In the piece, Allen refers to himself as one of Washington’s “top journalists” and he and VandeHei speculate that Allen is the focus of “at least a chapter” in NYT Chief National Correspondent Mark Leibovich‘s forthcoming book This Town.

“We won’t love the book, either,” Allen and VandeHei write. “It is clear that POLITICO and [Allen's] Playbook are portrayed as enablers of the culture Leibovich lampoons.”

Aside from Politico‘s “Behind the Curtain” the story being largely about… continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Now, remember how Issa re-hired his wayward press secretary in August (5 months later)?  Hold that thought.

When news first broke that Bardella was returning to the loving arms of Issa and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a spokesman told Politico’s Mike Allen:

“Kurt Bardella has accepted a position as a professional staff member with the [House] Oversight Committee. He will work under the committee’s general counsel and is not a spokesman or taking media inquiries.”

I bet you can guess what comes next: Bardella is back to working the press.  This morning the non-spokesman spokesman pitched several reporters on an op-ed penned by Rep. Dennis Ross (R-FL).  Adding incest to insult, the piece he peddled was published by his former employer, the Daily Caller:

From: Bardella, Kurt
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2011 9:33 AM
Subject: FW: Obama’s Postal Bailout: Chairman Ross Reveals $20 billion price tag in the Daily Caller

Fyi…we got new figures from OMB last night which this op-ed is based on…kb

Chairman Ross in The Daily Caller: High Tab on Obama’s Postal Bailout Plan

“The administration has informed the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that under the normal rules for estimating the cost of legislation, commonly known as “budget scoring,” the president’s plan would not reduce the federal deficit by $19 billion over 10 years as advertised by the White House; in fact, it would increase the deficit by $10-20 billion over that same period…

Technically, Issa’s office didn’t lie.  No one claimed that Bardella wouldn’t proactively contact the press – they only said he wouldn’t be taking media inquiries.  Regardless, today’s reunion has ruffled the feathers of some  journalists who were already outraged by Bardella’s re-hire and flimsy job description.

“So unethical. Not only is Bardella emailing press – he’s emailing Daily Caller sh*t around,” said a Fishbowl source who received this morning’s note.  “This is too much,” added the reporter.

UPDATE: Despite two confirmed sources, Issa’s office rejects the notion that Bardella made contact with anyone in the media, claiming the email sourced by FishbowlDC was sent only to Capitol Hill staffers.  To support the case, Frederick Hill, Issa communications director, sent us a screen shot of this morning’s correspondence, complete with BCC email addresses.  Though one could easily debate that a screen shot from a single email doesn’t validate or disprove any of the claims, we’ve included the image anyhow (after the jump).  In response to the allegations, Hill offered the following statement:

“This is a screenshot of the e-mail that Kurt Bardella sent out at 9:33 AM published in your story.  It includes the individuals to whom the e-mail was sent.  None of the individuals to whom it was sent are reporters. While it’s certainly possible some reporters could have received this e-mail – not from Bardella – but as a forward from other individuals, any assertion that a reporter received this e-mail directly from Bardella is false and at odds with the evidence.”

Image after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

One Cool Cat: WaPo‘s Ezra Klein during the Earthquake.

The Observer

“The Capitol is now open. Walking through the Rotunda we are seeing lots of paint chips covering the floor.” — NBC News Senate Producer Libby Leist in a Tuesday tweet.

A journo’s long ride home

“Here comes hell commute on the dc metro… trains and platforms sardined as trains creep along at 15 mph.” — NYT Washington reporter Charlie Savage in a Tuesday afternoon tweet.

At 2:13 p.m. an Anonymous Tipster writes in… 5.6 Earth Quake and most of DC in the Streets

The Media Critic I

“The earthquake seems to have made CNN extra vapid.” Wired.com’s Spencer Ackerman in a Tuesday tweet. We’re just glad Ack didn’t feel any need to dress up like a banana today. That wouldn’t be vapid, but strange in its own right.

The Media Critic II

“And am I the only one who thinks Ira Glass from NPR’s This American Life sounds incredibly bored with himself?” — A self-described “political geek” named Brian Perry.

Priorities….

“Please, remember the real victims: Pundits whose TV segments were bumped for #earthquake coverage.” — Slate‘s Dave Weigel in a Tuesday tweet.

Erickson Razzes Kristol

“That was no earthquake. It was just Bill Kristol learning yet another of his pipe dream candidates is not actually running for President.” — CNN Contributor and Red State’s Erick Erickson in a Tuesday tweet.

