A peculiar welcome wagon awaited Brit Hume and Karl Rove outside Fox News’ Washington bureau on Wednesday night.  Before they could enter the studios for their respective hits, both Fox Newsers were forced to pass by some 200 guests of CNN’s New Guard fete.  Awwwwkward.

“Rove looks like he could use a drink,” remarked one party goer.  “Call him over,” suggested another.

But unfazed by the clinking of glasses and rumble of voices, neither FNC personality gave more than a glance at the crew who had congregated on the patio of Johnny’s Half Shell, right in front of Fox’s North Capitol Street headquarters.

Sipping vino and noshing the night away, under glowing CNN logos were ‘new guarders’ such as DOD’s Doug Wilson, UN Foundation’s Heather Wong, Wally Adeyemo from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, W.H. Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest, State Department new media guru Alec Ross, CIA spokeswoman Marie Harf, Doug Heye, Ayotte press secretary Jeff Grappone, Reid communications director Adam Jentleson, Jen Psaki, Thune’s Kyle Downey, Duke University’s Ronnie Chatterji, Rand Paul spokeswoman Moira Bagley and Becca Glover from Rep. Issa’s press shop.  They mixed and mingled with CNN’s Sam Feist, Wolf Blitzer, Dana Bash, Edie Emery, Megan Grant, Donna Brazile, Jill Chappell, Sarah Baker, Jen Scoggins, and media types such as The Hill’s Judy Kurtz, Kelly DiNardo, WaPo’s Amy Argetsinger, and soon-to-be Roll Call’s Abby Livingston.

At the end of the evening CNN bid their guests farewell with a gift: network-branded umbrellas, in case of rain.

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Fox News put Politico on blast this morning, charging the site with ‘liberal bias’ after the Daily Caller exposed that Politico reporter Andy Barr was leaving journalism for a job with the Democratic Party in Arizona.  As Media Research Center’s Brent Bozell discussed Barr’s beat and coverage on “Fox and Friends,” FNC ran banners that read “SITE’S LIBERAL SLANT REVEALED” and “BARR’S EXIT EXPOSES POLITICO’S TRUE COLORS.”

Though the story is not nearly as sensational as FNC’s headlines, Barr’s departure does represent another hash mark in the list of journos who have hung up their hats for jobs in politics.  For example, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney is the former Washington bureau chief of TIME magazine. Politico’s Jonathan Allen left the publication for a gig with Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL) and then returned to Politico less than a year later. CNN senior producer Sasha Johnson is now at the Department of Transportation.  Both Jill Zuckman and Peter Gosselin left their jobs with Tribune to join the Obama Administration.  As did longtime ABC and CBS News reporter Linda Douglass who left broadcast journalism for a job at the White House.  Douglass, like Jonathan Allen, eventually returned to media.  She’s now a VP and Head of Communications for Atlantic Media, which owns National Journal and The Atlantic.  Steven Rattner, Obama’s car czar, spent nine years writing for the New York Times.  And Moira Bagley, former Roll Call reporter and Daily Caller Opinion Page editor, now works as communications director for Senator Rand Paul (R-KY).

UPDATE: It was brought to our attention that FNC’s morning package was not just sensational but also hypocritical. In 2010 Megan Whittemore, who once covered Capitol Hill for Fox News and FoxNews.com, joined the office of now House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) as a deputy press secretary. On the flip side, we almost forgot about WaPo reporter turned Biden flack Shailagh Murray.

Despite the sensational banners, generalizations and tabloid approach to journalism, “Fox and Friends” has a point.  What do you think: does a reporter’s departure for a job in politics prove slanted coverage in the past?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The above photograph is dedicated to my FBDC co-editor Matt Dornic for inexplicable reasons. And no, he doesn’t use hairspray.

Hopefully you like the windblown look

“D.C. weather Tuesday: No amount of hairspray will be enough.” — @washdcnews in a Monday morning tweet.

“No amount of hairspray will be enough to save hairdos around DC today. Expect some high winds.” — The illustrious TBD in a Monday morning tweet.

“Forget that little flirt with spring. Temperatures plummeting and gusty winds.” — Eun Yang, an NBC Washington morning anchor in a Tuesday morning tweet.

