The audio was kind of a wreck but the second installment of BuzzFeed Brews, this time a Q&A with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), otherwise went just fine.

Gillibrand is apparently unafraid to drink with the big boys. Literally, big boys. She gave the towering D.C. Bureau Chief John Stanton a bottle of Jameson whiskey at the end of the interview, during which she downed the beer that sat at her side. Her glass of water went hardly touched.

Afterward, the open bar continued for another hour. What was Gillibrand doing? Read more

Quotes of the Day

Writer dude raves about House chicken tenders

“Dude, House side chicken tenders crush Senate side any day. and more choice of dipping sauces.” — HuffPost‘s Jon Ward.

The Snowstorm That Wasn’t.

“DC such a train wreck of dysfunction even snow wants no part of it.” — Reuters‘ Sam Youngman.

“The Post should replace their weather gang with a drunken nearsighted lemur.” — BuzzFeed Washington Bureau Chief John Stanton.

“DC meteorologists – the Karl Roves of weather prediction. #snowquester” — Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.).

“As a friendly DC flack told me today, ‘this town could use a blizzard.’” — CNN’s Jim Acosta.

“Well in case the world gets snowed in tomorrow—which it won’t—I’m glad I had the foresight to buy myself fresh hydrangeas.” — Roll Call‘s Meredith Shiner.

“This is incredibly fucking dumb. I can’t believe how freaked out DC is about this “snowstorm” #MassholeTweets” — BuzzFeed‘s Rosie Gray who links to this story from Politico on the House’s plan to gavel out Wednesday afternoon.

Premature prediction: “As of tomorrow, DC will only be a faint memory, an echo of forgotten power buried under a shroud of white death.” — Politico‘s Ben White.

“I’d be more impressed with this snowstorm, which has already shut down the government, if the snow would actually stick to the ground.” — The Atlantic‘s Jeffrey Goldberg.

“The people in my feed acting smug about the awfulness of the term ‘snowquester’ are becoming FAR more annoying than the term ‘snowquester.’” — Ben Harris, Rockville-based communications professional.

“Washington deals with snow about as well as it deals with everything else.” — Reason‘s Peter Suderman.

Late-night Bad Girls Club

MSNBC’s Touré: “Now that the Menendez story has blown up in a very embarrassing way, no one ever need take the Daily Caller seriously. Not that anyone did.”

Daily Caller‘s Jeff Poor: “Dear @Toure: You should put the J.Crew catalog down and catch up on the latest on the Daily Caller-Menendez story before popping off. Thx.”

(“Popping off” is a phrase often heard on “Bad Girls Club,” as noted by trusted Bad Girls Club expert and FBDC writer Eddie Scarry.)

Journo wasn’t allowed to lunch with Lanny Davis

“Lanny Davis once invited me out to lunch after I wrote a critical piece on him but my editor wouldn’t let me go.” — InTheseTimes labor journo Mike Elk at the Lanny Davis book party last night at The Hamilton.

Vietor picks on Stephanopoulos

After ABC “This Week” and GMA host George Stephanopoulos welcomed former White House aide Tommy Vietor to Twitter this morning, Vietor replied, “Thanks! We’d like to know when you sleep since you host every show on ABC except Dancing with the Stars (next season??)”

Gawker finds a terrible, fruity headline.

The Traveler

“Flying to Winnipeg this snowy morning” — conservative writer David Frum.

Have you been Marty’d? See Marty’s reaction to our profile on him and watch WaPo‘s Gene Weingarten make fun of the humblebrag… Read more

Asked to describe the idea behind “BuzzFeed Brews,” John Stanton says, “It’s like a first date. Get them a little drunk and relaxed so they can talk about things people don’t normally hear them talk about.”

Stanton is the Washington Bureau Chief for BuzzFeed and last night was the launch of the website’s new series wherein newsmakers are invited to sit before an audience and answer questions. And there’s free beer.

It’s essentially the same thing as Politico‘s Playbook Breakfast, “minus the stale bagels, plus the beer,” cracked BuzzFeed‘s Politics Editor McKay Coppins to FishbowlDC. (The site’s publicist Ashley McCollum boasts that she came up with that description.)

