Quotes of the Day

A TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL HASTINGS: “Michael Hastings was really only interested in writing stories someone didn’t want him to write — often his subjects; occasionally his editor. While there is no template for a great reporter, he was one for reasons that were intrinsic to who he was: ambitious, skeptical of power and conventional wisdom, and incredibly brave. And he was warm and honest in a way that left him many unlikely friends among people you’d expect to hate him.” — BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith. More… “We fought, first, over the adjectives in his stories — ‘discredited’ was a favorite — and then over his theories, which were typically the opposite of whatever I was hearing from my Washington sources. In the meantime I marveled at his talent and at the thing I hadn’t particularly expected: his generosity.” Read the full story here.

“I am no Michael Hastings and I probably never will be. My temperament and orientation is different. I approach my subjects from a different angle and I ask different questions. I do pretty well for myself. But when I’m in the arena with people like Hastings, I’m always forced to check myself.” — The Week’s Marc Ambinder. Read his full post here.

Confessional.

“I got the IRS chiefs mixed up. So audit me! Sorry about that. They’re all blending together.” — FNC’s Dana Perino.

In a twist on the usual 9-month pregnancy, NBC Luke Russert’s 20-month gaffe

“House now voting on bill by Rep Trent Franks’s (R-AZ) restricting abortions after 20-months.” — NBC Luke Russert on the bill that passed the House Tuesday. About a minute later, after some razzing, he wrote, “Correction to my last tweet. Bills would restrict abortion after 20 WEEKS not months.” Phew!

Hello Buttercup! Martin smooches NYT colleague

“Do yourself a favor: pre-order @peterbakernyt book DAYS OF FIRE now. A history of Bush-Cheney admin > http://www.amazon.com/Days-Fire-Cheney-White-House/dp/0385525184/ref=pd_sim_b_3/184-3921963-1609821″ — NYT‘s Jonathan Martin regarding Peter Baker‘s upcoming book.

NBC’s Chuck Todd from Berlin: “Btw, TOBBS (twitter on black berry sucks)”

Anonymous email to FishbowlDC: “My brother works for a local NPR station and he says the amount of money the big wigs at NPR lavish upon themselves is sickening. It makes him wonder what would happen if donors saw the gluttony. But, he needs the job so he keeps his mouth shut.”

Weighty reaction to Mika Brzezinksi

“Dear Mika, Arsenic is a poison. Soda is not. Bleach is a poison. Sugar is not. You are a ridiculous lunatic.” — Rare‘s Content Editor Mike Cover to the MSNBC “Morning Joe” host who wrote Obsessed, a confessional book about food addiction, her own and others. He added, “There are few things that make my skin crawl more than the nanny-state busybodies lecturing other folks about what to eat or how to live.”

Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry seems all but made for the Syfy channel. “The authors explain how the increased exposure of secrets affects everything from budgets to Area 51 (and what really goes on there) to Congress to Seal Team Six, Delta Force, the FBI, CIA, NSA, and organizations that remain official secrets,” reads the book’s jacket.

One of the authors sharing all these secrets is Marc Ambinder, a columnist for The Week who once took a photo of himself in the mirror while wearing a mask. Naturally we had questions.

FishbowlDC: It sounds like it’s sort of a government conspiracy book. Is that a fair assessment without having read it?

Ambinder: Gosh. I hope so. That would persuade a lot of the conspiracy folks to buy the book, and I’m all for upping the sales. Alex Jones! I’ll go on your show. Coast-to-Coast a.m? I’m there! Actually, the book looks at how secrecy often leads to conspiracy theories, and so we generally tend to take issue with the whole lot of them.

FBDC: Should people be scared that there’s a whole government world going on with all these sensitive secrets being passed around? Read more

The Week is hosting a book party tomorrow night for Marc Ambinder and D.B. Grady for their new book, Deep State: Inside the Government Secrecy Industry. Ambinder is editor-at-large for The Week, and a contributing editor for GQ and The Atlantic; Grady is a correspondent for The Atlantic.

