Huma under fire: NYT Vs. Politico –  NYT‘s Raymond Hernandez writes that Huma Abedin, wife of the most ambitious weiner in New York, former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Schlongville), did not disclose how much income she earned in her private consultant role while working as a top advisor for Sec. of State Hillary Clinton. The story rolled in last night around 11:31 p.m. (at least according to a @nytimes tweet as there is no time stamp). In graph three, he cites a Thursday afternoon Politico story published at 4:14 p.m. triple bylined by Maggie Haberman, John Bresnahan and Glenn Thrush. Politico reported the special arrangement that Abedin had with the State Department, but did not report that the information was not disclosed on Weiner’s financial disclosure report. They wrote that the information was not publicly available. Abedin declined to speak to the NYC; Politico‘s story never mentions requesting to speak with her. While Hernandez cites longtime Hillary Clinton press aide Philippe Reines and “an associate of Ms. Abedin,” Politico, meanwhile, cited “a source familiar with the arrangement,” “a friend of hers,” “several sources” and “one source.”

White House Scandalpalooza 

Benghazi Timeline—Rowan Scarborough’s piece in TWT this morning gives an in-depth analysis into the Benghazi scandal. Organized in somewhat of a timeline, the story explains step by step what went wrong from before the attack up until recent weeks when the scandal broke. Read here.

IRS questions unanswered—Politico’s Lauren French and Rachel Bade examine holes in the IRS scandal that have yet to emerge. The piece thoroughly outlines questions the case has left unanswered and why they’re important. Read here.

Scandal ADHD—In a piece in WaPo this morning, Aaron Blake puts the week in scandals involving the IRS, Benghazi, and AP phone records into perspective. Though the scandals have dominated news media this week, not many Americans are paying attention. Read here.

FishbowlDC intern Austin Price contributed to this report.

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“Huh, new pope was pretty hot in the sixties.” — Freelancer Moe Tkacik.

WHO BROUGHT  THE DONUTS? “Got a @DCDunkin and filling out Examiner’s really easy brackets.” — Washington Examiner‘s Paul Bedard with accompanying picture. Bedard’s known for bringing in donuts to the office. Most of the time he shares.

From the Dept. of AssKissery

“This is one lede that won’t get buried. #thelead w/ @jaketapper” — National Journal‘s Ron Fournier.

Meanwhile, Marty Rudolph of Twitterfame gives Tapper a big thumbs up: “@jaketapper Congrats on your First Show on CNN’s “The Big Lead With Jake Tapper” this Monday! I Enjoyed the Show & look forward to others.”

Fox News? Not quite.

“I have several things I’m pursuing right now and that’s not one of them.” — James Carville to FishbowlDC, batting down a rumor from CNN’s Alex Castellanos that he’s going to work for Fox News. Still, a cable news insider insists it’s not so far fetched. “Ailes loves James. James loves Ailes,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “If you’ve been dicked round, [Ailes] wants you. The one thing he loves is picking up people who’ve been fired. That’s like his favorite thing.” Carville recently parted ways with CNN and is shopping around for his next gig.

Pun Prowess: “Heritage & Cato are holding dueling gay marriage events Tuesday at noon. Why not just wed the two as one panel?” — Yahoo! News’ Chris Moody.

Journo complains about D.C.’s meteorologists

“A new annoyance with Washington: How can the weatherman be this wrong this often? No snow, kids. Not even rain.” — NYT‘s Jonathan Weisman.

Designer praises rice cooker

“The rice cooker really is a magical thing. Tomorrow morning, it will have oatmeal ready for me when I wake.” — NPR Interactive Designer Alyson Hurt.

Politico Playbook Publish Time: 8:47 a.m.

Reporter questions “mainstream media” practices: “I never see any mainstream media pieces on why the Republican party is losing its appeal to moderate voters. What’s up with that?” — Newsweek/The Daily Beast’s Eli Lake.

One journalist counsels another on snark and a reporter makes fun of an ex-congressman who served time in prison…

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This appears to be the attitude of Politico, who hasn’t written word one on the new book out by former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), who served time in the big house for his criminal dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Just think of it as their own quite f–k you to Ney.