The first guest: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). For roughly 45 minutes Rubio answered questions from BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith about immigration, gay marriage and the future of the Republican Party. Of course, lengthy segments here and there were spent on why Rubio prefers Tupac over Biggie Smalls (“His lyrics are more insightful in my opinion.”) and whether he had to “think long and hard” before letting his son play recreational football. Stanton said that’s another thing distinguishing the Brews series from Playbook Breakfast, whose audience may not be interested in those things. Read more

Justin Green, the Washington-based editor of David Frum‘s website, came unglued this morning over a headline in Politico that reads, “Joe Biden ‘intoxicated’ by 2016 Run.” In the story, the authors, Mike Allen, Jonathan Martin and Jim VandeHei, quote “a Democrat close to the White House” as saying, “He’s intoxicated by the idea, and it’s impossible not to be intoxicated by the idea.”

So far so good. Intoxicated in a quote, intoxicated in the headline. It’s an interesting word and lures you into the story. So what’s the big deal? Read more

Quotes of the Day

Is it BuzzFeed or is it HuffPost Hill

HuffPost Hill does its best impersonation of BuzzFeed with this email subject line: “HUFFPOST HILL – 25 Photos Of John Boehner Trying To Keep His Conference Together... And Kittens” (The afternoon newsletter has neither inside, so it’s all just a spiteful tease.)

On the Serenity Prayer…

“I hear that serenity prayer was said with typical Boehner grumble. Slight smile. He’s a devout Roman Catholic. Dark sense of humor.” — NationalReviewOnline‘s Washington Editor Robert Costa.

Uh oh. 

“On my way home via @Uber_DC. Am so grateful a service like this exists – would pay anything for the independent reviews and safety.” — Anna Sproul-Latimer, a Washington-D.C.-based literary agent. Clearly Anna hasn’t heard the news.

A complaint about flack emails

“Flack emails I will not read begin with ‘Hey XXX…’” — Daniel Newhauser, House leadership reporter for Roll Call.

NBC’s Chuck Todd gets questionable haircut?

“Did @chucktodd tell his barber ‘give me the Moe Howard‘?” — AP‘s Jon Resnick. Resnick’s joke involved Todd’s hair on Thursday, but it’s got legs. Could also refer to substitute hosts for “The Daily Rundown.” Today it’s WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza. We’ve asked Resnick for clarification on the matter.

The Observer

“Emerging buzzphrase of Dem Senate presser: ‘political gyrations’” — Slate‘s Dave Weigel.

How to Make it All About Me: “As someone who’s worked in digital journalism for a while, this NYT effort on an avalanche is inspirational.” — WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza. We’re not sure why he felt the need to qualify his statement. We get it! You’re an expert!

In defense of journalists covering tough stories

“Many people express hate for journalists covering tragic stories in their neighborhoods. Honestly, we hate being there, too.” — WTOP’s Neal Augenstein.

Fox News producer needs parka for hearing room

“Senate Foreign Relations hearing room is ridiculously cold. So glad I brought my big North Face parka.” — FNC Senate producer Kara Rowland.

Reaction to Pareene’s Hack List

“Good God, what will Alex be like when he gets old? His list is gripping reading, though, exactly the way Fox News itself is.” –The Daily Beast and CNN Contributor David Frum on Alex Pareene‘s annual Hack List for Salon.com.

Uh oh.

“As of now I have bought zero Christmas presents. Talk about smelling the panic.” — Touré, co-host of MSNBC’s “The Cycle”.

Editor regrets eating all that junk food; and see who made this week’s FishbowlDC Fan Club Board… Read more

