Free Republic

In an RV swing through Northern Virginia in late August, there wasn't really time for Robert F. McDonnell, the Republican candidate for governor, to stop in West Springfield. But an urgent memo awaited from his senior advisers in Richmond...A 20-year-old academic thesis -- in which McDonnell had presented a deeply conservative vision of government and criticized working women, single mothers and homosexuals -- had surfaced. McDonnell needed to sign off on the campaign's response, and then he needed to race to a rally...That moment brought the greatest test of McDonnell's disciplined campaign. Would he be able to maintain his focus...

The Post and Our Community - A Journalistic Commitment Eugene Meyer, who bought The Post in 1933, had a vision of what makes a newspaper truly great, and that vision included serving the public according to seven principles:

Never assume the public option is dead. The headline is like a splash of cold water for people who think the public option might be dead and for those campaigning against government insurance. From the WaPo: A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows that support for a government-run health-care plan to compete with private insurers has rebounded from its summertime lows and wins clear majority support from the public.

The NYT is calling Marcus Brauchli, the executive editor of the Washington Post, a liar. The NYT has reported this morning -- in a brief, buried "postscript" in the corrections column -- that it now has evidence that Brauchli lied last July when he told the NYT that he didn't know the paper's controversial corporate-sponsored dinner parties would be off-the-record. The NYT doesn't state flatly that Brauchli lied. But the juxtaposition of the two Brauchli statements in the postscript make clear the NYT's position that he misrepresented the truth in interviews with the NYT. [UPDATE: In an email to The...

I thank the Fates every day that my greatest professional mistakes came when nobody was watching. This morning, as her newspaper reported the spiking of a piece of the sort she had bad-mouthed, Washington Post Publisher Katharine Weymouth must be wishing that the Fates had been as kind to her. Earlier this summer, Weymouth got in Dutch when a Post plan to sell off-the-record access to reporters and government officials at "salons" at Weymouth's home was made public by Politico. Weymouth and Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli quickly canceled the events after much confusion over whether the paper had put...

Obviously, the "main stream" media are hard of hearing and seeing. About 2 million mad-as-hell taxpayers assembling in Washington, D.C. for the largest-ever (most well-behaved ever, most respectful ever) protest did not make it onto their radar screens (or our TV screens). They need our help. Maybe we cannot repeat an assembly of 2 million mad-as-hell taxpaying patriots in one place, but surely those who longed to go and couldn't would love to be a part of Operation "Can You Hear Us Now?" I'll bet for every one patriot who went to D.C. there are 10-20 more who wished they...

Dear Newsweek, I have subscribed to your publication for 21 years, subscriber number #########, and have decided to allow my subscription to end as scheduled December 13, 2010. As can be told from both the length of my subscription and expiration date I have renewed early and often. However I can no longer welcome a magazine so contrary to my personal and family views into my home on an ongoing basis. First it was having to digest your skewed polls with MSNBC, fine, everyone needs a media partner and having sold television advertising for the better part of my professional...

The marketing executive at the center of The Washington Post’s discredited plan to charge power-brokers for private dinners with the paper’s publisher and journalists has resigned from The Post, the paper disclosed on Friday. The Post had sent fliers to lobbyists and trade groups, inviting them to pay $25,000 or more to sponsor salons at the home of Katharine Weymouth, the publisher — off-the-record dinners with reporters, editors and government officials. The plan became public in July, drawing sharp criticism from journalists in and out of the paper, and The Post quickly dropped it.

The marketing executive at the center of a controversial series of Washington Post-sponsored dinner "salons" has resigned from the newspaper some 10 weeks after the events were canceled, The Post said Friday. Charles Pelton, who had helped organize and promote the monthly dinners as The Post's newly hired general manager of events and conferences, made no mention of the controversy in his resignation letter to Post President Stephen P. Hills. Instead, Pelton wrote, "Given the current circumstances with regard to the resources needed to launch [an events business], my family and I have decided not to relocate to Washington, D.C.,"...

Bob McDonnell, the Republican nominee for governor in Virginia, defended himself Monday after the Washington Post reported that his 1989 master’s degree thesis advocated a number of controversial, socially conservative positions. The Post reported Sunday that he described working women and feminists as "detrimental" to the family and said government policy should favor married couples over "cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators." McDonnell said repeatedly on a conference call with reporters that his views on many social issues have changed since he wrote the thesis, and blamed his Democratic opponent, state Sen. Creigh Deeds, for making polarizing social issues a “central issue...

