A story by Politico‘s media reporter Dylan Byers has divided his readers almost right down the middle in terms of praise and dismissals.

“Former White House communicators enjoy communicating; use newfangled social medias,” Greg Greene, a Democratic operative, tweeted sarcastically with a link to Byers’ piece and a “stop the presses” hashtag. On the other hand, Rick Wilson, a Republican media strategist, called the story “terrific.”

The thing with Byers’ piece — a look at the Twitter activity of former Obama administration officials and aides — is that it doesn’t contain any news. It doesn’t even draw any conclusions. The selling point seems to be that the headline labels the gang of Democrats as “trash-talkers.” And that this trash talking takes place in public via Twitter.

The story notes former Obama adviser David Plouffe who “frequently attacks Karl Rove” on Twitter. Attacking Rove isn’t exactly new. Even Fox News has done that.

And who doesn’t air out criticism on Twitter? And in what way is partisan trash-talking new? It’s not. President Obama‘s team has always talked this way, even before they left the White House or the campaign trail. And they didn’t need Twitter to do it. It’s otherwise known as “campaign politics,” which takes place on TV, radio and at rallies. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney‘s surrogates did it as well (Republican New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu is unforgettable).

The story seems to observe this supposedly new phenomenon where the campaign never ends. Read more

(A Sprinkling of Things we Think you Ought to Know…)

NYT‘s Mark Leibovich ‘a fraud’– A truly intimate admission from Leibovich in NYT‘s “6th floor” blog today, though it’s something most people in Washington already know: This is a city full of people peer pressured into pretending to be smarter than they actually are and into reading The Economist to prove it. He writes:

“Like many people who sometimes travel in high-powered circles, I am a complete fraud. I have no idea how I got here. This is an especially familiar condition in Washington, where I live, and where the impostor syndrome is like our psychological common cold. So a lot of people lie about reading The Economist here. We probably have the highest number of lied-about subscribers. Because it’s important to come off smart and worldly…”

To be sure, however, Leibovich does read The Economist. He lets readers know by going on to list 17 things he learned from its latest issue.

Sanchez sends out a dark holiday card– This is probably a knee-slapper to exactly no one. Rep. Loretta Sanchez‘s (D-Calif.) office has sent out her annual holiday card. It reads: “May you dance with joy this holiday season (just not too close to fiscal cliffs).” On the card is an awkward photo of Sanchez coddling a stocking beside her husband, both of whom are about to step over a cliff. Sanchez has gained a reputation over the years for sending out goofy cards. What’s the plan for next year’s card? A cover that says “Merry Christmas and wrap it up!” superimposed over a photo Sandra Fluke? (h/t WaPo‘s Reliable Source. Sometimes we give them a hard time, but credit where credit’s due)

Serious question for BuzzFeed or melodrama from HyperVocal? … Read more

Lee Brenner, former Senior Producer at CNN and Political Director for MySpace has partnered with former EP of Lou Dobbs Slade Sohmer for a new internet news venture.  Named HyperVocal, the site launched yesterday with the mission to “aggregate the most comprehensive summary of the hyper-frenetic news cycle for the so-called Facebook Generation.”

“With HyperVocal we’re scouring the range of media relevant to our audience based on what we are interested in ourselves and what our readers bring to our attention; we combine the rules of professional journalism with the real voice of this generation—smart yet snarky, sophisticated yet sassy, and evidently, alliterative,” said Sohmer who now serves as HyperVocal’s EIC and co-founder.

The site has already signed an eclectic mix of activist bloggers to compliment their aggregated news stream.  Their roster includes actress and co-founder of Voto Latino Rosario Dawson, Blonde Charity Mafia’s Katherine Kennedy, and Blake Skjellerup, openly-gay short-track Olympic speedskater.

HyperVocal ‘s business model includes traditional ad sales and partner-driven revenue, as well as sponsorship of the daily newsletter, site and section takeovers, sponsorship of videos and content and forthcoming mobile applications.  Check it out here.