No doubt the book, Sideswiped: Lessons Learned Courtesy of the Hit Men of Capitol Hill., wasn’t a joy ride for Politico, so it’ll be surprising if Politico reporters show up to Ney’s book party tonight at the Monocle. After all, Ney devotes an entire chapter to skewering Politico‘s own John Bresnahan, a longtime Washington political reporter covering Capitol Hill. Which is probably why you didn’t see excerpts of it in this morning’s Playbook.

Even so, you’d think they’d print the criticisms and strong accusations Ney had for House Maj. Leader John Boehner, painting him as a heavy drinker and someone who allegedly promised him funding if he dropped out of his congressional race, which he did. Boehner’s office has, of course, denied the charges and accusations in Ney’s book.

Nope. To Politico, Ney is a has been. Why bother? Except that Politico always bothers with tell-all tomes. Not this time.

UPDATE: Politico finally got around to writing about Ney’s book on March 8. Uncharacteristically late for them, indeed. But to their credit, they do mention the Bresnahan chapter. In the story, Patrick Gavin quotes Editor-in-Chief John Harris as saying, “John’s reputation for toughness and journalistic integrity is universally known and respected by his colleagues at POLITICO, at competing news organizations, and among lawmakers and staffers in both parties on Capitol Hill.” It’s unclear why Harris didn’t say this two days earlier when asked about the scathing chapter on Bresnahan.

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In Chapter 26 of the 377-page tell-all, Ney makes Bresnahan out to be unethical and bullying. “The only way to describe Bresnahan is to utilize the name given to him behind his back and widely used by staff, even by friendly staff, and that was ‘troll,’” Ney wrote. “He is a muckraking reporter, and it was said that he would only attempt a positive story if forced as a means of getting to the mud. Bresnahan had no limits and no problem with threatening or destroying anyone in his path. He was considered a ‘bottom feeder’ who eventually ended up at Politico, a political journalism organization.”

If he was a “bottom feeder,” it is abundantly clear from the chapter, titled “The Press Á La Abramoff,” that Bresnahan was one that Ney personally feared. Nearly the entire chapter focuses on him, bordering on obsession. In several graphs, Ney describes an incident in which he says Bresnahan was angered that Ney’s office had failed to give him a big scoop about their legal fund. He spoke of an email that Bresnahan wrote to his then-flack, Brian Walsh, former spokesman for the NRSC, which allegedly said he was going to “fuck Mr. Ney.” Ney wrote, “This sent chills down my spine.”

An interesting factoid: According to Ney, Abramoff’s plan was going to buy the Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, and make Bresnahan editor. Point being, the purchase would give Abramoff more power.  “I, as well as others at the time, feared the vicious, corrupt Bresnahan,” Ney wrote.

In other weirdness, Ney writes of poker games in which hundreds and thousands of dollars were spent, with Bresnahan being among the players with Abramoff associate Tony Rudy, and then-Delay aide Mike Scanlon, House staffers and lobbyists. Ney wrote that it was “speculated” that lobbyists purposely folded to “feed money to Bresnahan.” In 2005, Ney wrote, he lost hands to avoid getting bad press, saying he’d rather lose than piss “John” off. Sure enough, Bresnahan allegedly showed up at Ney’s office to collect his $200.

Politico has declined to comment.

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How Do I Make it About Me?

Man.I had an email exchange with Ed Koch a week ago.

— geneweingarten (@geneweingarten) February 1, 2013

(Washington culture at its finest: To make it even more about you, Politico‘s Mike Allen is calling for readers to share their Koch experiences with him. He writes, HOW’D HE DO? If you had a personal encounter with Mayor Koch that illuminates his life and style, please send it to mallen@politico.com, and we’ll share it tomorrow.)

Premeditated critique

“The Jeff Toobin piece on why sex with underage Dominican prostitutes doesn’t matter practically writes itself, no?” — Daily Caller columnist Mickey Kaus on CNN Legal Analyst Jeffrey Tubin.