Democratic politicians and the MSM consider it a given that concerns about the "end-of-life counseling" provision in Section 1233 of a House-drafted version of health care legislation are but the unfounded product of right-wing fear mongering. But Charles Lane of the Washington Post, certainly no right-winger, has taken a careful look at Section 1233 and finds that he too is concerned. Lane argues that the "consultations" provided for in Section 1233, while not mandatory, are not "purely voluntary" either as the Democrats have claimed. Thus, he writes "Section 1233 lets doctors initiate the chat and gives them an incentive --...

The Washington Post's ill-fated plan to sell sponsorships of off-the-record "salons" was an ethical lapse of monumental proportions. Publisher Katharine Weymouth and Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli have now taken full responsibility for what was envisioned as a series of 11 intimate dinners to discuss public policy issues. For a fee of up to $25,000, underwriters were guaranteed a seat at the table with lawmakers, administration officials, think tank experts, business leaders and the heads of associations. Promotional materials said Weymouth, Brauchli and at least one Post reporter would serve as "Hosts and Discussion Leaders" for an evening of spirited but...

My, my, my. In what is without a doubt the best foot stomping, squealing, hold-your-breath-until-you-turn-purple fit I’ve seen in quite some time, and it’s all because Sarah Palin had the gall to write an op-ed and that the Washington Post had the nerve to publish it. But to set the record straight someone named Art Brodsky, a writer at the Huffington Post is letting us know that, gosh darnit, Sarah Palin just doesn’t have the right to publish that opinion piece in the Washington Post. Here are just some of the samples of his hissy fit: It’s not simply that...

The Washington Post's ill-fated plan to sell sponsorships of off-the-record "salons" was an ethical lapse of monumental proportions. Publisher Katharine Weymouth and Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli have now taken full responsibility for what was envisioned as a series of 11 intimate dinners to discuss public policy issues. For a fee of up to $25,000, underwriters were guaranteed a seat at the table with lawmakers, administration officials, think tank experts, business leaders and the heads of associations. Promotional materials said Weymouth, Brauchli and at least one Post reporter would serve as "Hosts and Discussion Leaders" for an evening of spirited but...

BEFORE Sarah Palin stepped on the story, the talk of the Belt way was Salongate at The Washington Post. The venerable newspaper hatched a scheme whereby it would hold a series of "salons" at the home of publisher Katharine Weymouth in order to sell lobbyists and corporations access to Obama administration officials and the Post reporters and editors who cover them. "Bring your organization's CEO or executive director literally to the table," read a flier for the first event. "Interact with key Obama administration and congressional leaders . . . Spirited? Yes. Confrontational? No. The relaxed setting in the home...

I want to apologize for a planned new venture that went off track and for any cause we may have given you to doubt our independence and integrity. A flier distributed last week suggested that we were selling access to power brokers in Washington through dinners that were to take place at my home. The flier was not approved by me or newsroom editors, and it did not accurately reflect what we had in mind. But let me be clear: The flier was not the only problem. Our mistake was to suggest that we would hold and participate in an...

Katharine Weymouth, the relatively new publisher of The Washington Post, is a lawyer who worked for the company for 12 years and was educated at the Harvard School of Business, so she is hardly a naïf in running a business. But she has never worked in a newsroom, a gap in her résumé that may have contributed to her current problems. As first reported in Politico, The Washington Post had sent out a brochure offering sponsorships — a fee of $25,000 for one, or $250,000 for an entire series — for an exclusive “Washington Post salon” at Ms. Weymouth’s home...

WaPo cancels lobbyist eventBy: Mike Allen and Michael Calderone July 2, 2009 08:04 AM EST Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive "salon" at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors. The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he felt it was a conflict for...

It was fast. Very fast. At 8.04am, Politico's Mike Allen publishes an article: "For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few" -- Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper's own reporters and editors." At 10.33am, Washington Post editor Marcus Brauchli sends out an email:

On the same day Republicans surrendered a symbolically significant seat in the Senate, the Sarah Palin wars erupted again inside the party. Leaks followed by trash-talking followed by recriminations. The latest Palin flare-up began in Vanity Fair with a lengthy article by Todd S. Purdum examining the Alaska governor's past and her potential future. The controversy migrated instantly to the Web and the blogs -- it was, in fact, made for the viral communication that dominates today's politics -- and became even more intense, nasty and personal. The Palin controversy highlights personal enmities and strategic disagreements among Republicans. The victory...

