Retro Garlic: Yeah, But Will He Be Getting Paid?

We missed out, chiefly due to events here on the homefront, the entire brouhaha, death snake dance of the Washington Post firing writer extraordinaire Dan Froomkin (often linked here on The Garlic).



It was a doozy, with the WAPO being egged and toilet-papered by a better part of the blogosphere.

Here's Paul Krugman;

Thus we still live in an era in which you have to have been wrong to be respectable. You’re not considered serious about national security unless you were for invading Iraq; you’re not considered a serious political analyst unless you spent the last 3 years of the Bush administration predicting a Republican comeback; you’re not considered a serious economic analyst unless you dismissed the idea that the Bush Boom, such as it was, rested on a housing bubble.

That’s why the firing of Dan Froomkin now makes a perverse sort of sense. As long as the right was in power, he was in effect the Post’s designated moonbat, someone who attracted readers but didn’t threaten the self-esteem of the self-perceived serious people at the paper. But now he looks like someone who was right when the serious people were wrong — and that means he has to go.

Glen Greenwald, Andrew Sullivan, dday, Jane Hamsher, The Raw Story, and Down With Tyranny all wailed on the WAPO, in similar fashion.

So, the clock was started, the wait was on, to see who would pick up, or, where Dan Froomkin would land.



Today, the buzzer went off - Huffington Post gets the wreath of roses.

Both Emptywheel, and Glen Greenwald broke with the news this morning.

Emptywheel, gleefully, with charts, noted that "So the WaPo wanted to silence Dan Froomkin. And instead, their stupid decision has led to Dan Froomkin getting hired by an outlet with greater online circulation than them."

Greenwald;

In yet another sign of how online media outlets are strengthening as their older establishment predecessors are struggling to survive, The Huffington Post has hired Dan Froomkin to be its Washington Bureau Chief and regular columnist/blogger. Froomkin will oversee a staff of four five reporters and an Assistant Editor, guide The Huffington Post's Washington reporting, and write at least two posts per week to be featured on its main page and Politics page. I learned last night of the hiring and spoke to both Arianna Huffington and Froomkin this morning.

[snip]

While this pairing is, in some ways, a natural one (even the Post Ombudsman suggested that "Web sites like The Huffington Post or Politico would seem a perfect fit"), there are also potential sources of tension. As a practitioner of what he calls "accountability journalism" -- "explaining how Washington works; pulling no punches" -- Froomkin has been a vehement critic of the Obama administration for the last several months, while The Huffington Post frequently trumpeted (some might say "cheerleading") the Obama campaign and even his presidency (though it has become mildly more critical of Obama in recent months; its screaming, red headline today: "White House May Cave on Public Option"). Will Froomkin's harsh criticisms of Obama alienate an Obama-loving HuffPost readership?

And given the central importance of Arianna Huffington's personal relationships with key media figures and those in power, will Froomkin's unrestrained criticisms of many of those same people undermine a key aspect of The Huffington Post's business and promotional strategies? Both Huffington and Froomkin insist that he will have full editorial freedom, though that commitment is often more easily embraced in theory than in practice.

Jamison Foser, at MediaMatters, has a good post up, taking a look at the ashes left at WAPO

And, Glynnis MacNicol, over on Dan Abram's new digs, Mediaite, offers "HuffPo Aiming For DC Dominance? Makes Room For Froomkin".

Here at The Garlic, we wonder about Froomkin getting a paycheck ... You know, with the unique Huffington Post's business model.

The Retro Part;

Breaking News! GM Cancels UAW In Favor of Adopting Huffington Post Business Model ... Celebrities, Auto Enthusiasts and Bloggers To Build Cars For Free; Huge Spike In Profits Forecast

Good Luck there Dan ... Hope you get a check, once-in-awhile ...

Maybe you can hip Arianna on how to use Google ...

WaPo Consults Ministry of Silly Walks, Backtracks From Obama Conspiracy

"Listen to me! Please listen! If you don't, if you won't, if you fail to understand, then the same incredible terror that's menacing me WILL STRIKE AT YOU!"

Forget about Obama and the Canadian Embassy, The Washington Post, apparently, huddled with Monty Pythons' "Ministry of Silly Walks" and rocketed backwards, from their their Woman-Bashing Op-Ed of Sunday.

The Washington Post’s failed effort at satire?

“If it insulted people, that was not the intent,” Outlook editor John Pomfret told me this morning, calling the piece “tongue-in-cheek.” […]

Pomfret said that being an opinion article, he’s not surprised readers reacted to it strongly. But added: “Perhaps it wasn’t packaged well enough to make it clear that it was tongue-in-cheek.”