Reporter distracted by gurgling

“OK, whoever is making these bizarre gurgling noises really needs to stop. Oops. End of Gibbs quote may have been “foreign,” not “other.” The gurgling is going to my head.” — TWT‘s Kara Rowland in Monday tweets from a White House briefing.

Scribe offers ‘sweet ass’ compliment

“I wish more Press Sec’s tweeted like this RT @moirabagley Check out this sweet-ass op-ed we had in the WSJ today.” — The Daily Caller‘s Chris Moody in a Monday tweet regarding Moira Bagley, a former DC colleague and now spokeswoman to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Read the release.

Weather and sex

“This frightens me.” — Former TBD GM and now consultant Jim Brady in a reactionary Monday tweet to a poll that claims that 4 percent of Americans have fantasized about a weather reporter. Read the WaPo story about sex and weather here. The poll asks you to compare your sex life to weather — ie. dark and stormy, hot and steamy, etc…The story is based on an AP and Weather Underground poll. In the AP story, winter gets an awfully bad rap: “Two-thirds of people find shorts and bathing suits are easier on the eyes than sweaters, scarves and boots.”

Happy Birthday Amos!

“I turned 31 years old today … and forgot to wear a belt to work.” — FamousDC’s Amos Snead in a Tuesday morning Facebook update. Yes, it’s his birthday.

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Apparently after bagging her gig last July, the Roll Call and Daily Caller alum headed home to Kentucky where she stumbled into a temporary position with Tea Party candidate for U.S. Senate, Rand Paul.  Sources tell FishbowlDC that Bagley hit it off with Paul during the campaign and has recently accepted the role of communications director for the Senator-elect’s new office.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We haven’t confirmed Bagley’s next move, but spies tell us a big announcement may be in the works this week. So far, no replacement has been hired — colleagues are filling in for the time being.

Bagley was spotted at The Aspen Institute’s Ideas Festival last week, where she attended as an Institute fellow.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In it, we see WaPo‘s Dave Weigel, who blogs on conservative topics, particularly ill at ease and twitchy as he sits alongside The Daily Caller‘s Opinion Editor Moira Bagley for the first episode of the third season of “The Right Idea,” a video podcast that comes out twice weekly. The new season has a new look a format.

Watch Weigel’s hands carefully. At one point, Weigel twists his hands into a bizarre yoga-like twist (approximately 3:20). He also casts some pretty sly looks at Bagley throughout. Thankfully he never attempts to embrace Bagley (as we know by now, a hug to Weigel = stranglehold). (The above are some yoga mudras for Weigel to try during
his next TV appearance.)

“The Right Idea” is produced by The Winston Group, a strategy and message design firm. The show’s host is Kristen Soltis, the firm’s director of policy research.

TRI Ep. 37: Elections, Laffer Curve & MTV from The Winston Group on Vimeo.

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Famed investigative biographer, Kitty Kelley, celebrated her book release at a party on Friday evening at the home of Daniel and Marina Ein. The book, Oprah: A Biography, was released on April 13th by Crown Publishers.

The event was well-attended by DC media types, business power-players and the political elite. Kelley made her rounds and spoke with guests prior to giving a thank you and toast in which she described Oprah as “the most powerful, influential person on the planet.” Kelley expressed admiration and only kind remarks about her “determined subject.” She continued by saying Oprah is “revered and idolized” throughout the world and ended with “long may she reign.”

However, this same level of admiration for Oprah was not as evident from party goers. Guests at the event traded examples of Oprah’s alleged spins, lies, and her legal and illegal indulgences discovered via Kelley’s book. A common topic among press types was the media’s blackballing of Kelley and her book because of Oprah’s intimidation factor. One guest was overheard asking a group “why hasn’t anyone in the media covered Oprah’s control of the message?” The consensus was that Oprah was likely “puppeteering” an underground PR initiative.

Spotted by FishbowlDC were The Daily Caller’s Moira Bagley, Politico’s Kiki Ryan, Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff and wife, WaPo’s Mary Anne Akers, Washington Life’s Kevin Chaffee and Donna Shor, NY Times’ Helene Cooper, Georgetown Dish’s Beth Solomon, Roll Call’s Tory Newmyer, The Daily Beast’s Lee Aitken and Mark Paustenbauch.

