Columnist and MSNBC Analyst Jonathan Alter and (of course) MSNBC’s “Hardball” host Chris Matthews.

> Update: CBS White House Radio correspondent Mark Knoller.

Dave Hughes

Today the bloodbath of Journolist pauses for The Daily Caller‘s superhero edition of Journolist. In this story by Jonathan Strong, certain Journolisters are praised for “integrity” and “civility.”

The “heroes” include: Journolist founder, WaPo‘s Ezra Klein, CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin, HuffPost‘s Dan Froomkin, The Guardian‘s Michael Tomasky and The New Yorker‘s James Surowieki, who isn’t a full-fledged hero, but gets an honorable mention.

Toobin, Strong, writes, “came across as one of the least caustic members of the list.”

Klein, who sliced up Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson in a post last week, calling a statement Carlson released on the Journolist “sanctimonious” and “evasive”, has by far the shortest amount of praise in the hero version. In fact, the bit on Klein amounts to two sentences, the second of which you can almost read aloud without running out of air. It’s not entirely positive, however. See the first line after the jump…

Read the full story here.

Read more

Washington Life’s annual “Power List” issue is on newsstands now. And though the mag’s list of Washington power players contains many of the usual suspects, FishbowlDC paid special attention to the NextGen media category. This year’s list includes “cutting edge personalities who are transforming the news business” such as Erica America blogger Erica Anderson, HuffPo’s Dan Froomkin, Facebook’s Tim Sparapani and TBD’s Erik Wemple.

Check out WL’s picks for NextGen Media personalities you should know here.

The Huffington Post introduces a brand new feature today. It’s “HuffPost Hill”, a daily newsletter which aims to whisk readers into evening with a free, modern, e-mail version of an evening newspaper. It harkens back to an era that publication editors believe still ought to exist.

In the works for about a year, HuffPost unveils “HuffPost Hill” this evening, between 5p.m. and 6 p.m. daily, encapsulating the day’s missed events and the day ahead in a 2,000-word feature sent to your e-mail doorstep. It won’t be fancy graphically – no pictures, no graphics – the writing is meant to be lively and conversational with the promise of catchy headlines. Nora McAlvanah, former editor of NJ’s Wake-Up Call and Last Call, helped create it.

Content will be geared toward the Capitol Hill staffer, White House aide and anyone interested in that world. There will be news of unusually-themed fundraisers, embassy parties, free parties, Hill birthday celebrations, and who’s dating whom (as long as it’s someone we all care about).

HuffPost Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington won’t say the feature is a take off Politico Mike Allen‘s “Playbook,” but she won’t run from the possibility. “I personally love reading Mike Allen in the morning,” Huffington told FishbowlDC last Friday, referring specifically to Allen’s “Playbook” feature that lands the publication a daily spot on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” She isn’t thinking too long-term about the feature, but she believe it’s important: “We used to have an afternoon newspaper,” she said of the newspaper industry.

Huffington said the writing needs to “lively and breezy”, and the “kind of stuff you talk about at dinner.” She said it won’t be just like Allen’s “Playbook” but will fill what they consider to be the afternoon gap.

National Editor Nico Pitney came up with the idea. At the helm of the operation is chief congressional correspondent Ryan Grim, who will edit the feature. “It’ll be like an evening newspaper [for people to] read on their way home,” said Grim.

Pitney will contribute to the project as will a variety of HuffPost scribes such as White House correspondent Sam Stein , K Street reporter Arthur Delaney, senior Washington correspondent Dan Froomkin and media editor Jason Linkins.

In Grim’s charges will be the newly hired Eliot Nelson, 23. Nelson has experience in satirical writing – which is what HuffPost appears to be looking for in this feature.

Pitney and Grim tested Nelson rigorously, giving him little guidance. They were pleased with the results, said Grim.

Nelson has worked for unknown online venues such as Yankee Pot Roast and McSweeny’s. He has interned at ABC News and Bloomberg and most recently, in the Whip office of South Carolina Democratic leader, James Clyburn.

Sign up for “HuffPost Hill” here.

HuffPost ran an item Monday on a “mini exodus” at its rival, Politico. The item broke the news that media writer Michael Calderone is leaving. HuffPost has also had losses: Larry Roberts, considered a coup of an editorial hire for the Investigative Fund, run separately from HuffPost, quit after a short time to join Bloomberg, and Dan Froomkin, who was hired to run political coverage, went from a management role to reporting after a few months.

A closer look at staff moves at Politico turned up noteworthy details:

• Four people have left in two weeks but were given huge raises to leave. Patrick O’Conner, for instance, was courted for weeks by Bloomberg and nearly doubled his salary in the bidding war.

• WaPo and others are making serious runs at several Politico reporters, too. A Politico reporter tells Fishbowl that Bloomberg sought to hire Carol Lee, Politico’s White House reporter, and failed.

FishbowlDC asked Jim VandeHei, Politico’s executive editor, for comment on the recent loss of reporters. His response: “I think we do a good job of hiring great reporters and teaching them to think smarter, work harder and write sharper. So I am not surprised other news organizations make bids to steal some away. It would be silly for us to get all worked up about it because we have been doing – and will continue to do – the same thing, which is try to lure the best reporters away from our competitors. The truth is, it’s a great time to be a talented reporter in this town. Bloomberg is hiring tons of people; The Washington Post seems to be hiring again and we have more than a dozen openings. Our challenge is finding people who have the right reporting instincts, writing chops and ambition.”

On the HuffPost item that ran Monday, VandeHei said: “We are a competitive threat. Their media writers take shots at us most weeks it seems. It doesn’t take an Investigative Fund to figure out the motivation.”

HuffPost’s Mario Ruiz, V.P. of Media Relations for HuffPost commented to FishbowlDC: “Danny was merely reporting on the fact that four reporters recently left Politico. In fact, we’ve always had a very good relationship with Politico. We often link to their stories and drive a lot of traffic to them; indeed, we get emails from them thanking us for featuring their stories so prominently. As for Dan Froomkin, this was a promotion, since he’s now freed from the managerial responsibilities that were taking him away from his passion: reporting and analysis. And regarding Larry Roberts, The Huffington Post Investigative Fund is an entirely different entity that HuffPost. Larry was replaced as the Fund’s Executive Editor by another senior member of the team, as you can see from Calderone’s story last week.”

HuffPost hosts a live conversation today between “Shadow Elite” author Janine Wedel and HuffPost Washington Bureau Chief Dan Froomkin.

It’s a chance to ask questions – intelligent ones if you want.

Later Wedel is set to appear on MSNBC’s “The Dylan Ratigan Show” at 4 p.m. EST to discuss the recent controversial Supreme Court ruling to eliminate limits on campaign funding advertising by corporations and unions.

Wedel’s book is Arianna’s second book club pick. The book has “initiated a crucial debate during the past month over the survival of democracy in America,” claims HuffPost.

Read why Huffington chose the book:
“My first HuffPost Book Club selection of 2010 is Janine Wedel’s Shadow Elite: How the World’s New Power Brokers Undermine Democracy, Government, and the Free Market. It’s a gripping, disquieting book that exposes and explains why it’s been so hard to bring about any real change in our country — why Washington no longer seems capable of addressing the problems our nation faces. Fingers have been pointed at everything from gerrymandering to partisan polarization to the misuse of the filibuster. But, according to Wedel, the real problem is much deeper — and more disturbing — than any of these.”

Go here for the chat.