Say hello to Knight Kiplinger, Editor in Chief, Kiplinger publishing (Kiplinger Letters, Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, Kiplinger.com). We spoke by phone this morning just after he did his ritualistic yoga exercises. He spends 20 minutes each morning doing stretches and poses to put himself in a good frame of mind. “I don’t watch much TV,” he noted quickly into the call, saying the Fishbowl interview wasn’t necessarily ideal for someone who doesn’t watch a lot of TV. (We’ll keep that in mind.) “I’m not older than dirt, but I came up through newspaper journalism and print journalism so that’s kind of my bias in my news diet.” Asked about the current state of journalism, Kiplinger’s thoughts are enlightening. POLITICO reporters, you may want to stop reading now. “I think we’ve seen the decline of careful consideration, the emphasis is on quick response, the immediate reaction,” Kiplinger said. “The best journalism is not always the fast journalism. The first analysis is often not carefully considered. Good journalism takes time. It takes reporting. We’ve seen a decline of in-depth reporting. A newspaper reporter had eight or ten hours to do hard reporting, deep reporting, talking to many, many sources before writing a story. The internet has forced everyone to work faster and that sometimes undercuts journalistic quality. So that is the problem.” Here’s the point where WaPo‘s Ezra Klein should stop reading. “These days a lot of young journalists, they all want to be columnists, giving the world their opinions,” he said. “Journalists try to build themselves into a brand, into a marketable entity that can move from periodical to periodical. Of course, that’s what columnists have always done.” Kiplinger sees danger signs. “With too much emphasis on celebrity, the content of journalism gets short shrift. A bigger threat to quality journalism is the unwillingness of young adults to pay for journalism. Older adults will still pay for content. They comprise the subscription-paying readership.” Kiplinger still gets two newspapers at home: WaPo and TWT. At the office he reads WSJ and NYT. “I look through them very rapidly,” he says of WaPo and TWT, saying he prefers to read them in print than online and can do so faster. He particularly enjoys WaPo‘s Metro section. He’s also a relentless reader of obituaries. “In my next life I am going to be an obit writer,” he says. Moving along, he has grave concerns about the industry: “Revenue on internet is not sustaining high quality journalism,” he said. But on a positive note, he added, “the internet has given everyone [a medium]…that is a powerful force, a positive force. This trend will continue.” On the future of journalism: “There will be fewer jobs in traditional journalism for young journalists who want to be the reporter, who want to tell the story of modern life. I don’t want to sound like a curmudgeon. We’re in the throws of a great democratization of media. Editing today is a luxury many media feel they can’t afford. You don’t have the level of trust that you once had. Traditional media were gatekeepers to information. They were the mandarins who selected what they thought the public needed to know.” Kiplinger is on Twitter, but he’s not enthralled by it. “Yeah I tweet,” he said. “If you went to my Twitter account you’d see I tweet infrequently. I try to restrain my tweets to kind of broader observations about things going on in the economy. I work very hard to condense and distill. I don’t have a Twitter support staff as a lot of semi-celebrity journalists do.” As an aside, he notes…“There are some people who think I am a celebrity. I just think I’m an ink-stained wretch. I’m not a hyperactive tweeter.” On family…He’s a longtime choral singer and met his wife in the Washington Chorus in 1979. Incidentally, his daughter also met her fiance in the Washington Chorus (a detail reported in WaPo earlier this week). Facebook? “I don’t do Facebook at all. I don’t think the world is that interested in my daily life, and even if they are, I don’t want to share it with them.” Finally, I asked…what one piece of wisdom should every journalist know? He replied, “There’s no substitute for hard reporting.”

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

Schweppes Tonic Water (with real quinine), my teenage favorite, even before I started adding gin.

How often do you Google yourself?

Rarely (Just noticed they now have photos of the search subject, too!)

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

To the owner of the first newspaper I worked for, at 22 years old: “Reporters ought to earn as much as the layout guys with their razor blades and paste pots.”  (He disagreed.)

You have an intriguing name. What is the story behind it?

It was my maternal grandmother’s maiden name (full name: Daphne Knight). No relation to the Knight publishing family, darn it.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why?

David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal.  No one explains complex economic issues with more clarity and common sense than Wessel.

Do you have a favorite word?

I’m told I overuse “unconscionable,” so maybe that’s it.

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

I’m sure each of them would be a fine dinner companion, but I’d rather dine with Renee Montagne of NPR, co-host of “Morning Edition.”  She’s a brainy journalist (Phi Beta from Berkeley), award-winning correspondent in South Africa and Afghanistan, adept anchor—and she sounds like a very nice person (based on interviews I hear regularly, and ones I’ve done with her while I was in the DC studio and she was at NPR West in California).

The Earth’s human population is dying out and you must save it. You will spend a romantic evening with either Scandal’s Kerry Washington, any of the women from FNC’s “The Five” or MSNBC’s S.E. Cupp. Who will it be? (None is not an option.)

I don’t know any of these women on sight (don’t watch much TV), so you pick one for my blind date, and I’m sure she and I will be able to save the Earth together. [Okay, we'll play your game. We pick Helen Thomas. That's what you get for not answering.]

What swear word do you use most often? “Damn!”…used sparingly.

You’ve just been told the big news: You get to have your own Sunday morning talk show. Who will be on your roundtable? (Pick four journalists or pundits types.)