The Washington Post recently did a poll in conjunction with ABC about health care and its results are revealing. While a majority of Americans want health care reform, it's the concerns of Americans that reveal just where current health care ideas are headed. About 80% of Americans were concerned that health care reform would increase government expenses, increase the deficit, decrease the quality of their own health care, decrease choice in health care.

CALIFORNIA FINDS itself in more than a bit of a bind: Facing at least a $21 billion budget deficit, the state could run out of money in a matter of weeks. Borrowing to help fill the hole will be challenging and expensive, given that California has the lowest credit rating of all 50 states. Last week's warning by Standard and Poor's to Britain about a possible debt downgrade will make risky government borrowing even more difficult. The state would like to see Uncle Sam pick up part of the tab; but as steeped in the bailout business as the feds...

The Washington Post Co. lost money in the first quarter, as advertising revenue fell 33 percent at the namesake newspaper and the company's education and cable TV businesses couldn't make up the difference. Washington Post stock slid $61.09, or 15 percent, to $357.50 in midday trading Friday after the earnings report. The publisher, whose properties also include Newsweek magazine and Kaplan education services, lost $19.2 million, or $2.04 per share, compared with a profit of $38.8 million, or $4.08 per share, in the year-ago quarter. The newspaper division reported an operating loss of $54 million. And to punctuate that unit's...

The Washington Post Co. swung to a loss for the second time in less than a year, as the company's first-quarter earnings were dragged down by losses in its newspaper and magazine divisions and expenses in its education division.... The newspaper division reported an operating loss of $53.8 million caused by steep fall-offs in advertising, which are being felt across the industry. Print advertising revenue at The Post plummeted 33 percent in the first three months of this year, compared to the same period last year, and revenue at The Post's online properties -- chiefly, Washingtonpost.com -- dropped 8 percent...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The New York Times unveiled plans on Thursday to eliminate several weekly sections of the newspaper in the latest cost-cutting move at the prestigious but financially troubled daily. The Washington Post, meanwhile, announced a sweeping editorial reorganization at the newspaper and details of its plan to merge its currently separate print and online operations into a single newsroom. The Times said it was doing away with several weekly sections "in a bid to save millions of dollars" in ink, paper and freelance reporter costs, absorbing them into other parts of the newspaper. On the chopping board are...

If you’re an editor at the Washington Post, don’t get too comfy at your desk. Because your bosses may be getting ready to move you. A wide-ranging editorial reorganization is afoot at the paper, and staffers are busy exchanging whatever details they can pick up. But they’re hard to come by. Several top editors confirmed that the plan is coming soon but get touchy when pushed on details. “I think people in the newsroom are going to be quite happy with the choices of the people who are going to be leading the paper,” says Peter Perl, a top newsroom...

All parties, no matter how rip-roaringly fun, must eventually come to an end. Hardly any of them get a newspaper obituary. But Washington Post's Monica Hesse was on hand to offer a parting toast to the "Guerrilla Queer Bar", wherein gay and lesbian revelers would "invade" a "straight bar" to dance and drink the night away, all in the name of promoting "tolerance" of alternative lifestyles. Alas, lamented Hesse in her April 6 story, "[a]fter five years, 43 bars, 48 events, and at least one instance of a guy whipping his shirt off and gyrating to Madonna in front of...

The Washington Post newspaper will follow a money-losing 2008 by losing "substantial money" in 2009 and will continue to cut costs, Post Co. Chairman Donald E. Graham said in a letter to shareholders included in the company's annual report released yesterday. The Post Co. newspaper division -- which is dominated by the flagship paper but also includes the Everett (Wash.) Herald, Express and a number of smaller papers -- reported a $24.9 million operating loss last year. As a whole, The Post Co. -- which also owns the Kaplan education company, Cable One cable company, six television stations, Newsweek, Slate...

<p>It looks like it's taking people a long time to get the hint that Meghan McCain is rubber, and they are, in fact, glue. The latest media figure to tangle with Meg? Howard Kurtz, Washington Post reporter, and host of CNN's Reliable Sources.</p>

he Washington Post will stop publishing a business section six days out of the week and move business news to the front section of the paper at a time when finance stories dominate world headlines. The decision, which the Post's editors explained in a memo obtained by Reuters, means that the paper will save money on newsprint when newspaper advertising revenue is plunging.