Reporter thanks Verizon for functioning

“Verizon, thanks for not crapping out today. AT&T, so weak, so weak. #dcearthquake” — HuffPost’s White House Correspondent Jennifer Bendery in a Tuesday tweet.

And Corn’s point is?

“Okay, back to work. Send me a tweet if there’s another one. Calls still aren’t coming through. #EarthTwake” — Mother Jones’ David Corn in a Tuesday tweet.

Kurtz’s unusual spelling of Gaddafi

“When I walked out, the Khadafy compound was under siege. Now it’s all #earthquake all the time. I guess local trumps everything.” — The Daily Beast’s Washington Bureau Chief Howard Kurtz in a Tuesday tweet. Though it looks unusual, technically Kurtz is not wrong. This is an acceptable way to refer to Muammar Gaddafi, which has a wide variety of spellings out there from G’s to Q’s to Qu to Qa and so forth.

Reporter offers campaign advice

“I know it’s tempting, GOP campaign flacks. But no earthquake-themed Obama jokes. Don’t do it. For the love of good comedy!” — RealClearPolitics’ Scott Conroy in a Tuesday tweet.

Local watering hole addresses the quake

“Yes – we are open. Accepting nominations for quake specials.” — CapLounge in a Tuesday tweet.

Necessary Tweet of the Day

“I complain TOO much, I know. Becoming the travel trauma king. TWO car accidents so far. I was NOT driving. no injuries but poor car.” — ABC7′s Stephen Tschida in a Tuesday message to FishbowlDC. To which we say, we love you Stephen and your dramatic travel habits. Don’t go changing, to try and please us. And enjoy the rest of your vacation.

If you missed the late-night story on The Daily Caller‘s Kurt Bardella returning to Rep. Darrell Issa‘s (R-Calif.) office, read it here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Issa fired Bardella after he leaked reporters’ emails to NYT reporter Mark Leibovich, who is working on a book about insider Washington political culture. Politico leaned on Issa to look into the matter as editors believed emails belonging to their scribes had been compromised. Bardella hemmed and hawed, bizarrely wrote a few op-eds for Politico, and rested in his hometown of San Diego before deciding what to do next. In mid-April he went to work as spokesman for The Daily Caller.

Congratulations to Bardella for getting the politician who fired you to hire you back. But really, who didn’t see this coming?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Daily Caller has hired Nicholas Ballasy of CNS News to be their new Capitol Hill/political correspondent. Up until this point he has been a video journalist. He has interviewed a slew of pols and celebs. The celebs are more interesting — they include Dr. Phil, Whoopi, Eva Longoria, Kelsey Grammer, Stevie Wonder, Harrison Ford and Ashley Judd. You’ll see Ballasy with other celebs like Jon Stewart and The Donald above.

We don’t know how ballsy the hire is just yet. Ballasy begins in early September. He is not considered to be Roll Call-bound Jonathan Strong’s replacement.

“Just an addition to the team,” wrote Daily Caller Spokesman Kurt Bardella in an email. “As you can imagine, with the GOP primary heating up and a lot of intrigue on Capitol Hill, TheDC is adding a lot of new pieces to the puzzle. As we continue to grow and expand our audience, we’ll be looking to further bolster our reporting staff.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In a pool of sex machines like The Hill‘s Hugo Gurdon and Daily Caller’s Tucker Carlson it’s tough to imagine anyone winning FishbowlDC’s Sexiest Male of 2011 title by a landslide.  But believe it or not, the boyish good looks of Politico’s Patrick Reis clobbered the competition with over 50% of the popular vote.  Capitol Hill Ken Doll aka Kevin Madden came in a distant second with 16.3% of the vote.  Tucker Carlson, just shy of the silver, trailed Madden by only three votes.

The stress of the spotlight proved too much for Coral Davenport, Amy Harder and Olga Belogolova.  Citing migraines and lack of sleep, NJ’s Energy trio accidentally moved sexy forward when they should have been bringing it back.  The slip bumped them into second place while WUSA-9′s Kristin Fisher took gold and the title of Sexiest Female of 2011 with 38.5% of the vote.  In case you’re wondering, sultry senior seductress Helen Thomas finished third.

The title of Most Underrated went to Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post.  The rock-solid reporter earned 36.61% of the vote, pushing him ahead of Roll Call’s Paul Singer who snagged  a respectable 28.5% of the vote.

Winning by only a hair, Cabbage Patch lookalike and 2011′s Biggest Self-Promoter Matt Mackowiak upset Daily Caller’s Kurt Bardella and stole all the glory with 36.36% of the vote to Bardella’s 34.93%.  Ouch!

