Quotes of the Day

CONTEMPLATIVE: “Getting ready for Meet the Press this morning from Richmond” — House Maj. Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) in a moment of deep, meditative, almost wax figure silence before going on the program.

“Okay, buddy. Great night. Get some sleep. In about 72 hours, Axelrod’s gonna be looking for us.” — Joe’s Mustache (@AMJoesMoustache) to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, who made a campaign bet last week that will either have him growing a stache or Obama Campaign Advisor David Axelrod shaving his off.

Sunday morning at 4:38 a.m.: “I would like about 3 more hours of sleep. Instead: DCA.” — Yahoo! News’ Olivier Knox.

Journo hears anti-gay sentiment on trail

“An irate attendee at this Boehner event in OH told me she opposes Obama because ‘he’s forcing through this gay shit.’ Alrighty then!” — HuffPost‘s Jennifer Bendery.

Editor invents new Twitter terminology

“Defining new term: Twitter War Hostage| when yr handle gets dragged along in twitter fight btw 2 others long after u have anything 2do w/it.” — TPM Editor Josh Marshall.

Journo nightmare

“I had a terrible dream that I set my clock back and it was Nov. 4, 2011.” — Politico‘s Maggie Haberman.

On Saturday night NBC “MTP’s” David Gregory encouraged everyone to have fun with daylight savings: “My feeling is don”t wait until 2am to turn your clocks back. Have some fun with it. Do it now.”

Editor wrestles with cat’s underarm hair

“Spent half an hour untangling my cat’s underarm hair – finally had to give up and cut out a matted hunk #MaineCoonproblems.” — Washington Gardener Editor Kathy Jentz, who clearly made the most of her daylight savings time this weekend.

Anticipation: “Moving to my third coffee shop of the day. … But, I’m thinking y’all will think this story is worth it.” — BuzzFeed‘s Chris Geidner. Anticipation II: “Hour 19 of today: waiting. waiting. and more waiting. We cannot wait to actually have control of our own lives.” — LAT‘s Maeve Reston.

Captain Obvious: “In three days, we’ll know who the president will be for the next four years! Barack Obama or Mitt Romney?” — The Daily Caller‘s Matthew Boyle. What?!?! Is there an election??? We’re thinking he should stick with stories on senators and Dominican prostitutes.

Irony is…

“Starbucks Dupont believes in overheating its coffee to mouth-scalding temperatures but they’re too cheap to turn on the friggin’ heat.” — MetroWeekly‘s Randy Shulman.

FNC’s ‘Fair and Balanced’ reaches preposterous proportions

“Fox News anchor: If viewers want ‘far-left’ news, they go to MSNBC. If they want ‘fair and balanced,’ they come here.” — HuffPost‘s Amanda Terkel.

D.C. publicist would rather do anything than watch Sen. Rob Portman. And which Politico reporter basically tells complaining NY marathoners to STFU? Also: journo witness to giant car wreck caused by a bear.

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QUOTES of the DAY

TV reporter frets about his hair

“Finally wake up and don’t look like ‘Greg Brady.’ Now I find out I can catch cancer from the product which has given me straight hair!” — ABC7 Reporter Stephen Tschida in a Monday tweet. Pssst Stephen…try the Keratin treatment, the one without formaldehyde.

King critique

“King even interrupting the 10 second answers.” — National Review Editor Rich Lowry in a Monday night tweet during the CNN televised GOP debate in New Hampshire. CNN’s John King moderated.

“Seriously: How did Gingrich escape any scrutiny of his campaign difficulties? I mean, really??” — The Hill‘s Michael O’Brien in a Monday night tweet about the GOP debate.

If Treach’s son was gay…

“If I found out my son was gay, I’d tell him: 1) I love him no matter what, and 2) I could really use his help picking a living room set.” – The Daily Caller’s Jim Treacher in a Monday tweet.

Weiner Analysis

“Real reason Weiner’s getting shivved: Congress is like prison and he’s a man without a gang.” — Fortune Magazine’s Tory Newmyer in a Monday tweet.

The Pizza Man makes a big choice

“Deep Dish.” — GOP Presidential hopeful Herman Cain in Monday night’s GOP debate when CNN’ s John King asked if he prefers deep dish or thin crust pizza.

Missing Broder

“The first real debate of 2012. It doesn’t seem right without David Broder here. #wapo” — WaPo‘s Karen Tumulty in a Monday tweet.

Deep thoughts on Journalism…

“Journalism isn’t about what you ‘think’ or ‘believe.’ Skepticism and curiosity are hammer and nails. Takes skill to build something.” — Mediaite‘s White House reporter Tommy Christopher in a weekend  tweet.

Everyone’s a fashion critic

“CNN”s Wolf Blitzer and John King are wearing matching purple ties. Purple, insiders note, is made by mixing red & blue. #bipartisanship.” — Vanity Fair in a Monday tweet.

