Back in 2002 or so, it would have been hard to imagine that Josh Marshall would be posting pictures of the house of the GOP staffer who had an affair with Republican senator John Ensign under the headline "Chez Hampton: Swank Vegas Digs of Former Ensign Love Triangle Staffers." (A later post added reader comments mocking the design of the house as "mafia chic.") It's yet another reminder of how Marshall's Talking Points Memo website has grown by moving downmarket.
(Disclosure: In 2000, I worked on the campaign of Ensign's opponent, Ed Bernstein.)
I've found that Marshall doesn't really remember what he's said. I wonder if the drive to expand has gotten the better of him.
Posted by: Paul Camp | June 19, 2009 at 03:20 AM
Wowza. I got disgusted with TPM and stopped checking in during the presidential primaries; it looks like things have gone downmarket (aka downmarket) since then.
Posted by: mary | June 19, 2009 at 06:43 PM
First, it's a great story that shows the GOP leadership still reeling.
Second, seriously TPM is a web tabloid?
2nd, b, build a better mousetrap.
2nd c, the model is to multi-post on stories and a subset is to rake the muck. Josh went all in on the CIA hookergate years ago. This is not a sudden Colbert-influenced departure.
Third, no news that Brendan's got a hate going, but could Matt Y jealous of Josh W?
Fourth, if lovin' Republican moral hypocrisy is wrong then I don't want to be right.
Posted by: angler | June 19, 2009 at 07:16 PM
Weird. TPM does this obsessive thing *all the time*. They latch on to a story, sometimes trivial, but always political, and then beat it to death. That's their MO, and has been for a long time.
TPM hasn't changed. Sounds more like a little snobbishness. Perhaps you can find some obscure political blog that is so much more sophisticated and feel superior?
Posted by: james | June 19, 2009 at 08:14 PM
They are pretty cynical over at TPM and many times when they scratch the surface, they do find things the MSM has missed. Using this story as an example: TPM probably thought it fishy that the guy felt guilty and just wanted everyone to know he sinned. Since the Ensign apology/admission:
1. His mistriss was on his staff
2. Her husband was on his staff
3. Other Republican Senator(s) knew about this 18 months ago.
4. He only went public when the MSM was going to out him
5. Now we learn he is using Federal funds to pay the husband to be quiet.
6. ?
Yes, call it tabloid. But I like the cynicism.
Posted by: Patrick | June 19, 2009 at 08:42 PM
Don't be a snob. TPM is fine. Seriously, does every liberal blog have to be wonky all the time?
Posted by: Blago | June 19, 2009 at 08:48 PM
What's with JMM referring to Megyn Kelly as "comely"?
Posted by: Alex | June 19, 2009 at 09:01 PM
Uh, are you familiar with the concept of hypocrisy? Ensign was one of the excoriating moral centurions of the Senate--against Clinton, against Craig, and on and on.
Guess you missed the story, and the point. Maybe Fred Hiatt will give you a job--you seem perfect!
Posted by: elle loco | June 19, 2009 at 10:31 PM
"What's with JMM referring to Megyn Kelly as "comely"?"
As opposed to what?
Posted by: SqueakyRat | June 19, 2009 at 10:36 PM
TPM latches on to stories when they think that there is more to the story than meets the eye. The Ensign story certainly fits this pattern. It may not pan out; not all of these stories do.
Possible blackmail of a sitting Senator who resigned a committee assignment after announcing the affair seems like a pretty big deal to me. The fact that the blackmail attempt may have been driven by financial desperation resulting from the housing crisis makes it a remarkable tale of our times.
What don't you get?
Posted by: BH | June 19, 2009 at 11:42 PM
Jealous Much???
Posted by: jet | June 20, 2009 at 01:08 AM
Blog Envy???
Posted by: jet | June 20, 2009 at 01:09 AM
@SqueakyRat -- what does Kelly's 'comeliness' have to do with the rest of the story? I think citing her attractiveness as the one factor worth mentioning is very much in teh vein of the old boys' newsrooms that characterized the typical midcentury newspaper.
You could mention her as "Fox News Reporter" or any descriptor relating to her performance or her ideology, but I don't think most people refer to Charles Krauthammer based on his looks, or Michelle Obama. It's rather... tabloid-like.
Posted by: Alex | June 20, 2009 at 03:22 AM
Hey, worked for Drudge. What *was* up with all that wall-to-wall Lewinsky coverage anyway?
Jealous much? Not everything in the world is as serious as cancer, and thinking so is one of the main reasons why Democrats were banished to the wilderness for thirty years. Fucking lighten up. When Maureen Dowd plagiarizes you, then you can afford to get snarky. Not until.
Posted by: Lou Dyer Jones | June 20, 2009 at 07:17 AM
TPM... along with Sullivan the best blogs on the net!!!
Posted by: Pn | June 20, 2009 at 08:19 AM
What I want to see posted is addresses and house pictures of Rash Limburger, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, etc.
Posted by: Patricia Shannon | June 20, 2009 at 01:58 PM
You are concern trolling again, Brendan.
Republican hypocrisy is the principal issue, but perhaps an even larger issue is the fact that it appears that Republican "Family Values Hypocrite" Ensign was also paying, and paying in myriad unseemly ways that may have used Republican Party money, the entire family of the married woman he was having an affair with.
That is particularly relevant.
And the site is called MUCKRACKER.
It's not called "Civility Trumps Reality."
In reality, grotesque hypocrisy is itself a political story for someone as hypocritically moralizing as Republican Ensign.
But add the clear indication that Republican Ensign was using Republican Party money to pay off the family, well that's a financially unethical scandal that might be illegal as well.
Moreover, TPMMuckraker is an excellent investigative journalism outlet that has never pretended to be anything other than advocacy journalism.
Tracking scandals over time (and TPM hits scandalous Dems as well) is important and few online outlets do it as well as TPM.
It's certainly more important and useful than concern trolling...
Posted by: News Reference | June 21, 2009 at 05:51 AM
This is rich, coming from the twerp who gave us the pathetic and dishonest Spinsanity
http://dir.salon.com/story/opinion/conason/2003/09/10/spinsanity/index.html
and who got his ass kicked by Ensign.
Posted by: X | June 21, 2009 at 06:30 PM
this is my first trip to brendan's place and i won't be hurrying back...if you really don't get the illegal payments aspect of this story...that's too bad....this post really sounds like blog envy....off to tpm
Posted by: dj spellchecka | June 23, 2009 at 04:31 PM