Supposedly NY Times Magazine's Mark Leibovich is one of the most in-depth journalists and authors who has made insightful profiles on political and media figures. Either what he says is insightful, reveals what we don't want to hear or reveals some bizarre bits of information.
Take for example the following citation from:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
In the summer of 2010, with Republicans poised to take over the House and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) in line to lead the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the White House started urging reporters to write negative stories about the congressman’s past, a new book says.
Really? The White House started urging reporters to write negative stories about Congressman Issa's past? How VERY interesting!
And apparently Leibovich asserts that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid believes John Kerry is not popular or that he has no friends.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Secretary of State John Kerry is not popular, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Interesting. Then how is it that John Kerry manages to make friends with John McCain? How is it that Kerry managed to Chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for a number of years after Joe Biden became Vice President?
If there's anyone who is not popular, it's Harry Reid. Most Kos people on here do not like Harry Reid so touche on that.
Here's more whoppers:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
Barack Obama, in too-cool-for-school style, telling all his admirers at the 2004 convention that he just wanted to take a nap.
He just wanted to take a nap? How very interesting.
But this one might be amusing for those of us who absolutely hate David Gregory:
Here’s a sampling of how they came out: In “This Town,” we’re told that Chris Matthews and Matt Lauer have both joked that David Gregory would rub out a few colleagues to advance his career.
And for former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, now head of the MPAA, according to Leibovich, there is Dodd's hypocrisy with regards to lobbying:
But Leibovich is scathing with Chris Dodd, who vowed he’d never lobby right up until he became head of the Motion Picture Association of America. (To be fair, the former Democratic senator explained to Leibovich that he made the no-lobbying promise “before this opportunity was on the radar screen.”)
Although this is an interesting observation Leibovich makes of even his own colleagues and others in the Washington reporting scene:
Leibovich is not all that kind to his colleagues in the Washington press corps, either, lamenting their coziness with political authority, delight in punditry over reporting, and obsession with self-branding. And Politico — “the caffeinated trade site”, “the emerging company-town organ for Political Washington” , “an organization of healthy self-regard” — comes in for particular grief as a trafficker of meaningless minutiae and suggestive notions as a means of “driving the conversation.” Leibovich depicts Politico’s Mike Allen as an enabler of journalistic groupthink and the media-political complex. Through his daily Playbook blast, Allen “doles out morsels of proof that your brand is ticking, that your name is out there, that you’re alive in This Town.”
Anyway, Mark Leibovich's book "The Town" is coming out next month. Leibovich also has this interesting expose on CNN re: Glenn Beck as he appears to have interviewed Beck or at least made observations on him:
What do you guys think? Looking forward to Leibovich's book? Or skeptical?