Congrats to Reis, Fisher, Grim and Mackowiak!   And there you have the FishbowlDC Class of 2011!

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Early exit polls from day one of our Summer Superlatives contest indicate only one thing: these races are too close to call tonight.  With three sets of rock-solid competitors and a slew of die-hard supporters, FishbowlDC glory is still anyone’s for the taking.

To spice up the competition, we’ve hidden the real-time results of each race (8pm).  But don’t let that dissuade you from casting a vote or campaigning for your favorite candidate.  Each poll will remain open for 24 hours from the time it went live today and final results will be revealed in a very special post honoring the winners next week. Until then, here’s your 10pm exit poll snapshot.

Best Sense of Humor:  Julie Mason must have spent the evening shaking hands and kissing babies because Team Mason has managed to pull ahead Semnani and Labash.

Julie Mason: 32.06% of the vote.

Neda Semnani: 31.76% of the vote.

Matt Labash: 28.09% of the vote.

Gene Weingarten: 3.39% of the vote.

Biggest Self-Promoter: Mackowiak and Bardella have pimped themselves into one fierce competition.

Matt Mackowiak: 36.91%

Kurt Bardella: 33.77%

Howard Kurtz: 19.6%

Carol Joynt: 9.69%

Best Capitol Hill Press Secretary:  Boehner’s Michael Steel, who began losing his daylong lead to Morris and Elshami this afternoon,  has managed to pull ahead tonight.

Michael Steel: 44.39%

Vince Morris: 28.7%

Nadeam Elshami: 23.53%

Charles Chamberlayne: 3.39%

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

From talking to tweeting, these media types never miss an opportunity to plug themselves.  But which one’s acts of self-pimping rise above the rest?  The nominees for  Biggest Self-Promoter of 2011 are Daily Caller’s Kurt Bardella, Daily Beast’s Howard Kurtz, Carol Joynt of New York Social Diary and Q&A Cafe and Potomac Flack’s Matt Mackowiak.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Juiceboxer Chris Hayes bears a resemblance to Harry Potter

A travel writer chills out in Maine

“Chilly, rainy day in Maine = guilt-free afternoon nap *sigh*” — Travel blogger and Poshbrood site creator Elizabeth Thorp in a weekend Facebook update.

One definition of Hell…

“Hell is not other people. Hell is having to listen to recordings of your own ditzy-sounding voice interviewing other people.” — Slate‘s Noreen Malone in a weekend tweet. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, TNR, and the American Prospect.

The Critic takes swipe at Politico

“In otherwise good piece, why does Politico quote unnamed Dems and Repubs trashing other party on downgrade? Plenty are willing on the record.” — The Daily Beast Washington Bureau Chief Howard Kurtz in a weekend Facebook update.

Bardella’s widely varying movie tastes

“Seeing Harry Potter…” wrote The Daily Caller Spokesman Kurt Bardella in a weekend Facebook update. He also wrote, “Watching The Godfather on AMC’s Mob Week.”

Editor heads to pool hall

“Just made a bet at a biker pool hall. Not sure how I ended up at a biker pool hall, but when in a biker bar, do as the bikers do.” — Reason Magazine Associate Editor Mike Riggs in a weekend tweet.

Angry journo gets something off chest

“Hello, jerk store? I found your missing products. They all took jobs as Metrobus drivers. (@unsuckdcmetro)” — WCP‘s Benjamin Freed in a weekend tweet.

Scribe endures a little weekend exercise

“Even more than hangover durations (shockingly enough), 80 miles on the bike now best way to realize you’re not 23 anymore. #everythinghurts” — Politico‘s Patrick Gavin in a weekend tweet.

Journo writes love note to tourists

“Dear tourists, wite booty shorts + torrential downpours = your jonx on display. Wear underdrawers. Love, DC” – Roll Call‘s John Stanton in a weekend tweet.

He did what?

“Just reorganized my ties. You literally cannot have enough ties.” — NJ “The Hotline’s” Chris Peleo-Lazar in a weekend tweet. This came within a hair’s breadth of making “Unnecessary Tweet of the Day” but…it is Washington, ties are prevalent, especially ugly ones, and this is a first-time offense for Peleo-Lazar.

Washington’s “The Situation” on C-SPAN

“I’ll be on C-SPAN’s ‘Washington Journal’ Monday morning from 8 to 8:30 am. Tune in! Start your day off by looking at my mug ” — Human Events‘ Jason Mattera in a weekend tweet.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Last Thursday night The Daily Caller (a.k.a Lambda Lambda Lambda) held its summer party at the upscale home of Publisher Neil Patel and things got a little loosey goosey. And for The Daily Caller that’s not saying a lot because life there under the rule of a self-proclaimed Libertarian Editor tends to be sans rules as is. The party boasted a pie eating contest. There was also the inevitable tossing Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson into the pool. A party. A pool. An editor. Unruly, rebellious, jokester reporters. This was, in a word: INEVITABLE.

