Yesterday we picked up on a story from Michael Calderone about how Rush Limbaugh had taken the unusual step of encouraging his listeners to call their congressmen and complain about the health care bill. Then he gave out the Congressional Switchboard number. (more...)

Rush Limbaugh is putting his mouthpiece where his mouth is, so to speak. In an almost unheard of move (it's apparently only happened once before) Rush Limbaugh announced the Capitol switchboard number on air and encouraged his listeners to call their local representatives and push back against health care. Rush Limbaugh, many of you probably already know, has the largest radio audience in the country. Needless to say the lines were apparently jammed. (more...)

So maybe it wasn't just the Salahis that pushed Desiree Rogers out of her job as White House social secretary. Turns out it might actually been a penchant for putting on expensive dresses...oh and perhaps being a tad too frank with the press. This from Peter Baker at the NYT (also the author of this weekend's NYT Mag story on Rahm): (more...)

Those hoping Sally Quinn would get one last chance to air her family drama on the prized cover of the Washington Post's Friday Style section were likely disappointed to find there was no Quinn, only another story about the president handing out awards and earnest Washingtonians creating a "coffee party" to challenge the tea party. (more...)

This is one of those times where you have to wonder whether Sarah Palin is truly a media genius. Or merely a sign of things to come. Or both. Yesterday, Palin's longtime spokesperson and "adviser" Meg Stapleton announced she was resigning her position to spend more time with her family. (more...)

You know, in hindsight, it is sort of stunning that no one has done anything like this sooner. Responding to recent criticisms made by Countdown host Keith Olbermann that the Tea Party movement effectively had no diversity amongst its ranks, the Dallas Tea Party organization has produced a remarkably effective video response. Not only does the video feature a number of men and women of color, but it also highlights the remarkable lack of diversity on MSNBC's line-up. Judge not, lest ye be judged? (more...)

I'm fairly certain that at some point this is going to end in tears. Regular watchers of the White House will likely already be aware that both deputy press secretary Bill Burton and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs are now on Twitter. (more...)

video Turns out we are not the only ones paying attention to Glenn Beck's immediate influence on the world of book sales. Glenn Beck apparently also has an eye on the rocketing Amazon rankings of the books he recommends (even the evil ones!). During a segment on yesterday's Presidents Day show that focused on Lincoln and promoted the book 'Lincoln at Peoria' penned by his guest Lewis Lehrman, Beck boasted that every book he mentioned skyrocketed right up the sales charts proving, among other things, that his viewers were the smartest ever. (Video below.) (more...)

Ah, a tale of two tabloids. Over the weekend Governor Paterson, who admitted early on in his term that he and his wife had not always been faithful to each other, and whose son was arrested last week for shooting dice, (which is to say, Paterson is not new to the tabloids) was seen canoodling with a strange woman in New Jersey steakhouse. Or not. Politico's Michael Calderone first noted the different versions: behold the NYP vs. the NYDN over the case of our lovin' Governor. (more...)

There's no argument that brand name newspapers have undergone huge shifts in recent history. We've read David Carr's estimation of partisan changes at the Wall Street Journal, and countless reports and predictions about the future of the New York Times. Now, the next issue of The New Republic dedicates its cover story to evolution at the storied Washington Post under the new reign of Katharine Weymouth and Marcus Brauchli. According to an excerpt posted by Michael Calderone at Politico, the story uses "interviews with approximately 50 current and former Post staffers" and "tells the story of the internal conflicts that have unfolded at the paper in recent years." Here's the full teaser via Politico:

"It’s no secret that The Washington Post has had a rough few years. From financial struggles to ethical controversies to bureau closings to buyouts of top reporters to the death of its book review section to the rise of a dogged competitor in Politico, the Post has often seemed beset by bad news. In our latest cover story, media reporter Gabe Sherman takes readers inside the Post’s struggles with a fascinating account of the paper’s turmoil. Drawing on interviews with approximately 50 current and former Post staffers, Gabe tells the story of the internal conflicts that have unfolded at the paper in recent years. He provides a detailed look at the paper’s two relatively new leaders – Katharine Weymouth, promoted to publisher two years ago, and Marcus Brauchli, the executive editor she chose to lead the newsroom. And he offers a persuasive theory for the Post’s problems: Unlike The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal, it hasn’t been able to settle on an identity. "

How we donate now! Oy. While the country is reaching into their pockets (and cell phones) and donating in record amounts to the Haiti relief effort, the New York Times sent out this awkward email yesterday informing its staff it would not be ponying up for their generosity. Politico's Michael Calderone snagged this memo to staffers: (more...)

What a difference a Christmas holiday makes! There was plenty of speculation earlier this week that President Obama would be returning to a much different Washington post the Underwear Bomber (and that was before 'Black Tuesday'!) but looks like the landscape may have changed for Sarah Palin as well, as least where books are concerned. (more...)

