The Mirror

Politico Playbook Blasts WaPo For Poor Headline Writing

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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Politico Playbook proprietor Mike Allen clearly has an axe to grind against The Washington Post. And the punches come when you least expect them. 

Over the weekend, Allen ridiculed WaPo‘s headline writing. He calls them out for their “dopey head” on a weather story. Seriously…a weather story?

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Allen’s reasons to bristle at WaPo are many. WaPo‘s Erik Wemple wrote a story about how Allen allegedly sucks up to Politico‘s advertisers. But long before Wemple — who drove Politico Publisher Robert Allbritton’s ill-fated TBD into the ground — ever came along, Politico and WaPo have been fierce competitors. Allen, President and CEO Jim VandeHei and Brussels editor John Harris are all former WaPo reporters.

Back in June, 2014, Allen took a nasty swipe at WaPo reporters Robert Costa and Karen Tumulty being late to the game on a story about Paul Ryan. He said the story was “for those who have been off the grid for the past week.” He added, “Guess the authors! … Ya can’t make this up.”

Which is pretty much a big fat “F–K YOU” in the world of church going Mike Allen.

Another Allen right hook came in late 2012 when he essentially accused WaPo of basing a story off something that already appeared in Politico. The recipients of that punch were WaPo‘s Paul Kane and Lori Montgomery, both of whom grew testy and sarcastic over even the idea that they had plagiarized anything from Politico.