The ubiquitous Gabe Sherman has a nice, lengthy piece up over at TNR about the spectacular rise of Politico. A rise made all the more spectacular for having occurred during the same time frame that has seen the demise of print journalism everywhere.

"There's no question they had a singular impact. They came out of nowhere in a matter of months and forced themselves into the conversation," says the Times' Baker. "Politico occupies a space The Washington Post should have occupied. If there is anyone who writes obsessively about politics, it should be the Washington newspaper."

This 'occupation' however appears to be rubbing some people the wrong way. The New York Times' Bill Keller had this not so flattering thing to say about Politico's approach to reporting:

The Times' Bill Keller dismisses Politico's scooplets as an insubstantial foundation on which to build a sustainable news organization. "If you hadn't reminded me, I couldn't have told you who broke the seven houses and the six-figure wardrobe budget. ... Politico has focused on an inside game. I'm not sure if it translates to an outside game. I'm not sure how they get scale, and, if they don't, I'm not sure what the business model is."

Leaving aside the fact everyone is struggling for a viable business model these days, it is interesting to note (thanks to the reader who sent us the Lexis search results on this) Keller's memory loss in light of the fact his paper has cited Politico close to 200 times since February of 2007.