This post was contributed by Glenn Ballard for FishbowlDC.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Band: Tim Burger, Christina Sevilla, Tom Toles, Bryan Greene and Josh Meyer

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Characters from the book who showed up to the festivities included Democratic political strategist and former campaign aide to Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) David “Mudcat” Saunders, Vanity Fair’s Christopher Hitchens and GOP consultant Roger Stone, who famously taught Labash how to properly tie a tie (he claims Labash still needs help). Stone (in photograph above with Labash) explained that he was leaving later to catch a train to Manhattan – his policy is to never stay overnight in D.C. as the town is too awful a place to remain too long. “I hate it,” he said. “People are phony.” (Stone splits his time between New York City and Miami.)

Soon the party turned into a roast.

“Nice house, not waspy enough,” Stone cracked. “I appreciate the enormous role I have played in making Matt Labash.” Stone joked that people always ask of Labash: ‘What’s with all the Hitler memorabilia?’

Saunders, to whom Labash devoted an entire chapter, said the author was much more than a writer but a life confidant whom he still phones for advice. “He knows enough about me to get me arrested,” he said. Initially, Saunders said, he feared a story about him appearing in The Weekly Standard: “I’m a Democrat. The Weekly Standard ain’t a damn Democrat publication.”

The party was the scene of scenes for D.C. journalists. Faces in the crowd included conservative radio personality Laura Ingraham, The Weekly Standard’s Stephen Hayes and Andy Ferguson, Politico’s Anne Schroeder Mullins, Patrick Gavin, Kiki Ryan, Michael Calderone and Pia Catton. Politico’s Jonathan Martin and NBC “Meet the Press” Executive Producer Betsy Fischer arrived simultaneously. The Daily Caller was represented well with opinion editor Moira Bagley, publisher Neil Patel, V.P. of sales Alex Treadway and congressional reporter Gautham Nagesh as well as Sean “Jim Treacher” Medlock on crutches. Others in attendance: The Hill’s A.B. Stoddard, the New York Post’s Charlie Hurt, Reason’s Michael Moynihan, Edelman’s Exec. V.P. Tony Blankley, National Review’s Jonah Goldberg, D.C. media consultant David Bass, former Time scribe Tim Burger and Slate’s Editor David Plotz. The Atlantic’s Josh Green was there and spoke of the story he has been living as of late – that of Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) and the old Navy buddies who told him, among other sordid details, about the ex-congressman’s infamous Massa massage and now compelling “snorkeling”. Green joked, “I feel dirty talking about it.” More seriously, he called Massa the “Andy Dick of Congress.”

Lightening struck when former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry arrived. Late and decked out in a suit and cherry-colored tie, Barry stole the show. And for a good while, it was all guests could do but stare and snap cell phone pictures.

“It took me an hour to find this place,” Barry told the awed crowd, explaining his tardiness. “I wandered here and there and everywhere.”

Initially Labash had no idea that Barry that arrived. “No, no, I don’t publicly speak!” the author was imploring guests, unaware that his most striking character was about to weigh in.

Carlson explained to guests that The Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol was sorry he couldn’t attend – he was in Manhattan hanging out with former N.Y. Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Massa (everyone laughed). Carlson read a note from Kristol that said, in part, “When we hired Labash, we had hoped he’d become a star – we’re still hoping.”

Carlson, who wrote the introduction to Labash’s book, had solemn praise for Labash with a twist. “Matt doesn’t simply write about people,” said Carlson. “He takes them as lifelong friends – almost in a proctological way.” He said when subjects first read the stories Labash has written about them their first response is “horror.”

Then they realize that what Labash has written is true, that the author has maybe captured them more deeply than anyone ever has.

More party pictures after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Celebrating with Washington editor Jeff Dufour were a roster of over-the-top entertainers like a rockin’ deejay, bad-ass electric violinist, topless (body painted) models, dancers and notable guests such as WaPo’s Amy Argetsinger, WBJ’s Jen Nycz-Conner, Politics Daily’s Emily Miller, Matt Cooper, Washington Kastles owner Mark Ein, Winston Lord, Daily Caller’s Becca Glover, Victoria Michael, Project Beltway’s Rachel Cothran, Daily Caller’s Moira Bagley, Examiner’s Nikki Schwab, MTP’s Betsy Fischer, Politico’s Jonathan Martin, White House heartthrob Jon Favreau, TWT’s John McCaslin, Amy Holmes, Elizabeth Thorp, Wendy Gordon, Equinox restaurant owners Todd and Ellen Gray, The Hill’s Christina Wilkie and the party’s planners – Barbara Martin and Jayne Sandman Dufour of Fingerprint DC.

