I was so surprised to see that Arianna had made Edsall the political editor. He is as inside DC as you get. I guess I should let nothing surprise me anymore.
Glenn Greenwald has a delightful story about candidate Gravel and Edsall. I love it. Read more about Edsall in the post.
All you need to know about the Beltway journalist mindBeaming after the Columbia event, Gravel walks with Alter to a nearby Cuban restaurant for a late lunch. On the way they encounter a gray-haired gentleman in owlish glasses. Alter greets him very respectfully. "This is Tom Edsall," he says. Edsall was a senior political writer for the Washington Post for 25 years. He retired from the paper in 2006 and now writes for the New Republic and teaches at Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.
Gravel smiles broadly and says, "Hey, can you straighten out David Broder?" Broder, an influential columnist at the Post and the unofficial godfather of the D.C. press corps, has been a target of much criticism from liberal blogs for seeming to provide political cover for Bush on Iraq, even with a majority of Americans now opposing the war. "He doesn't believe in the power of the people!" Gravel says.
Edsall blinks and looks perplexed. "David Broder is the voice of the people," he replies matter-of-factly. Gravel starts to smile, assuming Edsall is making an absurdist joke. But Edsall is not joking. The two men look at each other in awkward silence over a great gulf of unshared beliefs, then Gravel chuckles and walks ahead into the restaurant.
But Edsall is not joking. That is how Broder is viewed. Edsall is the political editor at Huffington Post.
UPDATE II: Last week, it was announced that Tom Edsall "is joining The Huffington Post news site/group blog as political editor. He'll oversee HP's 2008 election and political coverage, as well as write for the site." That seems like an odd hiring decision. I wonder if Richard Cohen was the first choice.
I love Mike Gravel, and I so appreciate Glenn Greenwald's posts.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