“Um, weird moment just now on CNN: @JohnKingUSA and @WolfBlitzerCNN wearing identical suit/tie combos. Uniforms tonight, perhaps? #cnndebate” — Mediaite TV Editor Mark Joyella in a Monday tweet.

A touchy subject has been percolating at WaPo as of late.

As we’ve reported, Ned Martel recently stepped down as Editor of the Style section after a few years of numerous complaints and an exodus of reporters who didn’t care for his condescending management style. Sure, some people like Howard Kurtz liked his style, but then again Kurtz liked it so much that he left for The Daily Beast. Martel now writes for the 2012 campaign.

The switch in title required an office move. So they’ve moved Martel into Columnist Steve Pearlstein‘s old office. Pearlstein, in turn, moved into the late David Broder‘s office, which is at least fitting in the sense of one Pulitzer Prize winner replacing another.

Can you imagine the outrage if Martel had moved into Broder’s office? Some Posties wonder why Martel even gets an office, seeing as not every campaign trail writer does.

Photo by Robert Severi

PBS Newshour’s Jim Lehrer has been named the winner of this year’s Fourth Estate Award for career achievement by the National Press Club.  Regarding their selection, Club President Mark Hamrick said, “Jim Lehrer has embodied the time-tested core values of journalism dating back to when many people had only black and white screens and continuing through today’s era of high definition television and social media. Amid the cacophony of a sometimes shrill media landscape, he has remained the true voice of reason, balance and fairness.”

Previous winners of the Fourth Estate Award include Walter Cronkite, Christiane Amanpour, David Brinkley and David Broder. Lehrer will be presented with his award at a gala dinner later this year.  Congratulations to Jim!

Live on C-SPAN3 and C-SPAN.org today is the Memorial Service for WaPo‘s David Broder, who died last month.
Time: 12:15-1:30p EST

The event is taking place in the National Press Club Ballroom.

Broder wrote for The Washington Post for 40 years.

What does it take to make a dead journo joke these days? Oh, not much. Slate‘s Christopher Beam threw a seemingly innocent question into the online universe Monday and what does he get? Left-leaning journalist and ardent “Juicebox Mafia” member Matt Yglesias of the Center for American Progress, who took this as an opportunity to bizarrely mention WaPo’s Pulitzer Prize-winning David Broder, who has been dead all of three and a half weeks.

Beam: What happened to @DCJourno?

Yglesias: That was David Broder’s twitter handle.

The fake Twitter account, @DCJourno, which was featured in the NYT and on this site, has been mute as of late. Yglesias is not alone and it’s no secret that he and his liberal cohorts didn’t agree with Broder’s centrist beliefs. Two weeks earlier, when Broder had been gone a week, Salon‘s Alex Pareene and Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan also made off-color Broder jokes, with Pareene saying he only wished he had come up with Nolan’s joke. Read “Two journos with zero taste” here.

QUOTES of the DAY

The Daily Beast columnist and Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) daughter Meghan McCain: “Hola from 35,000 feet! (I look weird because it’s hard to twitpic on a plane).”

CBS Sports Correspondent  Kaylee Hartung: “My mom @julieetucker is in the studio with me… Being, well, a mom.”

Scribe offers St. Patty’s threats

“If anyone mocks the Irish today I’m gonna put down these bagpipes, drink too much of this Jameson, and start a fight. #HappyStPatricksDay” — NJ‘s Susan Davis in a Thursday tweet.

WTF at a glance

“Bonefish w/ the wife. Bang bang shrimp here I come” — The Washington Examiner‘s Freeman Klopott in a Wednesday tweet. We hope Klopott never employs these words again to his wife, to us, to anyone.

Two journos with zero taste

“It’s a good thing they waited until David Broder passed away, or they would have had to give him his very own tab.” — Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan in a Wednesday post. Followed by Salon‘s porn star mustachioed Alex Pareene, who couldn’t even come up with an original disgusting line regarding the late Broder (who died just last week). Pareene had to borrow Nolan’s “joke” and declare that this was the “joke I wish I’d made.” Pareene goes a step further — he can’t even spell JournoList correctly — he spelled it “JournList,” saying, “Had they not fired Dave Weigel I assume he’d be left-leaning, maybe? Or maybe they fired him not for his JournList comments but because they weren’t sure where to put him after the redesign.” Pareene, you are such a class act. Brings tears to our eyes. [No links for losers.]

Hulse adds a little color to Twitter

“Lots of colorful metaphors in House debate on CR – lurching like drunken sailor, no way to run a railroad, water torture, pile of crap.” — NYT Carl Hulse in a tweet earlier this week.

TV Journo off to Rio

“Morning all! having breakfast with my family then off to Miami later today. Tomorrow I fly to Rio de Janeiro Friday for White House trip.” — NBC Washington’s Jim Long in a Thursday morning tweet.