Late Wednesday a Daily Caller contributing reporter named Scoops Delacroix wrote a story on it. We had good intel on who “Scoops” was, so we asked Jeff Winkler, a full-time scribe, about his alleged piece describing the pool party. “Shaggy said it best: It wasn’t me,” he said. “But whoever this Scoops Delacroix character is, he’s got talent. Wouldn’t be surprised if one day he finds his own Deeper Throat.” He added, “That’s my official comment for you amoral and relentlessly vicious reporters.”

An excerpt: During the media mega-conglomerate’s pool party at Publisher Neil Patel’s
palatial mansion, Carlson was surrounded by several long-suffering staff
members and escorted from his berth near the dinner table to an undisclosed
location in the middle of the pool.

Employees who wrestled Carlson in the pool included Winkler (or ThatWinkler as his Twitter account says), Managing Editor Joe Kildea and business employee Brian Danza. This was mere moments after Danza lost a pie eating contest to an intern. Carlson was apparently a good sport about the whole thing — meaning he didn’t injure anyone, fire anyone or drown in the process. He’s also evidently a good swimmer. “Tucker makes Michael Phelps look like an amateur,” said Daily Caller Spokesman Kurt Bardella, who declined to comment on whether Carlson read the story about the party before it got published.

An FBDC reader wondered whether there was really a market for journalists writing about their workplaces in this manner. “Why would I want to read this? Why promote this? Is there a market for this?” But more importantly, what does this do for the publication’s image? (LAMBDA! LAMBDA! LAMBDA!)

The story made the rounds and a splash, so perhaps there’s the answer.

Note: Above left is a wet Tucker post dip taking a photograph with interns.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It’s not easy getting Fake Jim VandeHei to meet deadlines. But we think it was worth the wait to get the fictitious Twitter character of Politico‘s Executive Editor Jim VandeHei to do our FishbowlDC Interview. He (or she) goes by “Henry Jackson” over email, but that’s all we know. Many suspect he’s a former Politico employee but no one we’ve spoken with knows for certain. His Twitter bio reads: “Fuck You, Drudge me.” Some Politico reporters like him, some think he’s not worth reading and idiotic. Much like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), FJ has press hound qualities and has been featured by Vanity Fair, NYT and ABC. We asked the real VandeHei what he thinks of his fake counterpart. He had no comment. Enjoy!

If you were a carbonated beverage, which would you be? Club soda, because I’m only really tolerable with alcohol.

How often do you Google yourself? We have an intern for that.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to an editor (or vice versa)? Once, during a particularly intense editorial dispute, I told Tim Grieve he was “thoughtful and rigorous.” I apologized immediately, but I still feel bad about it.

Who is your favorite working journalist and why? I don’t know any of those.

Do you have a favorite word? Drudgegasm

What word or phrase do you overuse? “You’re a worthless piece of sh*t with no future in this business.”

Who would you rather have dinner with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews or FNC’s Chris Wallace? No.

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? That’s easy. The chance to have a prolonged, private conversation with one of the most influential members of Obama’s inner circle is a once in a lifetime opportunity? So Bo for sure.

What’s the name of your cell phone ring? It doesn’t really have a name per se, but it’s the sound of an intern crying after I fired her. I recorded it with a lapel microphone. Sometimes I just call myself to hear it ring. Flippin’ hilarious.

It’s 3 a.m. and you get up to use the bathroom or get a drink of water. Do you check your BlackBerry? No.

Find out Fake Jim’s favorite cuss word after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

WEINERMANIA STRIKES WASHINGTON

“You know who would be hysterical on this Congressman Weiner business? Congressman Weiner.” — Slate‘s John Dickerson in a Wednesday tweet.

“Amazing that Anthony Weiner has dislodged Sarah Palin from the cable universe. That’s one powerful Weiner.” — WSJ White House Reporter Jonathan Weisman in a Wednesday tweet.

“Couldn’t Weiner put on some gray shorts, get to the same, uh, level, and then take a photo and compare?” — Politico‘s Jennifer Epstein in a Wednesday tweet.

“75% of the things said to me today would be characterized as sexual harassment had ‘Weinergate’ not made it ‘acceptable.’ — Politico‘s Meredith Shiner in a Wednesday tweet.

