It's not a new theme/premise/meme: How comedians have long said they prefer loons to take power, as LENO said of Shrub, because loons give them MORE MATERIAL. And jackasses like Tweety have also used the code word "interesting" when they claim to want drama and conflict and unpredictability JUST SO they will have something to YAK about. So the first Gawker item below was just about that premise, how Mike ALLEN had said his "dream" was for Rethug wins in November JUST TO make it INTERESTING. And I was prepared to play "Ain't-It-Awful" about that.
But that item linked to previous pieces on ALLEN, a long profile dating from April, and the more serious themes emerged, how sick he and Politico are in their damage. To save anybody time, the LONG profile is written by a pal of ALLEN's and most of it is fluff, with the flashes of edginess excerpted and highlighted here. You're welcome.
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http://gawker.com/5611502/top-politico-writer-reveals-dream-of-every-reporterTop Politico Writer Reveals 'Dream of Every Reporter'
Politico reporter Mike
Allen, whose hot-about-town Washington status was recently confirmed via an 8,000-word New York Times Magazine profile,
has a dream. It's
that Republicans win nine Senate seats this November,
making politics more fun for reporters!
It's hard for people outside of Washington to fully grasp
what's really important in politics and the art of governance:
that the "game" entertains D.C. journalists, a result best achieved by political developments adhering to the dramatic arcs of the elementary-school narratives journalists craft before anything even happens.
What can politics do this November to ensure maximum entertainment for Mike Allen and fellow reporters during the next Congress? Well, as Allen recently told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, it would be his "dream" for Republicans to win nine Senate seats and bring the chamber's partisan balance to 50-50. Think of all the sexy deals and drama he'd get to report objectively about! It would be a hoot. ....
(QUOTE: ) "MA: That's a 50-50 Senate. That's power sharing. Ben Nelson suddenly is huge." ( :UNQUOTE)
It's bizarre enough that Allen would openly admit to "dreaming" of a specific election result, but what is that last line? "Ben Nelson suddenly is huge"?
First of all, no one — Democrats, Republicans, or Independents — really likes Ben Nelson at all, so it's pretty strange that Nelson having more power would be the fulfillment of Mike Allen's naughtiest fantasies. More importantly, Ben Nelson is already annoyingly "huge," because the success or failure of Republican filibuster attempts frequently hinge on him, the most conservative Democrat, who hates his party.
But then again, if Mike Allen wants to fantasize over an impending Ben Nelson Age of Total Tyranny, hey, go nuts!
All that matters, after all, is his entertainment.
Send an email to Jim Newell, the author of this post, at
[email protected].
http://gawker.com/5521121/dcs-most-influential-reporter-cannot-name-a-single-hobby-on-the-recordDC's Most Influential Reporter Cannot Name a Single Hobby On the Record
There are two ways to tackle the Mark Leibovich profile of his old friend Mike "Morning-Winner" Allen, and the Politico celebrity tabloid that Allen composes a newsletter for:
how Politico hurts America and
how weird Mike Allen is.
Allen is a universally beloved mensch who is so sloppy, like an old-timey reporter. So charming! Everyone loves him! He has gifts for all and he is so kind to everyone!
He also doesn't ever let anyone see his home, and he refuses to talk about
his father, who, it turns out, was a crazy far-right John Birch pamphleteer. He speaks like a politician, in meaningless talking points and self-aggrandizing (but humble!) platitudes. His bosses, friends, colleagues—they are all slightly condescending in their praise of Allen and the fatherly approach they take to making sure he fills out his expenses and cleans up his desk. ....
Still! What's more important than the fact that a prominent Washington reporter is sort of a weirdo? Literally everything. But specifically the bits about
how Politico has infected the Washington press corps like a virus. The Politico model—act intentionally as a conduit for the public messaging maneuvers of the worst political actors, throw shit against the wall and see what sticks—is making the country more and more ungovernable and broken every minute of every day. ....
Anyway: Politico hurts America, Mike Allen is weird. The end. Here is a cat: (picture of a cute cat).
Send an email to Alex Pareene, the author of this post, at
[email protected].
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/magazine/25allen-t.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=allThe Man the White House Wakes Up To
By MARK LEIBOVICH
Published: April 19, 2010
.... As a practical matter, here is
how Allen’s 10 stories influence the influentials. Cable bookers, reporters and editors read Playbook obsessively, and it’s easy to pinpoint exactly how an item can spark copycat coverage that can drive a story. Items become segment pieces on “Morning Joe,” the MSNBC program, where there are 10 Politico Playbook segments each week, more than half of them featuring Allen. This incites other cable hits, many featuring Politico reporters, who collectively appear on television about 125 times a week. There are subsequent links to Politico stories on The Drudge Report, The Huffington Post and other Web aggregators that newspaper assigning editors and network news producers check regularly. ....
...
Cheney seems to have made Allen the go-to outlet for many of his criticisms of the current administration.
Like Woodward, Allen can be tagged with the somewhat loaded moniker of “
access journalist.” Clearly the political and news establishments love him. The feeling is mutual and somewhat transactional. They use him and vice versa (“love” and “use” being mutually nonexclusive in Washington). He seems to know everyone and works at it. ....
“I’ve been in Washington about 30 years,” Mark Salter, a former chief of staff and top campaign aide to John McCain, says. “And here’s the surprising reality: On any given day, not much happens. It’s just the way it is.” Not so in the world of Politico, he says, where meetings in which senators act like themselves (maybe sarcastic or short) become “tension filled” affairs. “They have taken every worst trend in reporting, every single one of them, and put them on rocket fuel,” Salter says. “It’s
the shortening of the news cycle. It’s the trivialization of news. It’s the gossipy nature of news. It’s the self-promotion.” ....
(
his father: ) Gary Allen was an icon of the far right in the 1960s and 1970s. He was affiliated with the John Birch Society and railed against the “big lies” that led to the United States’ involvement in World Wars I and II. He denounced the evils of the Trilateral Commission and “Red Teachers.” Rock’n’roll was a “Pavlovian Communist mind-control plot.” He wrote speeches for George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama and presidential candidate. “
Gary Allen is one of the most popular writers that John Birchites read and believe with a zeal that is nervous-making,” wrote Nicholas von Hoffman in a 1972 Washington Post column. He wrote mail-order books and pamphlets distributed through a John Birch mailing list. ....
Gary Allen’s writings conveyed great distrust of the established order. He saw conspiracies in both parties, despised Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger for their internationalism and the “establishment media” for enabling the “communist conspiracy.”
Mike Allen traverses politics with a boyish and almost star-struck quality toward the assumed order. He is diligent in addressing leaders by proper titles, ranks, “Madam Speakers” and “Mr. Presidents” (a scout is reverent). Friends said
he seemed particularly enthralled to be covering the White House during the Bush years and was spotted at all hours around the briefing room and press area. ....
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