The Washington Post has plans to fold its daily business section into the A section, according to sources at the paper. Staffers will be meeting shortly, and I expect an announcement soon. Will update when more information is available. UPDATE: Staffers have now been notified of the changes in the business section and other parts of the paper in a memo obtained by POLITICO. From Monday through Saturday, business coverage will now run in an expanded A section that includes National and International News, Economic & Business section, a Washington Business page, the Fed page, and Editorial and Op-Ed pages....

How many people actually listen to Rush Limbaugh, the radio talk titan White House officials have spent the past week characterizing as "the head of the Republican Party"? According to what Limbaugh delights in calling "the drive-by media," the number varies wildly. Is it 30 million (Pat Buchanan on MSNBC), 20 million (Time magazine, ABC News), 19 million (Fox News), 14 million (CNN), or "14.2 million to about 25 million" (The Washington Post)? Answer: Maybe. Limbaugh is widely acknowledged to be the most popular talk-radio host, as evidenced by the record $400 million, eight-year contract he signed with his syndicator...

I don't know if Newsweek is as eager to be rid of Israel as "The State of Islam" is these days or not, but on its interactive online map of the mid east, the news mag is featuring a map of Israel labeled as "Palestinian Territory." Once you click over to the Newsweek map, holding the mouse over the tiny red shape north of Egypt will bring up a popup map showing Israel clearly labeled as "PalestinianTerritory." Here is a screen shot of the current map on Newsweek's site:

Jennifer Rubin, a mainstay of Commentary’s “Contentions” blog, does a fine job deconstructing the Washington Post’s editorial on Pres. Obama’s first three weeks in office. Rubin’s bottom line: “The Washington Post editors can’t quite bring themselves to condemn the president outright, but they sure do give some hints that they aren’t pleased.”

The growing exodus of mainstream reporters from the nation's capital has ceded much of the turf to a new, more specialized kind of journalism. Just as newspaper, magazine and television bureaus here are shrinking or shutting down at the dawn of the Obama administration, high-priced newsletters and trade publications are filling the breach. Climate Wire, an online newsletter launched last year, now has more Washington staffers -- 10 -- than Hearst Newspapers. "This dramatically changes what gets covered and how," says Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, which surveys the new landscape in a report released...

There hasn't been this much excitement in the Washington Post newsroom since Brad Pitt dropped by. Barack Obama, here for a meeting with Post editors and reporters, did what comes naturally for a politician: He worked the room. The whole room. The whole room of grizzled journalistic veterans, most of whom stood and, well, stared.

Stop the presses. After an exhaustive investigation, the Washington Post has exclusively learned that "some" conservatives believe that "some" advisers to Barack Obama are too liberal. The newspaper's Web site yesterday included the article, "Obama's Team Rankles the Right: To Some Conservatives, Advisers Are Alarmingly Liberal." The piece begins: To some staunch conservatives watching President Bush relinquish the reins of power to President-elect Barack Obama, a few too many ardent liberals are now crashing the gates. Some well-known Democratic activists are advising Obama on how to steer federal agencies, including a few whom conservative Republicans fought hard to keep out...

WaPo steps in Pallywood Doodoo? Something Smells ... Apparently, Gaza journalists are having trouble finding civilians among the casualties. Reports estimate 90% of killed are “militants.”

(Editor’s Note: This column by Larry D. Grathwohl, a former FBI informant in the Weather Underground, was written in response to Charles Lane’s December 11, 2008, Washington Post column, “The Unreal Bill Ayers: Three Decades After the Weather Underground’s End, He’s Still Justifying Its Means.” This Grathwohl column was rejected for publication by the Washington Post.) I am Larry Grathwohl and have been acknowledged as the only person to infiltrate the Weather Underground as an informant for the FBI. I offer the following comments and observations regarding the article “The Unreal Bill Ayers” recently written by Charles Lane for the...

"De mortuis nil nisi bonum." Of the dead, nothing but good. So said Dean Acheson of Sen. Joe McCarthy on his death in 1957. "Tailgunner Joe" had bedeviled the secretary of state for his lassitude toward communist penetration of State in President Truman's time. But the passing of Mark Felt, associate director of the FBI in the later Nixon years, lately exposed as "Deep Throat," the source for the Woodward-Bernstein stories, calls forth some rebuttal to the tributes lavished upon Felt as the honest lawman who saved our republic. When the Watergate break-in was traced to the Committee to Reelect...

