:holding head in hands: …Ezra, why did you think you needed ten million dollars?

More to the point: why did you think that Jeff Bezos was going to give you at least ten million dollars?

Mr. Klein, who quickly ascended into the ranks of the Washington media establishment with a multiplatform blend of policy nuance and number-crunching on Wonkblog, approached Katherine Weymouth, the Post’s publisher, in recent weeks, the people said.

After consultation with the newspaper’s editor, Marty Baron, according to one of the people, he put forward a proposal with detailed revenue projections to build a new website dedicated to explanatory journalism on a wide range of topics beyond political policy. It would have been affiliated with The Post, the person said, but would have been a separate enterprise. The investment he sought, the person said, was in eight figures.

Ms. Weymouth and the paper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, declined to support the project.

Continue reading :holding head in hands: …Ezra, why did you think you needed ten million dollars?

Quote of the Day, The Code of Omerta Breaking Down Among White House Staff edition. #obamacare

Well, this promises to make the next year highly entertaining:

For nearly five years, the people who toil inside the Obama administration have been pretty good about refraining from anonymously sniping at one another in the pages of newspapers. That’s changing after the bungled roll-out of Obamacare. Over the weekend, there was a revealing Obamacare narrative in the Washington Post that relied heavily on blind quotes from insiders deflecting responsibility—a sign of the stress the past few weeks have put on an administration that has prided itself on emulating Obama’s no-drama aesthetic.

Via James Taranto.  I do not say that the White House will fire anybody over the WaPo story; I do say that they will probably try to fire somebody, once they figure out who blabbed to the press.  The problem there is that the Beltway people involved can keep track of the date just as easily as the rest of us; and they know that as of January 20, 2017, Barack Obama’s goodwill and several bucks will get you a double soy hazelnut latte*. It’s going to be interesting to see how long Barack Obama really internalizes the notion that his staff have minds and careers of their own…

Moe Lane

*OK, OK: put me in a Starbucks and I will drink pretentious coffee with the best of them. And I use International Creamer because it’s a non-dairy… OK, I thought that it was a soy product, but apparently it’s not, not that I care.  The point is, I would also use soy products, too, despite my sneers.  Gimme a break, I’m on three hours sleep here and am still smelling phantom toddler vomit.

Did Terry McAuliffe allow GreenTech to keep on fundraising, using his name?

Man, the Washington Post is really setting itself up for some severe criticism when they finally end up endorsing Terry McAuliffe. It’s like they’re providing us with all the information we need to discredit said endorsement ahead of time:

…Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe (D), is listed in a recent confidential memorandum to prospective investors as GreenTech Automotive’s “chairman emeritus.” The 70-page document includes photographs and references to McAuliffe’s close ties to former president Bill Clinton. It recounts his political pedigree in detail, from serving as finance director for Jimmy Carter’s 1980 presidential reelection campaign to breaking fundraising records for the Democratic Party and chairing Hillary Rodham Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.

[snip] Continue reading Did Terry McAuliffe allow GreenTech to keep on fundraising, using his name?

This is not a good reputation for Jeff Bezos to have. #nsa #snowden

If Jeff Bezos treats Amazon’s customers’ secrets the way that the Washington Post treats the government’s, well.  That should be a factor in determining whether to buy data storage from the man.

The $52.6 billion “black budget” for fiscal 2013, obtained by The Washington Post from former ­intelligence contractor Edward Snowden, maps a bureaucratic and operational landscape that has never been subject to public scrutiny. Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending since 2007, it has not divulged how it uses the money or how it performs against the goals set by the president and Congress.

As the DNI noted, there’s a reason for that: “Our budgets are classified as they could provide insight for foreign intelligence services to discern our top national priorities, capabilities and sources and methods that allow us to obtain information to counter threats.”

Continue reading This is not a good reputation for Jeff Bezos to have. #nsa #snowden

Keywords: Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Washington Post, circulation, problems.

Sorry about the title, but I want to make sure that Jeff Bezos – more accurately, his research team – sees this post. Mind you, I’m assuming that Bezos plans to introduce the Amazon customer service paradigm to the Washington Post, but surely this is not an unreasonable assumption, hey?