Despite a heinous hangover, I can vouch that a good time was had by all – especially the ladies of Qorvis who dominated the dance floor.

WBJ’s Jen Nycz-Conner, WaPo’s Amy Argetsinger, UrbanDaddy’s Jeff Dufour and Politics Daily’s Emily Miller

Daily Caller’s Becca Glover and Project Beltway’s Rachel Cothran

For more info or to sign up for UrbanDaddy’s daily emails, click here.

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1. How are you feeling since being released from the hospital Tuesday? Surprisingly not-awful. The knee still hurts, but most of the time when it’s still, it’s more of a constant burning sensation than a sharp pain. Dr. Wiesel and Dr. Remington and everybody else at Georgetown University Hospital did a great job of getting me back on my feet. Well, foot. I’m going to be doing physical therapy for the broken knee, which is already helping, and taking blood thinners for the pulmonary embolism that resulted from the knee injury and surgery. They’re going to be monitoring that at least once a week. So there’s still a lot of work to do, but I’m more than willing to do it. As for who’s going to pay for it all…

2. Can you walk around and are you on crutches? Is your boss, Tucker Carlson, carrying your bag and getting you food? Crutches, which I’m trying to master. I can’t put full weight on my left foot for at least three months. I’ve also got a wheelchair, in the unfortunate event that I need to go outside. No plans to do that anytime soon. Tucker’s been busy this week trying to find out who hit me and how the whole thing went down. He and Neil Patel and Moira Bagley and Laura Banos stayed in the ER with me all Wednesday night last week. And everybody at the Daily Caller has been terrific. Almost everybody I’ve talked to has been great, actually. What was the question? I’m on painkillers because a State Dept. security agent named Mike McGuinn hit me with a government SUV.

3. What do you think ought to happen to the State Department agent who hit you? Have they reached out to apologize? Do you plan to sue? Considering Mike McGuinn broke the law when he hit me and failed to identify himself to me or provide contact information, he should be subject to the same laws as everyone else in DC. Maybe that’s because I’m new here. No, nobody at State has apologized. As for suing, I just got out of the hospital and I don’t know yet. Right now I’m getting a lot of advice and I’m trying to sort through it.

Read more Treacherific details, including a word on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Most of the publication’s journos were on hand wearing beads around their necks. Big star Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson arrived after 9 p.m. due to a previous speaking engagement at the Metropolitan Club. Co-creator and publisher Neil Patel was there mingling along with opinion editor Moira Bagley and spokeswoman and booker Becca Glover Watkins.

Things got dicey when Carlson arrived with his wife, Susie. Carlson told FishbowlDC that Susie initially couldn’t get in because she didn’t have ID to prove her age – which is 41. So how’d she get in? “I finally said, come on guys, knock it off,” Carlson said.

By that point, the party was in full swing and packed with a decisively beer-drinking crowd. All five TV’s were turned to Fox News. Partygoers booed Obama on several occasions, with one male yelling out, “Show us your tits!” Daily Caller journos shuddered in response to the remark. Another shouted, “Boring!” When FNC contributor Sarah Palin came on to speak, the crowd whooped with joy. “Thishh ishh a right-leaning crowd,” said one attendee who’d obviously had more than a few beers.

Nevertheless, Patel said he has received no complaints that the Daily Caller sways right. Instead, he said, people remark on the “breadth” of stories they have.

Jim Treacher, the Daily Caller’s blogger, more often known as “Treach”, live-blogged the evening, which was a sight to see. “I’m blogging like a mother f-ker,” he said.

The emcee for the evening was Mark Stern (aka “Nigel” of the Tony Kornheiser show), who happens to be Carlson’s old high school roommate at the boarding school, St. George’s. “I remember the first time he wore a bow tie,” Stern told the crowd. “It was at Chippendales. No one can shake their ass like Tucker Carlson.” Later Stern asked rhetorically, “Who said Washington has no balls? Give it up for Daily Caller!”