Even if intended as a joke, the Allen piece clearly isn’t the best way for the Post to achieve its goal of bringing in more women readers, and it remains to be seen if the fallout continues today.

They even changed the headline!

And WaPo's Ombudsman isn't buying into it.

As The Garlic pointed out, this appeared to be a very sly, crafty collaboration, between the WaPo, Charlotte Allen and Hillary Clinton, to put out such an offensive Op-Ed, insulting and degrading woman, two-days before Little Super Tuesday, and look what happened;

Clinton revives campaign in Ohio, Texas

And, as we cautioned;

"And they come out with this, what do we want to call it, this Hillary Manifesto, at this late stage ... Yes, Allen and The Washington Post has thrown in their lot with the Freakshow ... They want a Hillary-McCain finale ... Their in league with McCain and the RNC ...

So, how do you explain this;

Limbaugh urges listeners to vote for Clinton

And Hillary, seemingly, returning the favor;

Clinton praises McCain’s experience

Even the one of the Freakshow's biggest Freaks has questions, as do the exit polls.

Was this woman-bashing Op-Ed part of the Clinton Campaign's "Kitchen Sink" strategy?

If so, watch out ladies, there'll be more incoming ... Perhaps a new batch of 3AM Ads- something like 3:15AM and 3:30AM, just to keep the pressure on, to maintain the fear level just right ... To keep woman awake, sleepless, and getting angry about it

And then, WHAMO!, Hillary and her cohorts hit with another insulting piece, probably dissing woman, for not being able to trust a candidate who will allow them the luxury of a decent night's sleep.

Maybe, after all those years of railing against the "vast rightwing conspiracy", Hillary has decided to team up with it

Obama can't keep you safe ... Obama won't let you sleep ...

Watch out, all you people in Pennsylvania ...

Think of this post (and taking a liberty) as Kevin McCarthy, in the waning moments of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"

"She's here already! You're next!!"

Bonus Links

Monty Python - Ministry of Silly Walks

Media Matters: Despite paper's concern "about keeping women as newspaper readers," Wash. Post published essay calling women "kind of dim" and "the stupid sex"

Crooks and Liars: Why the Washington Post can’t satisfy their women (or, Tweety eat yer heart out!)

Jane Hamsher: “Tongue In Cheek?” Nice Try

Rachel Sklar: WaPo Writer Proves Own Thesis With Inane Op-Ed

Jeff Fecke: Don't You Angry Feminists Have a Sense of Humor?

The New Hillary Soundtrack

Much as been made of Hillary Clinton's 3AM Fearmongering Ad (and, yes, The Garlic was in on the making).

And, of course, there was yesterday's launch, by The Washington Post, to undermine Obama and create a rallying cry for Hillary.

So, what's lacking here is a soundtrack ... Some good music to carry the day.

We found, what we believe, is the right song, for the right moment (and we don't even have to change the lyrics)

Call Me

If you're feeling sad and lonely
There's a service I can render
Tell the one who loves you only
I can be so warm and tender
Call me, don't be afraid, you can call me
Maybe it's late, but just call me
Tell me, and I'll be around ...

When it seems your friends desert you
There's somebody thinking of you
I'm the one who'll never hurt you
Maybe that's because I love you
Call me, don't be afraid, you can call me
Maybe it's late, but just call me
Tell me, and I'll be around ...

Now don't forget me
'Cause if you let me
I will always stay by you
You've got to trust me
That's how it must be
There's so much that I can do ...

If you call I'll be right with you
You and I should be together
Take this love I long to give you
I'll be at your side forever
Call me, don't be afraid, you can call me
Maybe it's late, but just call me
Tell me and I'll be around ...

Here's one of the better renditions of the song, by Astrud Gilberto, with Walter Wanderley

What Else Could It Be? ... WaPo Launches Plan, Push To Elect Hillary!

Am I the only one that sees this?

The blogosphere and World Wide Web is in conflagration today, over the Op-Ed piece, in The Washington Post by Charlotte Allen;

We Scream, We Swoon. How Dumb Can We Get?

This is how it opens;

"Here's Agence France-Presse reporting on a rally for Sen. Barack Obama at the University of Maryland on Feb. 11: "He did not flinch when women screamed as he was in mid-sentence, and even broke off once to answer a female's cry of 'I love you, Obama!' with a reassuring 'I love you back.' " Women screamed? What was this, the Beatles tour of 1964? And when they weren't screaming, the fair-sex Obama fans who dominated the rally of 16,000 were saying things like: "Every time I hear him speak, I become more hopeful." Huh?

