Grasping Reality on TypePad, by Brad DeLong

The Politico's Mike Allen: Democrats Are Bloodthirsty Dogs, Gushes Over Fox News & Matt Drudge, Makes Fat Jokes About Al Gore [Oliver Willis: Like Kryptonite To Stupid]: Mike Allen... appears on Matt Drudge's syndicated radio program. Ok, fine. Drudge reaches an audience and Allen's function is to get the Politico's name out there. But then... Allen calls Democrats bloodthirsty for having the nerve to serve their oversight function. He squeals like a schoolgirl with a crush when he tells conservative gossipmonger Matt Drudge that Drudge is an idol... he gushes about the success of Fox News.... Then the cherry on top, Allen simply dismisses the substance of why former Vice President Al Gore is testifying in front of congress on global warming - why bother, there are fat jokes to be made, and attacks on Gore's speaking style to be done.

This isn't the first time Allen and the Politico have carried water for the right. And it won't be the last, but this is the sort of "journalism" that passes for being fair in the modern world. You've got to kick Democrats in the teeth and kiss the rear end of Republicans in order to be seen as "serious". Something smells.

And an unnamed source within the Washington Post newsroom writes:

Something very weird has happened to Mike.

At The Post, he was "good cop" to Dana Milbank's "bad cop" with the White House press office, and was very effective.

The Post didn't much encourage reporters to go on TV, so for Mike that became a big factor when he arrived at Time. I guess that the cable/TV nexus corrupted him. He realized that in that world there was no margin in being reasoned or responsible: doing so would get you mocked as a shill and sneered at as a liberal.

Now he is at Politico, a place that is desperate to be loved and judged by the attention it gets. He has become a conduit for the snark that infests the political sewer-class.