Cokie Roberts, David Frum, Kathleen Parker, David Brooks. (Back-ups for when someone is traveling or out sick: Peggy Noonan and E. J. Dionne.)

On a serious note for a moment, if you could have dinner with a person who has died, who would it be?

My zany and wise mother, Gogo Kiplinger (1919-2007)

Read more

If you haven’t watched Karl Rove attempt to throw a giant rotten peach at Fox News’ election coverage Tuesday night, do yourself a favor and watch it here, thanks to Politico.

Rove had predicted that Mitt Romney would handily win the presidential election and threw a toddler-sized tantrum when it started to look like he was wrong. Fox News called Ohio for Barack Obama and instead of commenting on the win, Rove stabbed Fox News in the back by saying that they were calling it prematurely. It. Was. Awkward. It got so weird that Megyn Kelly got up, left the set, and went back into the bowels of Fox News to talk to the Decision Desk, a crew of smart white men navigating the numbers.

Naturally, Rove’s performance elicited reaction from journalists and here we give you the best offerings… Read more

Today we have another installment of: “Ask Piranhamous Anything.” And we do mean anything. Send your queries to FishbowlDC@mediabistro.com. This isn’t an advice column — Piranhamous doesn’t know what the hell you should do with your life any more than you do — and worse, he doesn’t care. Try to keep your questions short — we want to keep this fun, simple and insightful.

1. How do you think the media in general has handled Mitt Romney winning the debate?

Like a kid walking in on their dad having sex with Santa Claus. I would have been concerned for the health of Chris Matthews, were I concerned at all about the health of Chris Matthews. MSNBC was like watching a room full of people who bet their life savings on a Mike Tyson win in the Buster Douglas fight. Looking on the bright side, it was some of the best comedy on any NBC network in a decade.

2. Do you think right-wing media is finally warming to Romney? Or is he just the best alternative for them?

You’re confusing issues. With the exception of pseudo-conservatives like David Frum and David Brooks, the right-wing has been behind Romney from the get-go. Just because their desire to beat President Obama burns with the heat of a thousands suns doesn’t mean the desire for a Romney victory doesn’t burn with the heat of 999 of them.

3. What did you think of Chris Matthews’ meltdown about Obama’s poor debate performance and his suggestion that Obama watch his show to prep for his next debate?

His leg was thrill-free and it was hilarious to watch. Saturday Night Live did a great job of mocking him over the weekend. But Chris wasn’t alone. His fraternal twin Ed Schultz was equally upset, as were identical twins Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes. The only MSNBCer who handled himself with any semblance of self-respect that night was Al Sharpton, who went right back to “Resisting We Much” without missing a beat.

What was initially thought to be a special appearance by David Martosko‘s personal secretary at last night’s Daily Caller book launch party ended up being nothing of the sort.

To the left is a photo of Nandi, who works with Emperor Vodka, which sponsored the soiree. “I’m just here for pictures,” she said, graciously posing for cameras. Nandi, whose arms are reminiscent of Angela Bassett‘s What’s Love Got to Do with It, said this was her first time working with Emperor. Fun first day on the job!

The Daily Caller hosted the party in its Farragut Square newsroom celebrating The Lizard King, an ebook written by their own Jamie Weinstein and Will Rahn.

“I have no good answer,” said Rahn when asked who should read his book. “It’s a transformative book,” he said (“transformational” also works). He compared it to reading the Bible. “Is this off the record?” Rahn asked at the conclusion of our interview.

Weinstein was a little more willing to talk about the book, though we get the impression he thought he was on TV. “Truth-seekers will like it,” Weinstein said. He emphasized that the book is actually a manuscript provided by a White House insider and that he and Rahn are simply the vessels through which the book is being delivered. “Once in a while, history falls upon you and I think it happened to us,” he said, adding that it “may be one of the most important books since [Fox News host] Sean Hannity’s book.”

The Daily Caller‘s bar was stocked with wine, soda, alcohol and a beer tap that poured Pabst Blue Ribbon. Edibles (vegetables and a few hors d’oeurves) were a little on the slim side.

As guests trickled in, a couple faces stood out in the crowd: Politico‘s Byron Tau and Tim Mak. The DC and Politico have been known to publicly quibble in the past. One Daily Caller staffer said the relationship between the two publications “on paper” is often not the case between individual reporters. He said there are several Politico employees he regularly drinks with. Both Tau and Mak chatted with The DC‘s Alex Pappas for a while, as well.