The event includes cocktails and conversation with the authors at the National Press Club that includes a talk moderated by The Week‘s Paul Brandus, who writes West Wing Reports.

An excerpt of the book’s description on Amazon reads like an episode of ABC’s “Scandal.”

“The government secrecy industry speaks in a private language of codes and acronyms, and follows an arcane set of rules and customs designed to perpetuate itself, repel penetration, and deflect oversight. It justifies itself with the assertion that the American values worth preserving are often best sustained by subterfuge and deception. There are indications that this deep state is crumbling. Necessary secrets are often impossible to keep, while frivolous secrets are kept forever. The entire system has fallen prey to political manipulation, with leaks carefully timed to advance agendas, and over-classification given to indefensible government activities.”

Throughout the night Twitter was ablaze with reaction to The Daily Caller Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson‘s response to women being integrated into combat posts. In case you were actually, well, sleeping — a rarity in Washington — he wrote on Twitter, “The latest feminist victory: the right to get your limbs blown off in war.” At 1:30 a.m. The Week‘s Marc Ambinder whipped up a post on the “5 silliest reactions to women in combat.” Number one on the list was Carlson’s. Only Ambinder never finishes his thought and leaves us hanging with this sentence:

“Society protects the vulnerable not”

Come on The Week — did your proofers knock off early? Let’s hope the powers that be let Ambinder finish his thought sometime today.

Quotes of the Day

BIRTHDAY GIRL: “Bom dia Rio. Thanks sun for coming out today on my birthday eve.” — USA Today travel writer Nancy Trejos.

Ouch!

“Maybe if Holly Petraeus spent a little less time at the CPFB…….” — Free Beacon‘s Michael Goldfarb.

Right-wing writer concedes one nice thing about Obama

“The one — ONE — thing I agree with Barack Obama on is that Homeland is the best show on TV.” — TWT senior ppinion writer Emily Miller.

From a very nerdy Dept. of Bragiculture…

“Cool moment. Ran into Sen. Leahy just now at DCA. We talked about Phish. He said his son knows Trey. He’s a Dead guy but loves Phish, too.” — National Review Online‘s Robert Costa.

Reporter makes desperate plea for coffee

“One million preteen kids just boarded my metro car. Save me. #havenothadenufcoffeeforthis” — WSJ bank reg reporter Victoria McGrane.

The Ass Kisser

“Very interesting piece here by @DylanBiers.” — Commentary‘s John Podhoretz. (Last week the pair was bickering until PodWhore realized Byers wasn’t actually insulting him. Now they’re in love. )

Scribe says other woman’s hubby is alleged douchebag

“You’re a pretentious douchebag if Dear Abby isn’t good enough for your problems and you have to seek out the NY Times ‘Ethicist’ columnist.” — The Daily Caller TV writer Jeff Poor. (The Ethicist received a letter frighteningly similar to the situation swirling around Paula Broadwell, alleged mistress to General David Petraeus.)

And this from a facetious Politico reporter… “Dear Ethicist: I work in an information security-related field but am considering writing explicit and career-destroying emails. Help me?” — Politico‘s Alexander Burns.

The Complimenter

“The 2013 Calendar sent out to all its print subscribers reminds me of what an amazing photographer team @washingtonpost has on its rolls.” — WSJ‘s Raju Narisetti, formerly of WaPo.

NPR’s Andy Carvin works on final edit of his book in Istanbul, a publicist weighs in on latest sex scandal to rock D.C., a CNN Contributor has a problem with his hip flexor and two straight journos have a gay convo… Read more

Our masked journalists from earlier today is none other than The Week‘s extremely chiseled Marc Ambinder. This is the picture he uses for his personal Twitter account.

Guesses we received included author and ex-Human Events Editor Jason Matterra and FBDC’s Eddie Scarry, ex-TIME scribe Tim Burger and a final, exasperated guess of myself in drag. The correct answer, offered by conservative writer Lisa De Pasquale, who writes, “He’s looking good these days!”

Happy Halloween, Ambinder!