“Women ‘Falling for Obama,’ ” the story’s headline read. Elsewhere around the country, women were falling for the presidential candidate literally. Connecticut radio talk show host Jim Vicevich has counted five separate instances in which women fainted at Obama rallies since last September. And I thought such fainting was supposed to be a relic of the sexist past, when patriarchs forced their wives and daughters to lace themselves into corsets that cut off their oxygen.

I can’t help it, but reading about such episodes of screaming, gushing and swooning makes me wonder whether women — I should say, “we women,” of course — aren’t the weaker sex after all. Or even the stupid sex, our brains permanently occluded by random emotions, psychosomatic flailings and distraction by the superficial. Women “are only children of a larger growth,” wrote the 18th-century Earl of Chesterfield. Could he have been right?"

And it goes on (and on) evoking every slight, slander and stereotype against woman.

The above-mention conflagration?

How Dumb?, says Mustang Bobby ... "Outrageous" screams Jay Newton-Small... "Speak for Yourself, Charlotte" cautions Maha ... Taking a more noble approach, The Carpetbagger Report with its' "In defense of women everywhere"

And Jane Hamsher, over on Firedoglake, is fit-to-be-tied;

"I hope you, like any thinking person, are completely horrified that the Post would publish the insane, sexist screed by Charlotte F. Allen that appeared in your paper today. And no, just because it got farmed out to some woman eager to advance herself at the expense of the rest of us does not make it okay (one Maureen Dowd on the planet is one too many, thank you very much).

I'd very much like to know who assigned this piece, who edited it, what the reaction is from women who work there, and anything you can tell me about how this insufferably ignorant woman made her way into your pages.

You can contact me at firedoglake AT gmail.com.

All communications will be kept confidential."

Admittedly, I had to check the byline a few times ... In my head, I kept expecting to see the name "Ann Coulter" or, perhaps, "Debbie Schlussel" but no, there it was, Charlotte Allen

Oh, man, how can no one else see this for what it is?

I mean, clearly, this is an attempt by Allen, and The Washington Post, to give Hillary and her campaign a huge push, a rallying cry, a clarion bell wake-up call.

I'm sure that they are expecting, just so that woman won't stand accused of following the script of Allen, and the Washington Post, woman will stop fainting and swooning at Obama rallies. The Obama staff can save some of the outrageous sums of money they are raising, by dismissing the ambulance and medical staff ... No Fainting Here is now the order.

Heck, they're probably looking for the credit when woman will just stop going to Obama rallies ... Perhaps they'll show up at Hillary's events, and begin fainting and swooning there.

That, I believe must be what Allen, and the WaPo are aiming for ... Subtle, but so deft of them.

A few harsh words here, a crazy paragraph there ... Dissing Hillary's campaign, her staff ...

Tough Love, I suppose ...

It, I'm sure they have it planned, that, though not limited to just females, woman, in staggering, astronomical numbers, will be so outraged by this essay, they will march to the polls, by the scores-of-thousands (heck, it will almost look like an Obama rally), to vote for Hillary.

They'll be chanting "No More Questions ,,, Hillary's The Answer!", and, not to emulate Allen's essay in anyway, dressed in dirty tee-shirts, some wearing those plastic helmets that can hold two beer cans, with straws dangling down ...Some will be in construction clothes ... Others, in softball or baseball uniforms ... It will be, as Hillary recently mocked, like the heavens opening up ... Woman, not throwing the kitchen sink at Obama, but woman who design kitchen sinks .. Woman who install kitchen sinks ... All these people - woman - marching for Hillary ... Coming to save Hillary ...

A pox on Charlotte Allen ... And, oh, those dastardly editors at The Washington Post ...

Springing this kind of Obama attack, less than 100-hours before the big voting day of March 4th.

Are they breaking the unwritten rule?

They know, its supposed to be all-glowing coverage for Obama, and scraps-and-dirges for Hillary.

And they come out with this, what do we want to call it, this Hillary Manifesto, at this late stage ... Yes, Allen and The Washington Post has thrown in their lot with the Freakshow ... They want a Hillary-McCain finale ... Their in league with McCain and the RNC ...

Maybe the WaPo just wants Hillary in the general election, to drive thousands-and-thousands to their archives, to read all the old 1990's stuff ... The RNC doesn't have to spend money, setting up Swift Boat fronts, or making videos ... The Freakshow will just say that "you can look it up in The Washington Post" and bingo, smear city all over again.