The Smart Ass

“Umm, pretty thoroughly?” — Politico‘s John Bresnahan in response to this question from Gerrit Lansing, Digital Director of the NRCC: “How would Politico cover getting hacked by Chinese hackers?”

One of life’s little f–k you’s

“You know that thing where you block someone because they’re just negative and miserable but they show up in your timeline anyway? That.” — Joy Reid, writer for the Miami Herald, MSNBC Contributor, managing editor for theGrio.com.

Birthday wishes for deceased Editor

“Happy birthday @AndrewBreitbart. Miss you, buddy.” — Ellen Carmichael, Capitol Hill flack and former campaign spokeswoman for Herman Cain.

Politico Playbook publish time: 9:15 a.m.

Coincidence?

“BuzzFeed starts looking for a business editor, and then [Ben White] @morningmoneyben gets signed to a 2-yr contract at Politico.” — The Guardian‘s Heidi Moore, who links to this story in Business Insider.

Journo contemplates unusual eating binge. See our newly elected FishbowlDC Fan Club Board.

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“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.

Convo Between Fmr. Flack and Reporter

Politico‘s John Bresnahan: “Love Derek Jeter #TheBestEver”

Quinn & Gillespie’s Jim Manley, former Senate flack: “Love ya-but you are as obnoxious on the tweeter as you are as a reporter. Jeter sucks.”

Destroying their own bread and butter

“Howie, why do the people at home need you and me to tell them what to think?” — The Daily Download‘s Lauren Ashburn in a nerdy video clip with her always nerdy colleague Howard Kurtz. Here she makes a case why no one should listen to pundit types like herself and Howie. HUH?! Watch here.

Travel Complaint Desk

“[obligatory enraged tweet about AMTRAK wi-fi]” — Yahoo! News‘ Olivier Knox.

Quintessential HuffPost story: “11 favorite foods to wrap in bacon”

Awe…

“Speaking at colleges makes me unbearably nostalgic for college.” — WaPo‘s Democratic advisor Ezra Klein. FYI readers, our Ezzy graduated from UCLA, where he earned a B.A. in political science.

Thoughts on cookie dough with righty editor and CNN pundit

“We can’t be the only family in America that makes cookies and eats most of the dough before it goes in the oven.” — CNN and RedState.com’s Erick Erickson.

Necessary Tweet of the Day

“Migraines are so demoralizing.” — TWT arts and entertainment writer and Doublethink fiction editor Kelly Jane Torrance.

Deep Thought to Ponder: “Twitter has driven a number of writers I like and admire totally bananas.” — National Review Online‘s Reihan Salam, who admits to watching a lot of TV’s Full House as a child. Favorite line in his bio: “Despite his controversial eyebrows, he has appeared on CNN, ABC, PBS, FOX, NBC, MSNBC, BBC, CBC, TVO, AJE, RT, HBO, and a number of other television networks that may or may not exist outside of his imagination.”

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But, I DID see a Wolf on my TV – “I didn’t see any deer in Deer Valley, Utah but saw six in Bethesda, Md. I did see a Moose in Deer Valley.” – CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on his recent travels.

This could be bad if it was taken out of context – “You got full-frontal nudity, dude.” Politico’s Glenn Thrush, who tweeted that comment to fellow Politico Jake Sherman. Thrush was joking that his new e-book may have been upstaged by Sherman and John Bresnahan‘s story on Congressional skinny-dipping.

Grabby isn’t the best choice of words – “Up for grabs. Michelle Fields Out at Daily Caller..” – Accuracy in Media’s Don Irvine in response to our story about Michelle Fields and the Daily Caller parting ways.

Feel the Burn – “Worked out with Paul Ryan this morning. Ok, in the same room as Paul Ryan. Stay tuned for my blog post on the subject…” – NPR’s WH Correspondent Ari Shapiro

Eddie Scarry contributed to this report.

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Coming soon: A Guide to Burning Bridges by Andy Barr.

Barr, a former Politico reporter who is now working as Communications Director for the Richard Carmona Senate campaign, has openly criticized his former employer in a seething, sarcastic tweet.A little background: In 2003 Cristina Beato was named Asst. Sec. of Health, but not without ensuing confirmation controversy. Barr is ragging on a story published today by John Bresnahan and Manu Raju. The story has Beato trashing Carmona. This is Barr’s turf and one he’s obviously protecting.

