When dramatic new stories break, some journalists like to pounce on the moment and insert themselves in the story.
This happened earlier this week after the explosive news broke of a Florida blogger being charged with attempted murder. Javier Manjarres, a conservative writer who many Washington journalists have encountered at CPAC, is in a Broward County jail cell for going after her sister’s boyfriend and shooting at his pickup truck. See visiting hours here.
One Washington D.C. journalist and former social media aide for a PAC supporting Carly Fiorina who won’t be going anywhere near Manjarres (a.k.a. “The Big Enchilada”) is Ben Smith (not the one of the BuzzFeed variety).
That was a close one. No matter that Manjarres was possibly protecting his sister from a violent situation, The Mirror is proud of Smith for having the good sense to steer clear of this guy.
Full disclosure: Smith is a former Daily Caller intern. He was a social media guru for the Washington Examiner before going to work for the ultra-irritating Fiorina. The Mirror occasionally forced Smith to engage in conversation about what it was like to share a name with BuzzFeed’s editor-in-chief. He also once had a hell of a Facebook page picture.