Yes, it's a risk, a gamble, to go out on the limb of insulting, not just woman but ... Well, nearly every rational, thinking person out there.

I mean, if this isn't some grand scheme to aid Hillary, and push her over the hump to beat Obama ...

Then WTF!

All I can say is that Charlotte Allen, and The Washington Post, made Ed Anger, from the 'World Weekly News', a very happy man...

They validated his entire career today.

What Are They Using, Carrier Pigeons?

Gotta hand it to The Washington Post ... They really now how to deliver those hot, breaking news stories ...

The Garlic received these two email alerts last evening

Sent: Wed 2/6/2008 9:46 PM

Clinton Wins Massachusetts




















Sent: Thu 2/7/2008 1:44 AM

Romney Wins Utah


















Now, if memory serves me correct, these two breaking news stories occurred on Tuesday evening, no?

C'mon WaPo, you're really pissing me off ... I'm still waiting to find out who won the Super Bowl!

Is The WaPo's Richard Cohen Looking To Join Hillary's Racial Slime Team?

We gave him some good advice and he just didn't listen.

When he had the chance to pull his head out of his ass, after his love letter to Scooter Libby, he, apparently, decided not to.

The Hillary Clinton Team must be like a glowing orb, the bright light that draws in the nitwit moths ... Or maybe, like in 'Time Bandits', she's "the most fabulous object in the world".

She's gotten Bob Johnson to smear Barack Obama on his admitted teenage drug use ... She's bringing in Terrell Owens to pick up the pace on the crying ...

And today, Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen is seeking to join the team (hmmm, maybe this is Cohen's audition), with a doozy;

Obama's Farrakhan Test

Because Obama hasn't spoken up, or perhaps launched a Bill O'Reilly-like crusade, against the magazine published by the church where he worships (published by the daughter of the minister, just to give you another degree, or two, of separation), for their endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, Obama isn't fit to become President.

And, of course, Cohen does it with his "I'm not accusing Obama of anything ... But ..." chickenshit;

It's important to state right off that nothing in Obama's record suggests he harbors anti-Semitic views or agrees with Wright when it comes to Farrakhan. Instead, as Obama's top campaign aide, David Axelrod, points out, Obama often has said that he and his minister sometimes disagree. Farrakhan, Axelrod told me, is one of those instances.

Fine. But where I differ with Axelrod and, I assume, Obama is that praise for an anti-Semitic demagogue is not a minor difference or an intrachurch issue. The Obama camp takes the view that its candidate, now that he has been told about the award, is under no obligation to speak out on the Farrakhan matter. It was not Obama's church that made the award but a magazine. This is a distinction without much of a difference. And given who the parishioner is, the obligation to speak out is all the greater. He could be the next American president. Where is his sense of outrage?

The Clinton Camp is, likely, a little upset, that Cohen didn't dredge up the Al Qaeda Terrorist Childhood Education that was an early smear attempt on Obama, or speculate, if elected, Obama will take his oath using the Koran, but, give Cohen the credit for going for the reach, to place Obama standing next to Farrakhan (and, I'm a little surprise Cohen didn't have the WaPo Graphics Dept. work-up a couple of life-size cardboard cutouts of the two standing together);

And yet Wright heaped praise on Farrakhan. According to Trumpet, he applauded his "depth of analysis when it comes to the racial ills of this nation." He praised "his integrity and honesty." He called him "an unforgettable force, a catalyst for change and a religious leader who is sincere about his faith and his purpose." These are the words of a man who prayed with Obama just before the Illinois senator announced his run for the presidency. Will he pray with him just before his inaugural?

And, Cohen echoes, picks up the baton, on Hillary's "voting present" hit job;

I don't for a moment think that Obama shares Wright's views on Farrakhan. But the rap on Obama is that he is a fog of a man. We know little about him, and, for all my admiration of him, I wonder about his mettle. The New York Times recently reported on Obama's penchant while serving in the Illinois legislature for merely voting "present" when faced with some tough issues. Farrakhan, in a strictly political sense, may be a tough issue for him. This time, though, "present" will not do.

Wait a minute!

I must have all this wrong.

This must be Cohen's way of celebrating Martin Luther King Day.

Being that Hillary still can't stumble her way out her clumsy attempt to paint Obama as weak, via her invoking the legacy of Dr. King (she's now claiming Obama is the one who distorted what she said), Cohen attempts to go at it in the other direction, to tying Obama to Farrakhan.