Quotes of the Day: The V.P. Debate Edition

“Biden is better than Viagra for senior citizens #vpdebate” — ABC’s “The View” and Current TV’s Joy Behar.

Praise for Martha!

“Martha Raddatz already won this debate.” — lawyer and CNN Contributor Rachel Sklar.

“Can we have Martha do the debates at Hofstra and Boca, too?” — New York magazine’s John Heilemann.

“Hold Ryan’s feet to the fire Martha! That’s right!” — D.C. Councilman and former Mayor Marion Barry.

“Asking Martha Raddatz to moderate my Thanksgiving dinner.” — JRC’s Ryan Beckwith.

“Have we mentioned in the past 3 minutes what a great #VPdebate Martha Raddatz is running? Yep.” — Mother Jones.

“Martha Raddatz is doing a great job. Substantive and also maintaining control.” — NBC’s David Gregory.

“Holy smokes does @MarthaRaddatz know her facts or what?” — Photographer Lauren Burke.

Down with Martha!

It seems like whenever @PaulRyanVP is getting on a roll, Martha ‘Obama attended my wedding’ Raddatz cuts him off.” — The Daily Caller‘s Matthew Boyle, who added, “Martha ‘Obama attended my wedding’ Raddatz shouldn’t be allowed to moderate any more debates in future. She’s failed.”

“THE MARTHA AND JOE TAGTEAM INTERRUPTING RYAN.” — Conservative blogger Robert Stacy McCain.

“I’m sorry, after tonight I cannot support the Lehrer-Raddatz ticket.” — National Review‘s Jim Geraghty.

A compliment and an insult for Martha

“The thing about @MarthaRaddatz is she’s a reporter, not an anchor.” — Slate‘s Farhad Manjoo.

Debate fallout: Top Thoughts 

“Crossfire: VEEP edition.” — NYT‘s Nick Confessore.

“Old guys acting like a jerk ain’t cool. Think Romney’s jeans-wearing is also silly, for what it’s worth.” — Washington Examiner‘s Paul Bedard.

“Biden translation: I’ve been boys with Bibi since you were in diapers little buddy.” — CBS’s Kaylee Hartung.

“Biden is noticeably more loose. More folksy. Ryan has been solid..and his little interjection just now showed some life.” — NationalReviewOnline‘s Robert Costa.

“There is a real hair-product gap between the Obama-Biden and Romney-Ryan tickets.” — The New Yorker‘s Ryan Lizza.

“Biden is seriously annoying. Shut up dude.” — The Daily Caller‘s Paul Conner.

“Biden basically uncorking every line liberals wanted Obama to use.” — Slate‘s Dave Weigel.

“Fair to say Biden is speaking with details and Ryan in broad platitudes. Reflects their backgrounds on this subject matter.” — HuffPost‘s Sam Stein.

“This is better than Jerry Springer!” — Reason magazine’s Peter Suderman.

“I think Biden thinks he had his Lloyd Bentsen ‘you’re no Jack Kennedy’ moment with his “you’re kennedy now?” line. He didn’t.” — NationalReviewOnline‘s Jonah Goldberg.

“It is frightening right now how much Joe Biden reminds me of my dad (also from Scranton)” — NYT‘s Ashley Parker.

“Amazing Ryan is keeping his cool. I’m not onstage and Biden is starting to piss me off.” — The Atlantic‘s Molly Ball.

“Biden is going full-Biden tonight.” — RealClearPolitics reporter Scott Conroy.

“Seriously, Biden is just schooling young Ryan…fun to watch tho” — Media Matters‘ Eric Boehlert.

“What’s weird: Biden a little too loose, Ryan a little too tight.” — WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza.

“Biden fueled up for debate last few days on M&Ms, animal crackers & Gatorade. Sugar high appeared to kick in around 8:59 ET”  — West Wing Report‘s Paul Brandus.

“You have to admit, Biden is on fire.” — UVA Political Science Prof Larry Sabato.

“The Biden smile. its like a thousand snarky hate daggers” — BuzzFeed Washington Bureau Chief John Stanton.