In the crowd we also spotted a distinguished gentleman with a badass eye patch. It turned out to be Will Rahn’s father, ex-husband to WSJ‘s Peggy Noonan.

The DC‘s editor Tucker Carlson was seen talking with RollCall‘s Jonathan Strong, a former Daily Caller reporter. Strong said work for him has been slow and “a little boring,” given he covers Congress, which is currently out of session.

Notables: The Daily Caller‘s Alex Treadway, Sarah Hoffman, Taylor Bigler, Jeff Poor, Caroline May, Brian Danza, Chris Bedford, Neil Munro, Pat McMahon, Nicole Roeberg, and Vince Coglianese; The Free Beacon‘s Adam Kredo and CJ Ciaramella; RollCall HOH‘s Neda Semani and Warren Rojas; Fox News contributor Jim Pinkerton; WaPo‘s Alexandra Petri; U.S. News‘ Steven Nelson; The Daily Beast‘s Eli Lake; and Donald Rumsfeld‘s former chief of staff Keith Urbahn. Conspicuously absent were Matthew Boyle and Martosko, who had kid duty. We rode the elevator with him down to the garage. He puffed away on what may have been an illegal cigar the whole way down and said Rahn and Weinstein would know he was there “in spirit.”

Quotable:

• “He’s a bit of a self promoter.”– Keith Urbahn on his former boss Donald Rumsfeld, who was Defense Secretary under former Prez George W. Bush. Urbahn spilled that Rummy is currently working on a new book. UPDATE: Urbahn writes in to tell us he was talking about his other former boss, The Daily Beast‘s David Frum.

• Asked about former and recently fired Daily Caller reporter Michelle Fields, Daily Caller Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson said, “I haven’t seen her much on TV lately. That ended for some reason.” Fields was not in attendance.

• “I don’t want to be written about.”– Steven Nelson, after FishbowlDC inquired about his job at U.S. News, which he only recently started.

• “I’m holding out for the chance that Matthew Boyle shows up.”– FBDC’s Peter Ogburn.

Today we have another installment of: “Ask Piranhamous Anything.” And we do mean anything. Send your queries to FishbowlDC@mediabistro.com. This isn’t an advice column — Piranhamous doesn’t know what the hell you should do with your life any more than you do — and worse, he doesn’t care. Try to keep your questions short — we want to keep this fun, simple and insightful.

1. Is Piranhamous more than one person? What makes you qualified to be Piranhamous?

That’s a question each person must answer for themselves, isn’t it? One for the ages. Sometimes it feels that way. Were it, we wouldn’t say. Were it not, I wouldn’t say. You dig? What makes me qualified to be us? Or us qualified to be me? Healthy gums. You can’t brush them enough. Clear? No? That’s kind of the point.

2. Are you going to read latest Washingtonian issue, the one with pancakes on the cover? They’re doing best breakfasts. Guess it’s more appetizing than best proctologists.

I might give it a once-over, but only on days I have to spend more time on the toilet than the second half of your question would recommend. I don’t know where they come up with their story ideas but can imagine their morning editorial meetings being a pain in the ass and that may have something to do with it

3. Do you think MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough is too hard on Romney and is helping to ensure he loses the race?

With Joe, it’s not that he’s hard on Romney, he’s hard on every conservative. I suspect he caught a case of David Frum at a “key party” at David Brooks’ house. I’m not talking about sex, I’m talking about smug. There seems to be something going around Republicans who want to hang with the “cool” media crowd in Manhattan. What passes for a “Republican” in New York and Georgetown wouldn’t even pass for a “Blue Dog Democrat” just a decade ago. This makes people like Joe uncomfortable. He rocks his little nerd glasses and gets all the right invites, but he’s not that interesting so he feels like he needs a “hook.” His hook is to act interesting to his hosts and surroundings. Joe’s problem is he’s not interesting. His reputation in Congress was not, shall we say, the best. I know Joe would like you to think his shortcomings and lack of respect from the right is everyone else’s fault, but you don’t work with a bunch of people for years and come out being disliked by that many of them without the problem being you. You also can’t work in politics and television without growing a huge ego that doesn’t allow you to ever admit that any problem is you. But with Joe, the problem is Joe.