The media establishment in New York may frequently feel that the dismantling of their industry has reached what could be described as biblical proportions of the "dogs and cats living together" type. Be that as it may, it apparently is not yet bad enough for the New York Post and the New York Daily News to consider "printing together," despite the fact such an arrangement would feasibly be to their mutual benefit. (more...)

poll Last week, Mediaite asked you who was the top online editor of 2009. As we'd mentioned at the time, some sites didn't quite fit into the bloggy rubric. Which is why in this round, we're recognizing sites which are too vast and ambitious in scope to describe in terms of the work of just one editor. You know the drill, loyal, smart, and attractive readers: below is a list of our nominees for the top site of 2009, including The Business Insider, Ars Technica, Politico, and Talking Points Memo. Vote for your favorite, or leave any deserving candidates you think we left out in the comments: (more...)

The 100 buyouts at the New York Times, announced earlier last month, have begun. Keith Kelly reported the other day that 50 unionized newsroom employees would be taking buyouts and the names have been trickling out since yesterday. (more...)

Last February HuffPo's Sam Stein made news when he became the first 'blogger' (though really he's a reporter who writes for a website) to be called on by the President of the United States during a press conference. Many people who follow these things saw it as a bit of a watershed moment wherein the Internet was officially deemed a respectable, trustworthy news source. (more...)

There has been no love lost between Andrew Sullivan and Sarah Palin, to put it mildly. I have noted number of times on this site that over the last year or so, Sullivan has appeared to lead the so-called Trig-birther charge, calling numerous times for Palin to produce evidence that Trig is actually her son: some people feel the circumstances surrounding his birth suggest Palin couldn't possibly have been his biological mother. This particular conspiracy theory has gained enough of a following that when I published ten questions Oprah might ask Sarah Palin (she hit on about five of them, by the way) the one that received the most attention by far was the one about Trig Palin's parentage. (more...)

Almost a week after the fact, lots of fascinating details are starting to trickle in about Lou Dobbs' departure from CNN. Why did he announce his resignation on Wednesday instead of the more customary Friday? Bad luck to bow on Friday the 13th. What sort of severance did he get? For the headline-impaired among you, that would be $8 million. The big question: is Dobbs planning on going into politics? (more...)

Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall's bastion of investigative reporting on the web, is the newest member of the White House press pool, according to an announcement from the White House Correspondents' Association on Friday afternoon. (more...)

video/poll Hat tip to Politico's Michael Calderone for digging through the web archives for this Sunday's much talked-about Meet The Press to find this gem: Mike Murphy and Rachel Maddow going off about a prospective Maddow For Senate campaign. (more...)

Alex Rosenwald, the director of media outreach for Americans for Limited Government, included NBC producer Jane Stone on a mass email to different news organizations attempting to drum up attention for content on the libertarian think tank's website about ACORN. And that's all anybody can agree on. ALG claims that Stone replied to Rosenwald, writing "Bite me Jew Boy.” NBC claims Stone simply wrote “Take me off this list!” (more...)

Did you miss Muammar el-Qaddafi's (or Gadhafi/Gaddafi/Qadhafi depending on who your media source is) address to the United Nation's General Assembly this morning? It was a doozy. And at 90 minutes long (the time limit is 15, by the way) perhaps best viewed from Twitter, which courtesy of ABC's Jake Tapper, CBS's Mark Knoller, Salon's Mike Madden, Anna Marie Cox, and Politico's Ben Smith and Michael Calderone among others, was distilled it down to its very best parts...with one or two embellishments. It made for the best twitter read I've had since Sarah Palin announced her resignation. Behold. Who knew a former "terrorist" (President Reagan's words, not mine) from Libya could bring out the media funny so well. (Note: Tweets in reverse chronological order.) (more...)

It's the question on the minds of many, and it's certainly worth asking. Whether or not it's good for America is only an afterthought, but first, the real issue: Is Glenn Beck the new Rush Limbaugh? (more...)

President Obama had an outburst last night! Sort of. Alas, it was less Kanye-style than actually about Kanye West -- the President was quoted on Twitter referring to him as a "jackass" -- but it's still a headline dominator this morning. Also, it was supposed to be off the record. However, thanks to the beauty of Twitter we all get to enjoy the unedited Obama. Here's what happened. (more...)

Out with the old, in the with the new, the amateur and anybody who can get a following on Facebook. This week Politico filed two stories about photojournalists in the nation's capital that provided (yet another) moment to see how photojournalism has evolved over the last two decades: the retirement of Pulitzer-winning AP veteran Ron Edmonds; and the rising stock of a Hill press assistant-turned-photojournalista Charlotte Sellmyer. (more...)