“I think they tightened @JoeBiden’s hair plugs a little too much tonight.” — TownHall‘s Derek Hunter.

“Biden has mastered the art of answering the subject (and not the question), which is very effective in debates.” — The Week.com‘s Marc Ambinder.

“I’m 47 and not rich. I’m going to need Social Security, fuckers.” — WashingtonStakeOut.com  blogger Sam Husseini, who is also Comm. Director for the Institute for Public Accuracy.

“This debate is terrible. It is not a matter of who wins. It is a matter of this is just the kind of politics people hate.” — GOP Pollster Dick Morris.

“How this debate differs from fish: It takes three days for a fish to start stinking.” — Reason magazine’s Nick Gillespie.

And now, Chris Cillizza for the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte

“The pumpkin spice latte is the Raul Ibanez of coffee drinks. It’s not always around but when it is, it’s very, very good.” — WaPo‘s Chris Cillizza.

Photo Credit: A parade of compliments poured in for the above Reuters photograph of Joe Biden and Paul Ryan. 

Marc Ambinder has officially landed! Formerly of The Atlantic, NJ and most recently a contributing editor at GQ, he fled Washington journalism for a little while, but now he has joined TheWeek.com as its Editor at Large. He’s also launching a new daily blog column called “The Compass,” which debuts today. You can read it here.

“The Week’s success is proof to me that thoroughness, thoughtfulness and concision don’t need to be casualties of our dizzying non-stop news cycle,” said Ambinder in a canned press release quote. “I’ve long been an aficionado and I’m honored to join TheWeek.com as a writer.”

His first post on “The Compass” involves the gaffe. Just what is a gaffe anyway? He thinks the term is way overused in inappropriate ways.

In an early morning introductory post, he explained what the blog would and wouldn’t be. “I haven’t blogged regularly for awhile, and I don’t quite know how my own style has evolved,” he wrote. “I’ll definitely write about the presidential campaigns, trends in politics, national security, and foreign policy, as well as science, technology, and culture.” He also plans to pose a question on his Twitter account (@marcambinder) and incorporate your answers into his blog.

What he won’t write about? Everything. “I am going to stick to the rule I made for myself awhile ago: If I don’t think I have something interesting to say, or something valuable to add, I am not going to force anything.” He also made sure to note that he’s not a full-time blogger and is a consultant for Palo Alto-based Palantir Technologies that focuses on National Security. Ambinder promised full disclosures on anything that might touch that subject area and avoidance of writing about anything that might be a conflict of interest.

Quotes of the Day

Created by Morgan Howlan, age 5. Appeared in New Times.

Marc Ambinder not keen on ‘poking’ David Brooks

“I do not know why Facebook suggests that I poke David Brooks, but I think I shall reject their suggestion.” –Contributing Editor for GQ and The Atlantic Marc Ambinder, who is up awfully early for an L.A. based writer. This tweet was written at 5:20 a.m. which is 2:20 PT. Brooks is a conservative columnist for NYT.

Convo Between Two Journo Types

A sampling from JRC’s Steve Buttry: 1. “Amtrak just canceled our Acela train. Seriously.” 2. “My last Amtrak trip from NY to DC was delayed 3 hours by a fatality on the track. Now we’re thrown off in Philly for a ‘bridge problem.’” 3. “But I’m not patient.” 4. “Avis didn’t honor our reservation, but we were working w/ another guy whose reservation worked.”

Jeff Jarvis, blogger and J-School prof: “Steve Buttry, I’m surprised even your wife travels with you. Hell, I’m surprised any conveyance sells you a ticket.”

It’s Raining Jean Shorts!

“I am counting the # of jean short-tank top combos today. Despite that it’s a thing, it shouldn’t be. We are not a beach town. #dcpride” — Metro Weekly White House Correspondent Chris Geidner. In other weekend observations, Roll Call‘s John Stanton saw this: “Black leather bannana hammock + rainbow angel wings + pasty ass white skin = gay pride weekend on U St.”

Real Life Bulls%!t

“Just saw a pregnant woman carrying a baby crossing a street without crosswalk while texting… #whatswrongwithpeople” — Thomas Tobin, executive producer at NBC4.