Politico’s oh so credible source couldn’t get confirmation because she “fabricated or inflated portions of her résumé” wapo.st/KDnDED

— Andy Barr (@AndyBarr34) May 21, 2012

Update and correction: Barr left his job working for the Arizona Democratic Party four months ago to work for the Carmona campaign. We’ve corrected the above to reflect this.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Tapper is receiving the award for breaking the news in August that Standard and Poor had decided to downgrade the U.S’ credit rating.

“We don’t get to say anything at these dinners – mercifully, for the audience – but if I got a chance there are two points I’d make. (Hopefully before the orchestra starting playing),” Tapper said in an email to FishbowlDC.

“First, there’s no way I could ever even get my socks on in the morning , much less break news, were it not for my amazing and unbelievably tolerant and loving wife, and the most talented White House team a correspondent could have – ABC News’ Stephanie Smith, Mary Bruce, Barry Freeman, Devin Dwyer, Jon Garcia and Ann Compton.

“Second, no one ever thanks SOURCES, but deserving of gratitude are the anonymous officials and whistleblowers and honest-brokers who behind the scenes fundamentally respect the need of journalists to report so the public can know what’s going on beyond the rhetoric and press releases. This is an especially important group to honor given recent aggressive efforts to clamp down on government whistleblowers.”

ABC News President Ben Sherwood is, of course, ecstatic: “A modern news machine, Jake keeps newsmakers honest and his audience informed around-the-clock,” he said in a release. “We are thrilled that Jake has been recognized again for his excellence and scoops.”

WaPo‘s Scott Wilson and Politico‘s Glenn Thrush, Carrie Budoff Brown, Manu Raju and John Bresnahan were also selected as recipients of the Merriman.

The WHCA will present the awards at the annual dinner on April 28.

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Tense newsroom phone call

“From overhearing one side of @michaelschaffer’s phone call, sounds like Washington Post is unhappy about this.” –WCP‘s Mike Madden, who linked to this story about a certain detail they say WaPo blatantly missed. WaPo‘s Vernon Loeb, meanwhile, claims it was a matter of emphasis.

Whoa! Politico‘s Bresnahan joins Twitter?

“Is he aware Twitter is not a snack food?” — Roll Call‘s Paul Singer initial (joking) reaction to Politico‘s Capitol Hill warlord John Bresnahan joining Twitter. He soon added, “Kidding aside, you should follow .@brespolitico. There is no reporter in DC I respect more.” So far, Bresnahan hasn’t tweeted a single message. Stay tuned…

Politico teaches Wemple art of self-congratulation

“There’s a brighter side, however, and it relates to Politico’s clever twist of logic-in-service-of-self-congratulation. If the paper can say it’s the No. 1 preference of Washington readers among four competitors, then I can say I’m the No. 1 tennis player in the world among my closest friends. Thanks, Politico! ” — WaPo Erik Wemple‘s take on a new Politico ad in which they claim they are the most read paper on Capitol Hill among The Hill, CQ Weekly, NJ and Roll Call.

From the Road

“Restaurant next to my Jacksonville hotel called The Tilted Kilt, which hotel manager discouraged, calling it a ‘Scottish Hooters.’ Oh.”– CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight” Senior Digital Producer Steve Krakauer.

Investigative reporting at a glance…

“Bonus of spending time on trail: Returning to find your coffee mugs were tossed out.” — Slate‘s Dave Weigel. WaPo’s Erik Wemple: “Did you leave’em in the sink?” Weigel: “Indeed! A cleaning person who had washed them was replaced by one who did not.”

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Politico: Red banner alert at the top of the homepage. Time: 12:10 p.m. No story at the time of the alert. At 12:48 the red banner is gone and website’s homepage is all Wu with a full story by John Bresnahan recapping the news since Friday. This story comes with comments from Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley supporting Wu’s decision to step down immediately.