Richard, listen up ... We're going to tell you again ... Are you listening? ... Can you hear me now?

Pull your head out of your ass!

Or, actually, if all you're going to do is smearing and hack jobs, maybe you should keep it tucked up there


Color By Numbers Cohen Links

Matthew Yglesias: How It's Done

Creature: One pin prick at a time

The Carpetbagger Report: Confronting Obama with a ‘Farrakhan test’

Taylor Marsh: Richard Cohen Swiftboats Obama

Greg Sargent: Obama Responds To Richard Cohen Column About His Church And Farrakhan

This Just In! White House Applying Katrina Strategy To Med Center Neglect

To Gauge Neglect, Problems, President Set To Fly Over Walter Reed, Bldg. 18 Today

Bush Promising Action, "To Press Face Against Window"; Recommends DOD Follow Katrina Strategy

Facing yet more criticism over the treatment of wounded U.S. soldiers, the White House announced today that President Bush will fly over Walter Reed Medical Center, and its' Building 18 that is at the center of the controversy, in Air Force One to gauge for himself the neglect and problems.

With fresh headlines today today that top officials at Walter Reed, as well as the Army's surgeon general, members of the Congress and officials at the Pentagon knew of the problems for nearly three-years, President Bush is swinging back into his "Decider" role and taking action.

"The President," offered White House Spokesperson Tony Snow, "is jumping into his Hurricane Katrina strategy and will tackle this issue head-on. He's taking action and said he plans on "keeping his face firmly pressed against the window" as he flies over the grounds."

Snow also indicated that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, in a meeting with the President this morning, "was strongly advised" to adopt the President's Hurricane Katrina plans in fixing the Walter Reed problem.

"The President," Snow continued, "wants to promise the soldiers, and the others at Walter Reed everything he promised New Orleans, for that city to get back on its' feet. He doesn't want to hold back on anything. He's ready to pledge, and pledge, action all day long."

Snow revealed, as evidence of the President's commitment to promise action, that "As soon as we heard about it, the President turned to me and said "Find out what the problem is and fix it."

Army Does "My Sister, My Daughter" Over Neglect Charges

Building 18 is a former hotel, across the street from the main Walter Reed grounds, that Dana Priest of the Washington Post exposed over two-weeks ago, as being in a decaying state, with mold, rotting walls and ceilings and mice, rat and insect infestations.

Initially, the Army was critical of the Washington Post for exposing the problems.

Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, chief of the Army Medical Command said that "I'm not sure it was an accurate representation ... It was a one-sided representation."

Within a few days of the article, and after a quick paint job, Kiley led a group of reporters around Building 18, boasting "I do not consider Building 18 to be substandard."

"We needed to do a better job on some of those rooms, and those of you that got in today saw that we frankly have fixed all of those problems. They weren't serious, and there weren't a lot of them."

That was quickly rebutted by Gen. Richard A. Cody, the Army vice chief of staff, who said "We own that building, and we're going to take charge of it. The senior Army leadership takes full responsibility for the lack of quality of life at Building 18, and we're going to fix it."

A new controversy has been added to the problem, as Army Times is reporting, that soldiers who talked to the Washington Post and other media about the conditions at Building 18 have been the subject of punishment, in the form of 6:00 AM wake-up calls, 7:00AM inspections and new orders not to talk to the media.

Cheney Advocates Stiff Push Back Against Critics

Some speculate that such orders may have been issued by Vice President Dick Cheney, who was able to arrive back in Washington, from his trip to Pakistan and Afghanistan, without being followed home by terrorists.

Cheney, and/or a "senior government official" is said to be "extremely displeased" with the attention given to the problems at Walter Reed.

Cheney was overheard speaking on the telephone, to an unknown party, complaining about the issue.

"If we give aid and comfort to these critics of Walter Reed, and Building 18, it would validate the al Qaeda strategy."

Snow would neither confirm or deny reports the Cheney is battling with White House staff, advocating that that President Bush order in the flood lights and give a night time speech in front of Building 18, to bolster the Hurricane Katrina strategy as the right solution for the problems and push back at the critics.

"This isn't," offered Snow, "a bang-my-head-on-the-podium issue - yet."











The White House is banking on a photo opportunity like this, when President Bush flew over Hurricane Katrina-ravaged New Orleans, to stem the criticism over Building 18 of the Walter Reed Medical Center. The President will be boarding Air Force One this afternoon, to cruise over site in a display of his leadership in solving the problem