Pundit wakes early to write

“My weekly column is due on Thursdays, so I get up at 3am — honestly it is the best hour to focus on the day ahead. Writing about budget.” — Democratic pundit and CNN Contributor Donna Brazile in a Thursday morning tweet.

Watch Out: An FOW (Friend of Weigel) on the loose

“Among the perks of hanging out with @daveweigel is that when he mentions you on Twitter the DC blogs who hate him start following you. #SXSW” — Matt Repchak in a Wednesday tweet. God knows who Repchak is, but he says he tweets for work (a sports outlet) and is otherwise hanging with Weigel in Austin.

The Critic

“The WashingtonPost.com redesign makes me less likely to go back to their webpage, which i typically visit frequently.” — Politico congressional reporter Jake Sherman in a Wednesday tweet.

QUOTES of the DAY

Kurtz snubs snarky journos

“When I look at journalists today some younger journalists using snark or attitude in order to kind of make a name for themsleves, I’m not saying that should be illegal, but in a way David Broder was one of the last of a breed. He wasn’t cynical.” — The Daily Beast‘s Washington Bureau Chief and CNN’s Howard Kurtz discussing the late WaPo‘s David Broder on “Reliable Sources” on Sunday. Oh those snarky journalists — gasp! — don’t let them get you down Howie!

Keller sucks joy out of column

“Nothing sucks the joy out of a column like explaining it.” — NYT Executive Editor Bill Keller in the first line of a Sunday post on the brand new NYT Magazine blog, The 6th Floor. He’s referring to his aggregation attack against Huffpost Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington. Since we’re on the subject of Arianna, he writes, “Also, for the record, I like Arianna Huffington. Sorry to disappoint those folks yearning for a Wrestlemania smackdown, but I think she’s a shrewd entrepreneur and a charming woman.” But a sentence later, he insults her, saying, “We won’t dwell on the fact that her new owners at AOL laid off 200 journalists to help pay for the acquisition of The Huffington Post. So, really, I like Arianna.”

Journo wants death to inspire checkups

“Very sad to hear about the passing of Rick Martin may his death inspire more 50+ men to get heart checkups.” — NBC Capitol Hill Correspondent Luke Russert in a weekend tweet regarding a former Buffalo Sabres hockey player. Want to know more on who Martin was? Read here.

Is Deepak reading Washington minds?

“#EnlightenedLiving Seriousness is a mask for self importance” — Deepak Chopra in a Sunday tweet. Could he have been thinking Washington D.C.?

Shhh…ex-publicist wants a quiet meal

“Owner at Belga yelling up a storm at someone “sneaking in.” Interesting. I really just wanted a meal in peace.” — Former Publicist for The Hill Tricia Barba in a Sunday tweet.

James O’Keefe on the media

“The media isn’t doing the job and if you’re not going to take us seriously we’re not going to take you seriously,” James O’Keefe on Sunday CNN’s “Reliable Sources” program. He calls himself a “citizen journalist,” though he’s otherwise known as a conservative “activist/provacateur.” …”I think the mainstream media is starting to have a little more respect for us.”

Journo disses Bret Easton Ellis

“Newsweek has Bret Easton Ellis on Charlie Sheen. Because nothing says “fresh cultural perspective” like Bret Easton Ellis.” — Commentary Magazine‘s John Podhoretz in a weekend tweet (because nothing says fresh cultural perspective like John Podhoretz). Read Ellis’ piece here. The story appeared on The Daily Beast and in Newsweek.

In Case You Missed It…

“What’s a party without drag queens? Four of them. Their attendance was inexplicable. Photographers loved them so much that Ommanney eventually took a microphone and said, “Well, excuse me, it’s my party…Love you drag queens, but it’s my party.” That sassy, sassy Brit.” — Our intern Alec Jacobs covered the Real Housewives of D.C. party this weekend. Read here if you missed the Sunday post.

Right off the bat, USA TODAY Bureau Chief Susan Page made a crack about C-SPAN.

A bold move for a woman who was at odds with C-SPAN and some other Washington journalists this week for not permitting cameras into last night’s Gridiron dinner.  “Please be seated. I’m Susan Page of USA Today, president of the Gridiron Club and Foundation,” she said. “Welcome to the 126th anniversary Gridiron Dinner. Or, as we like to think of it, Glee meets C-SPAN Three.”

The speech was generally light but had serious parts such as a tribute to WaPo‘s David Broder, who died this week.

Page’s speech was called “Speech in the Dark.” It ends with her reading the Giridon Rules. For example: “The Gridiron’s first rule: Ladies are always present. This rule dates from the time when ladies were never present. It was meant to caution the speakers that their humor wasn’t supposed to be too blue. Sorry, Charlie Sheen.”

Some sound ancient. See the speech in its entirety…

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David Broder, WaPo‘s Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and columnist has died of complications from diabetes.  Often referred to as the “dean” of American political reporting, Broder has been one of the nation’s most influential writers for more than four decades.  He was 81 years old.

More at WaPo here.