Two newspapers set the agenda for the rest of the media: The Washington Post and The New York Times. The stories they break, the play they give them, and the way they characterize candidates, events, and issues are usually adopted by both print and broadcast reporters. As a Christmas gift, I am happy to report that one of those newspapers — The Washington Post — appears to have discarded its liberal slant and become a fair newspaper. As a Washington Post reporter from 1970 to 1985, I have been dismayed by the way the paper, along with much of the...

A week after Washington Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell agreed with readers who saw “a tilt toward Democrat Barack Obama” in the paper's campaign coverage, Howell this Sunday admitted she voted for Obama and “bet” that so did “most” in the Post's newsroom: I'll bet that most Post journalists voted for Obama. I did. There are centrists at The Post as well. But the conservatives I know here feel so outnumbered that they don't even want to be quoted by name in a memo.

As media outlets across the fruited plain float the notion that Sarah Palin hurt John McCain's chances of winning the White House, the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza will break with the herd on Sunday to dispel this nonsense. Imagine that. As the last of his "5 Myths About an Election of Mythic Proportions" slated for Sunday's print edition but already available at the paper's website, Cillizza parted with his fellow journalists who believe "McCain made a huge mistake in picking Sarah Palin": Love her or loathe her, the data appear somewhere close to conclusive that Palin did little to help...

I know I shouldn’t be, but sometimes I am just struck with breadth and depth of the stupidity of the MSM. Al Gore as Secretary of State? Because global warming is the number one issue? What in G-d’s name is this dude smoking?

“Controversial.” “Onerous.” “Ideologically offensive.” These are the words used by Washington Post reporters Ceci Connolly and R. Jeffrey Smith to describe the pro-life policies of President George W. Bush. The liberal slam came in an article about some of the early actions President-elect Obama will seek to take when he is inaugurated next year. “Obama Positioned to Quickly Reverse Bush Actions” was carried in the November 9 edition of the Post. The story revealed that Obama is “now consulting with liberal advocacy groups” in order to create a hit list of “the most onerous or ideologically offensive” regulatory and policy...

Tuesday's Republican debacle was, as the social scientists say, "over-determined." It had many causes. Was it brought on by congressional corruption, Bush administration incompetence, intellectual exhaustion or John McCain's failings as a candidate? All of the above -- and then some. In 2006, voters set out to punish Republicans for loose practices in Washington -- most spectacularly the scandal involving lobbyist Jack Abramoff -- and the mishandling of the Iraq war. This year, they decided that Republicans deserved another whipping, even before the September financial meltdown added yet another black mark against the Bush administration.

The Washington Post Co. today reported an 86 percent decline in third-quarter earnings compared to the same period last year, as a significant loss at the flagship newspaper offset gains at the company's education and cable divisions. For the quarter, The Post Co. had net income of $10.3 million ($1.08 per share) on $1.1 billion in revenue, compared to net income of $72.5 million ($7.60) on $1 billion in revenue in 2007. The company's newspaper division -- which includes The Post, the Everett (Wash.) Herald and several community papers -- reported an operating loss of $82.7 million for the quarter,...

At a time when newspaper company bonds are almost uniformly rated as junk, The Washington Post Co. has maintained top ratings among agencies impressed by the diverse holdings that cushion it from the cyclical and permanent pressures on newspapers. But now Moody's Investors Service is threatening to downgrade its stellar rating of the Post Co. Moody's reaffirmed it A1 "very high quality" ratings for the Post Co.'s senior unsecured debt and commercial paper -- but changed its ratings outlook from stable to negative, suggesting a downgrade is ahead. "The negative rating outlook reflects Moody's concern that acquisition activity over the...

THE NOMINATING process this year produced two unusually talented and qualified presidential candidates. There are few public figures we have respected more over the years than Sen. John McCain. Yet it is without ambivalence that we endorse Sen. Barack Obama for president. The choice is made easy in part by Mr. McCain's disappointing campaign, above all his irresponsible selection of a running mate who is not ready to be president. It is made easy in larger part, though, because of our admiration for Mr. Obama and the impressive qualities he has shown during this long race. Yes, we have reservations...

Has anyone been paying attention to the bogus polls that are intentionally adding in blacks to the tally of surveved voters to apparently increase Obama's percentage in said polls? 1.) Here's one such poll: From The ABC News/Washington Post poll: "This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone Sept. 27-29, 2008, among a randon sample of 1,271 adults, including an oversample of African Americans weighted to their correct share of the national population, for a total of 165 black respondents." There is no need to increase the number of blacks into this poll or any poll, because over time...