HuffPost: Wu is an afterthought on this site compared to the others. The story is the fifth one down in the middle column. Time: 12:17 p.m. They run their own generic intro with a copy of AP’s story below it.

USA TODAY: Lengthy story with previously reported news that emerged this week about Wu, including remarks that had already been reported from Wu’s friend Rep. David Larson (D-Conn.). Time: 12:22 p.m.

Fox News: A web story at 12:31 p.m. indicates that Wu announced his resignation in a statement that is running on many sites. “The time has come to hand on the privilege of high office,” he said in a statement. “I cannot care for my family the way I wish while serving in Congress and fighting these very serious allegations.”

The Hill: A web story at 12:19 p.m. Headline: “Scandal-plagued Rep. Wu to resign.” The story repeats previously reported news since Friday when The Oregonian broke the story.

Roll Call: A web story at 12:20 p.m. Short and sweet. The story is three graphs.

NPR: A web story at 12:24 p.m. that cites AP and Portland’s KGW.

WaPo: A news alert at 12:34 p.m. and an accompanying story posted at 12:25 p.m. on the homepage (yes, the story beat the alert). This story, written by The Fix’s Aaron Blake, focuses on what happens next and who might replace Wu.

KGW in Portland has the most comprehensive and interesting information about Wu and his resignation, including remarks from constituents and lawmakers on what they think the lawmaker should do. They share a news credit with AP. TIME: Update at 9:39 a.m. PST. Read here.

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Comments on Twitter range from the absurd to the bizarre. “Is Wu pulling a Weiner?” one reader asked. (We do hope Wu is not pulling anyone’s weiner.) Another questioned Wu’s potential antics on Capitol Hill: “When should a young DC intern hit the panic button? In the Cannon bldg if she sees man in tiger suit saying ‘Wu do you love?’”

The Media Coverage

While we won’t likely be treated to New York Post covers on Wu for days on end as we were in WeinerGate, the publication is by no means ignoring Wu. Geoff Earle in the D.C. bureau has been on top of the story. The publication has two Wu offerings today. In one, Earle credits Politico for reporting last night that Wu has no plans to resign from Congress. That was graph two. In graph three comes credit for The Oregonian, which broke the story in the first place. Late Friday night Politico’s John Bresnahan and Jonathan Allen, meanwhile, takes one graph to credit The Oregonian. Late Sunday night the same reporter duo broke the news that Wu is refusing to quit. An excerpt: “He isn’t going to be running for reelection,” a Wu adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told POLITICO late Sunday night. “But he hasn’t done anything that rises to the level of requiring him to resign.” The NYP story plays the whole thing straight except for a caption in their second picture of Wu in the tiger costume today. It reads: “David Wu: Teen-sex furor.” A posting on conservative columnist Michelle Malkin‘s website has that same Wu in a tiger costume photograph. That caption reads: “Wu-hoo! Hey, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Nancy Pelosi, I’m over here!”

Roll Call‘s HOH offers a Top 5 Weird Wu moments this afternoon to fill in the uninformed on just how weird Wu has been acting. The Hill offers generic coverage of the scandal with a blog story that credits “media outlets” as breaking the news of Wu refusing to stop down as opposed to Politico. The Daily Caller is having a little fun with the scandal with a headline that reads: “Wu-nergate: Pelosi calls for ethics probe into Rep. Wu sex scandal.” TWT is also having a Weiner flashback with this Wu-zy on Kerry Picket‘s Water Cooler blog. Her headline: “Deja Wu- Dem congressman’s sex scandal brings back memories of Weiner.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Politico scribe declares himself taller than Kagan

The following is a Facebook post and reaction between Politico‘s Manu Raju and John Bresnahan.

Manu Raju towers over Elena Kagan

John Bresnahan: No no, mugsy and spud could dunk on manu. we don’t want to go there. we have identified four people that Manu is taller than – Kagan, Mikulski, Boxer, and Reed – let’s just leave it there.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan is President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee; the senators include Sen. Barbara Mikulski(D-Md.) (who has compared herself with a Lilliputian from Gulliver’s Travels), Barbara Boxer(D-Calif.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

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