Sadly, advice columnist Matt Labash was unable to make it – he’s in Haiti. “No parties for me,” he wrote by e-mail. “Just dead people and malaria.”

Guests in attendance: Politics Daily’s Helena Andrews, GOP commentator Doug Heye (who was interviewed there by a German TV station), GOP lobbyist Juleanna Glover, Politico’s Kiki Ryan, Washingtonian publisher Cathy Merrill Williams, Pundit Amy Holmes, Reason magazine editor Michael Moynihan, TNR’s James Kirchick, The Atlantic’s Chris Bodenner, The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack, The Hill’s Christina Wilkie, former Bush speechwriter John McConnell, and Roll Call’s Elizabeth Brotherton. Neshan Naltchayan, a freelance photographer who worked as a photographer in the Bush White House, was there to snap pictures.

See party pictures after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The Daily Caller launch party was the place to be last night for Washington D.C.’s political party crowd.

In attendance:
Former Time scribe Matt Cooper and Scooter Libby, former Chief of Staff to former V.P. Dick Cheney (in the same room)

From the Daily Caller:
Tucker Carlson, Editor-in-Chief
Moira Bagley, Opinion Editor
Becca Glover Watkins, Publicist and Booker
Jonathan Ward, senior political and White House Reporter
Matt Labash (who also writes for The Weekly Standard)

Liz Glover, former TWT columnist
Juleanna Glover, host, GOP lobbyist

Christopher Hitchens, Vanity Fair, and wife, Carol Blue
ABC’s Jake Tapper, Ann Compton, The Note’s Rick Klein
NBC’s Savannah Guthrie
UrbanDaddy’s Jeff Dufour and wife, Jayne
CBS bureau chief Chris Isham, CBS’ Christine Delargy
CNN’s Amy Holmes
Talking Points Memo’s Christina Bellantoni
Politico’s Patrick Gavin, Kiki Ryan, Michael Calderone
Meet the Press’ Joey Bell
Yeas and Nays’ Tara Palmeri
Congress Daily’s Erin McPike
Roll Call’s Jackie Kucinich, Shira Topeitz, Emily Heil
The Hill’s Bob Cusack, Jared Allen, Christina Wilkie
Monocle’s Sasha Issenberg
The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder
Former Bloomberg scribe Tim Burger

Non-media types: Janet Donovan, Ron Bonjean, Christina Sevilla, Michael Feldman, Mark Paustenbach, Susanna Quinn, former White House press secretary Joe Lockhart.

One highlight of the party was a man dressed up in colonial wear, who, a partygoer surmised, was “what I can only assume was a “Daily Caller.” There were two French maids passing out vodka.

Fun was had by most. The only part anyone quibbled about was the coat check. One attendee remarked: “There were really long lines to get your coat to leave and just too many people to be in one house at the same time. By the time you got your coat from the coat check and your car from the valet, it was at least 15-20 minutes.”

Politico’s Gavin tweeted, “Even Joe Lockhart has to wait in line for his coat.”

Photographs courtesy of Patrick Ryan.
See more party pictures and Politico Click video after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

“I’m on the business side,” Treadway told FishbowlDC, explaining that he is personally politically left of center. “I’m about clients getting what they want. it fits what I do for a living. That’s my job.”

Nonetheless, the question of personal politics arose when he met with Carlson and Patel. “When I was sitting there in my first meeting with Neil, I asked, will that matter to you or Tucker? And he [Patel] said, ‘Only if it would make you uncomfortable working for us.’ I thought, these are cool guys.”

Cool guys who don’t openly use the term “conservative.”

“They’ve never used the term ‘conservative website,’ Treadway said. “They’re going to have original reporting. That’s where I think we’re going to be judged.”

Insiders say the site’s creators have never made any grandiose claims about the identity of the site or any agenda they might have and will let the audience decide on its political nature. The site plans to welcome contributions (whenever possible) from writers such as The Weekly Standard’s Matt Labash. Hires include Jon Ward (formerly with TWT), who will be the senior political and White House reporter; Moira Bagley, formerly with NewMajority.com and Roll Call, as editor; longtime conservative blogger Jim Treacher ; and Gautham Nagesh, formerly with Government Executive magazine.

Treadway was most recently with the Atlantic Media Company, where he worked for 10 years.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.