“Ok, so Rep. Weiner can’t answer with certitude…what about magnitude?” — D.C. Attorney Donald Edmond in a Wednesday tweet.

“Are these your underpants?” — CNN’s Wolf Blitzer in an interview with Weiner.

“Anthony Weiner made about six penis jokes while talking to reporters, standing outside the House floor. He has NO RESPECT for the office.” – TWT Opinion Writer Emily Miller in a Wednesday tweet.

“And if this latest photo controversy ends with the CIA showing pictures of Congressman Weiner‘s crotch to members of the Senate’s military and intelligence committees, we quit.” — Wednesday night edition of HuffPost Hill.

“For once, ‘boxers or briefs?’ would be relevant.” — Slate‘s Christopher Beam in a Wednesday tweet.

“Since Rep. Weiner ‘can’t say with certitude’ if that’s his junk or not, does that mean some poor sap might be Weiner’s ‘wiener doppelgänger’” — Derek Hunter, conservative writer and radio host who helped found The Daily Caller, in a Wednesday tweet.

“So will all of this mean that, once the dust settles, Rep. Anthony Weiner is going to become … a sex symbol?!?” — Politico‘s Patrick Gavin in a Wednesday tweet.

“The one thing Anthony Weiner might be thankful for: SNL is off for the summer.” — MSNBC’s Courtney Hazlett in a Wednesday tweet.

“I can’t imagine a #weinergate scenario that is actually worse than what is happening for Rep. Weiner.” –  The Daily Caller‘s Jonathan Strong in a Wednesday night tweet.

Savannah prepares to say goodbye to Chuck

“Can’t believe it – only two more days w @chucktodd on @dailyrundown. We’ll see you for a packed show at 9a.” — NBC’s Savannah Guthrie in a Thursday morning tweet. She’s leaving “The Daily Rundown” with co-host Chuck Todd to move to the third hour of the “TODAY” show.

Look who’s jealous of Weiner!

“Rep. Weiner has increased his twitter followers by 11k. A pic that ‘started out’ of me in briefs will be tweeted shortly.” — Mediaite‘s Dan Abrams in a Wednesday night tweet.

Incest Desk Alert

“Kurt Bardella just sent me a press release: ‘Darrell Issa to Elizabeth Warren: Clear your calendar’” — WSJ‘s Victoria McGrane in a Wednesday tweet. HuffPost Hill writes: “Feel like I fell through a worm hole.” (h/t to HuffPost Hill for this item.) In explanation: Bardella is the former and fired flack to Rep. Issa (R-Calif.).

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A female journo who covers Capitol Hill wrote into FishbowlDC and asked,  “Are they serious? Would they ever get to run something like this of a female politician?”

Daily Caller Spokesman Kurt Bardella had this to say on the matter:  “1) Are you seriously asking us if we’re serious?  2) We would never run a photo-comparison of a female politician’s alleged weiner, whether or not she allegedly twittered it to someone else.  You have our word on that.”

See the poll here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Daily Caller

Just yesterday the publicist published his first op-ed for The Daily Caller. Observers noted the rarity of newspaper publicists also writing op-eds for their own publications. Bardella told FishbowlDC that this would be sporadic event.  “Obviously, my first priority and focus is on promoting The Daily Caller so I imagine it’ll be something I’ll try and do when time permits,” he told us yesterday.

Obviously. Except now we learn that he has granted an interview for another story about himself. This time to Luke Mullins of Washingtonian. The profile is slated for summer. Bardella insisted the theme was mostly “biographical” in nature. When we pushed on whether the story would touch on his dealings with Politico and bcc-ing those emails to Leibovich, Bardella said sharply, “I’m not going to discuss my interactions with another reporter right now.” He said if readers were expecting a juicy tell-all that this will not be that.

We’ve heard the upcoming story will touch on the self-promotional culture of Washington D.C. while telling the story of how Bardella came to Washington and fell into a situation that burned him. The story will hit on Bardella switching sides from congressional flack to newspaper flack.

Somehow we think Bardella will be able to help Mullins on these fronts. Mullins had no comment on his story.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Kurt Bardella

So far so good. His  own publicity is picking up. This morning his first piece got picked up by Gawker and by ABC’s “The Note” and NBC’s “First Read” email roundup.

Bardella’s first op-ed for the publication concerns Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and her impact on the presidential landscape. The publicist/op-ed writer says Bachmann won’t win. But he insists she can have great influence. He writes, “As long as her candidacy doesn’t completely implode, her very presence in the Republican field creates dangers for the more established candidates regardless of whether she wins or loses.”

Read the full story here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.