Dinner Faux Pas

“Got back to my table, and @michaelpfalcone was using my napkin. Dude…. #RTCADinner” — Retiring Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.) at the RTCA dinner Friday night on Falcone, deputy political director for ABC News. McCotter also remarked on CBS’s Steve Chaggaris, saying, “Finally met @stevechaggaris – he’s skinnier in person than on TV.” In other RTCA dinner news, WJLA TV reporter Mike Conneen, meanwhile, observed this: “AWKWARD! At @rtcadinner, Steve Kroft accepts award a few ft away from Speaker Boehner for story exposing Congressional insider trading.” Kroft works for CBS’s “60 Minutes.” UPDATE and Correction: Cheggaris recently returned to CBS as Executive Editor, Washington of CBSNews.com. He is no longer with Yahoo! News. Before that he was at TBD. The above has been changed to reflect the facts.

Surprise. Surprise. A WaPo technological failure.

“My @washingtonpost app has crashed 3 times this morning! I suppose I could go pick up the paper at the end of my driveway.” — Christine Montgomery, chief digital officer at the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch.

The Appointed Media Critic

“It’s funny how @HowardKurtz has hard lefties like David Shuster on his show, but the best he can do for a righty is Jennifer Rubin…?” — The Daily Caller‘s TV reporter Jeff Poor referencing lefty radio host Shuster and WaPo‘s right-leaning blogger Rubin.

In case you missed it over the weekend, MSNBC Contributor, author and Daily Beast Contributor Meghan McCain tweeted a picture of her crotch. By Saturday morning, it had been deleted. Lucky for her, she wasn’t going commando. See here.

Quotes of the Day

NBC TODAY show’s Savannah Guthrie‘s feet brought to us by NBC Investigative Correspondent Jeff Rossen.

Amtrak responds to journo’s complaints

“Life is what happens when you’re on hold with Amtrak.” — The Daily Caller‘s Will Rahn wrote the other day. To which Amtrak responded, saying, “@willrahn We apologize for the wait, but thank you for your patience.”

Dicking around in the morning…

“There are many ways to teach the kids about timeliness. Waking them in a panic because you were dickering on Twitter is apparently mine.” — CBS Political Director John Dickerson.

More Olbermann analysis

“Just terrible luck for Olbermann…keeps getting hired by great people who turn out to be horrible right around the time he leave.” — Yahoo! News‘s Olivier Knox.

Journo Appreciation Society

“Thank you for the awesome #politicolive shout outs. Definitely one of my favorite parts of election nights!” — Politico‘s Juana Summers, who went up against the trifecta firing squad last night of Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen and Maggie Haberman.

Tornado gets train metaphor

“Fascinated by the ubiquitous use of ‘freight train’ to describe a tornado. How many people can distinguish freight trains from other trains?” — Progressive blogger and former web consultant to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton presidential campaign Peter Daou.

Journo blames spelling error on White House Press Office

“W.H. misspelled John Calipari’s name in their release, leading me to misspell his name in my item because I know nothing about basketball.” — Politico White House reporter Byron Tau.

At 3:07 a.m. Metro Weekly White House reporter Chris Geidner writes… “Can’t sleep. Grr. Trying again. :-/ Alarm is at 6a. … Night, tweeps.”

Feminist of the Day

“I hear that ABC’s ‘Honeymooners’ remake will be titled ‘I’m Gonna Punch That B****!’ — Wired‘s Spencer Ackerman.

Baier will answer literally anything

“Bret Baier mate batman is pretty intense for first thing in the morning? My kids and I go for Mickey’s Clubhouse,” wrote Steveathan. Baier replied, “Good idea.”

Eavesdrop Cafe

“Eavesdropping on @ESPN exec at a breakfast brag bout the net’s
next slate of docs, including films about Larry Bird, bodybuilding, poker” — Contributing GQ and The Atlantic Editor Marc Ambinder.

Shocker: No eBook mentions in this morning’s Politico Playbook.