Two years ago, I wrote this after my first night at Yearly Kos in Chicago:
On a lighter side, I ate dinner tonight at the same table as Roger Simon and Mike Allen of Politico. Simon has to be one the single most socially inept assholes I’ve ever encountered. He did nothing but frown and grimace…and he refused to make eye contact with anyone. Mike Allen was friendly when he introduced himself. When I told him who I was he recoiled and left the table. I guess he does read the Frog Pond.
Mike Allen and Roger Simon write for Politico and they’re supposed to be objective reporters. They are, respectively, Politico’s chief political correspondent and chief political columnist. I’ve always thought of them as thinly-veiled Republican hacks. But until tonight, they were at least thinly veiled. Mike Allen was on cable news this afternoon openly acting as a booster for Sarah Palin and Roger Simon almost hyperventilated on Hardball he was shilling so hard for her. Let me show you something. The following is Politico’s Mission Statement. Tell me if you see anything in their Mission Statement about going on cable news to act as boosters for the Republican presidential ticket.
The Politico’s goals are simple. Over the past several weeks, we set out to assemble the most talented and interesting collection of journalists — established names as well as promising young people — that we could find. Now, we will turn these reporters loose on the subject we love: national politics.
We will focus on three arenas. The first is Congress and the constant flow of agendas, personalities and power struggles that define daily life on Capitol Hill. The second is the 2008 presidential campaign, a race already churning and one likely to shape history in ways far beyond the typical election. The third is lobbying and advocacy, a part of the capital economy undergoing rapid growth and change. It is a business alive with interesting and influential characters whose impact is dimly understood and insufficiently covered.
How well do you think Politico is living up to their mission statement when they allow their chief political correspondent and chief political columnist to go on cable news and behave in a manner totally indistinguishable from a paid McCain talking head?
I am calling them out. I will track down the transcripts of Mike Allen and Roger Simon’s performances on the television today and I will distribute them far and wide. And I will contact Politico for comment. If you want to be an openly Republican outfit, that’s fine. If you want to employ openly partisan columnists, that’s fine. What’s not fine is pretending that you have an ounce of impartiality when you don’t.