Anyway, on to the purpose for this post. The Washington Post is doing it again – and by ‘doing it again’ I mean ‘trying to recreate its macaca high from 200[6] by trying to incite another controversy about a Republican.’ Ed Driscoll has the details:

“The Washington Post Has a Fever, and the Only Cure is More Ted Cruz Birtherism,” Ace writes at the Breitbart.com group blog. “It’s breathtaking,” he notes, and really, you do have to see the post to believe it, since it features screen shots of over a dozen Ted Cruz birther-related stories, which if I’m looking at the date stamps correctly, all ran over the course of only one or two days at the Post.

Continue reading Keywords: Jeff Bezos, Amazon, Washington Post, circulation, problems.

@katiecouric: Let them eat less cake.

There are two answers to this. The first answer is “No”…

…and the second answer involves a hearty wish for Ms. Couric to take her proposal; fold it until it is all corners; and then shove it somewhere that will not be covered by standard healthcare plans, once Obamacare is implemented. If you have ever wondered why some people suggest that the country is divided in an Imperial Capital district, and everywhere else; well, here’s Exhibit A.  Continue reading @katiecouric: Let them eat less cake.

Eugene Robinson… points out troublesome behavior from Obama towards the press.

You know, Eugene Robinson, I can’t help but notice that… you are upset at the current administration’s policies on leaks.

The Obama administration has no business rummaging through journalists’ phone records, perusing their e-mails and tracking their movements in an attempt to keep them from gathering news. This heavy-handed business isn’t chilling, it’s just plain cold.

And that this situation you are now describing… is a troublesome one.

The unwarranted snooping, which was revealed last week, would be troubling enough if it were an isolated incident. But it is part of a pattern that threatens to redefine investigative reporting as criminal behavior.

And, indeed, this observation that you have now taken up – that we have been seeing this sort of thing from the Obama administration for some time – is… very much on topic.  Yes.

:pause:

Thank you for pointing this out.  And thank you for noting that prior administrations have shown more restraint in dealing with journalists.

Moe Lane

(Via Instapundit.  Oh, my, yes: via Instapundit.)

Washington Post used the wrong hooker to ‘debunk’ the Bob Menendez hooker story?

Come, I will hide nothing from you: when it comes to the Adventures of Bob Menendez, it is my suspicion that the hookers will turn out to be the least important, yet most enticing, part of the story.  I am reasonably confident that Menendez availed himself of foreign prostitutes; I am neutral on whether one of them was legal by the standards of the Dominican Republic, and it would not break my heart to hear that Bob Menendez actually has enough couth and self-control to at least make sure that the girls he hires are adults.  And if the whole hooker thing turns out to be false, a brutally pragmatic view of the situation would suggest that at this point it doesn’t matter: Menendez’s ties to Florida political contributor Salomon Melgen are now out, and not shaping up well under scrutiny.

None of this should be taken as an indication that the Washington Post didn’t screw up royally, here. Continue reading Washington Post used the wrong hooker to ‘debunk’ the Bob Menendez hooker story?

QotD, In Obama’s Shoes I Wouldn’t Pander To The Washington Post Either edition.

Ed Morrissey is quite succinct when he answers the Washington Post’s plaintive complaint on the way that Barack Obama kicks around print newspapers:

Simply put, Obama isn’t going to change his media strategy as long as it works and he doesn’t pay a price for it.  Why should he?

The answer to Ed’s question is, by the way, Barack Obama shouldn’t.  Oh, sure, from the point of view of fairness and openness and responsibility the President should be showing some character, here – but he doesn’t have to, and if you assess the situation in terms of mere power then Barack Obama shouldn’t indulge the weak.  Particularly the Washington Post, which has deliberately made itself weak in the first place.  I know that this is a harsh attitude to take, but as I have (often) noted before: you can’t make me respect you if you won’t even respect yourself.

Washington Post deigns to report on renditions again.

The Washington Post is almost believably shocked to discover that the practice of rendition has returned to Clinton-era levels:

…it is not known how many renditions have taken place during Obama’s first term. But his administration has not disavowed the practice.

Hot Air called this a ‘surprise.’ I know that they’re being sarcastic, because those folks were as aware of the situation with regard to rendition as I have been, for about as long as I have been.  Although I have to admit, I am slightly surprised by just how willing the antiwar movement was to roll over and show its belly on the subject of drone strikes; I assumed at the time that the Left actually meant it when they said that they had a problem with summarily executing jihadis.  Turns out that it’s apparently sexy to progressives when it’s a Democratic President writing out the kill list.

Go figure. Continue reading Washington Post deigns to report on renditions again.