Quote of the Day:
“My wife and I had a discussion this weekend where it was agreed that I should die first. This is normal, right?”
— Matt Schwartz, assistant city editor, Houston Chronicle.
Mirror Worlds Colliding: Montel Williams is brawling with Dan Bongino who’s ripping Brian Stelter
The Players: Montel Williams sells cannabis, promotes payday loans and is a washed up daytime talkshow host and Twitter activist. Dan Bongino has a pro-Trump podcast and worldview and is a thrice-losing candidate for Congress. He’s a Fox News contributor.
MONTEL: “Let’s be clear: I said what I said to [Dan] Bongino last night because I’m the father of 3 daughters. I don’t agree with @MollyJongFast on many things. Abortion is fundamentally a women’s health issue… Abortion is not even in the top 100 most important issues facing out county.” (RELATED: Montel Says Trump Has No Soul)
MONTEL: “My reaction was a reflection of my commitment that no man, no other person’s religious views belong in a conversation between a woman and her doctor. Period.”
MONTEL: “Before we all assume I’m some abortion extremist, one might consider my Roman Catholic faith. The fact I don’t believe I have the right to make others bow to my personal religious beliefs doesn’t make me pro-‘infanticide.'”
Montel Williams prefers walking his dog to listening to Bongino’s podcast
MONTEL: “Dan: I GET MORE OUT OF WALKING MY DOG ON PERISCOPE THAN I WOULD ON YOUR SHOW. SO I DONT CARE. AGAIN THERE IS NO PROFESSIONAL METRIC IN WHICH YOU CAN COMPETE WITH ME.”
MONTEL: “Dear Dan: such a tough guy you are that you even blocked my publicist. — Montel.”
Dan Bongino dings Brian Stelter, compares him to George Constanza
BONGINO: “I was traveling the world designing multimillion dollar security plans for 2 White Houses, & investigating an international credit card fraud ring linked to terrorism, while Brian Stelter was fetching coffee for CNN execs & begging them for a show. Stelter has zero credibility.” (RELATED: Bongino Calls Me A ‘Clown)
BONGINO: “Brian Stelter is CNN’s main conspiracy theorist. Despite his poor ratings, & persistent problems with the truth, CNN keeps him on the air because they know he’ll promote debunked anti-Trump nonsense with no regard for his reputation (because he doesn’t have one).”
BONGINO: “George Costanza, aka @brianstelter, is obsessed w/me. Consistently finishing 3rd in a 3 way media race is clearly taking its toll on him. He’s upset that my podcast has a bigger audience than his show. Also, he claims to be a media critic but is unaware of how sponsors work. Odd.”
Lefty WaPo blogger offers advice to the masses
“I’d advise against responding directly to Howard Schultz’s tweets. His cynical #BothSides bait is *designed* to spark anger, which is instantly converted into proof that there’s space/need for his candidacy. Only response to his bad faith is to let it sink into irrelevance.” — Greg Sargent, editor, WaPo, The Plumline Blog.
To be or not to be on Twitter
“Folks love telling young journos to ‘stay off twitter’ while not acknowledging that, in a gilded profeession where ‘who you know’ is often just as impt as your work, social media can create networks vital for those who don’t come from privileged backgrounds or institutions. This is not a defense of how all young journalists use twitter but an indictment of the gatekeepers who are often lecturing from place of enormous privilege.” — Astead Wesley, national politics reporter, NYT.
“Folks love telling young journos to “stay off twitter” while not acknowledging that, in a gilded profeession [sic] where ‘who you know’ is often just as impt as your work, social media can allow certain ppl to tell certain actors that we needed “is that alright” in a star is born.” — Hunter Harris, associate editor, Vulture.
“If it wasn’t for Twitter my Guam ass probably wouldn’t be here.” — Gene Park, social media, WaPo.
On journalism and parties…
“I actually always assume that all journalists i meet at parties or similar social events are off the record unless stated otherwise. it’s called ‘not being a dick.’ If you’re a journalist who hangs out frequently with other journalists (as most of us do), I feel like you shouldn’t have to specify every single time you interact with someone at a party that you’re off the record. However, not everyone agrees with this.” — Hannah Gais, writer, The Baffler, The New Republic.
Gossip Roundup
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) cracks about… treating her staff like dirt at Gridiron dinner. Here. She once ate a salad with a comb.
Conservative provocateur Laura Loomer gets herself banned from everyday life. “Besides Twitter, Laura Loomer has reportedly (sometimes by her own reporting) been banned from Uber, UberEats, Venmo, PayPal, GoFundMe, and recently Chase Bank.” — Washingtonian. She also apparently bugged people at CPAC. Here.
Trumpland
“Keeping all affected by the tornados in Georgia and Alabama in our prayers.” — Ivanka Trump, first daughter.
Bill Kristol is still #NeverTrump
“Jared Kushner’s clearance is more of a national security threat than Hillary Clinton’s e-mail server.” — Bill Kristol, director, DefendingDemocracy.org.
Yahoo News reporter Vs. Sebastian Gorka
Asked Sebastian Gorka why he is no longer a Fox News contributor. This was his response. pic.twitter.com/oM0zH7ldpV
— Alexander Nazaryan (@alexnazaryan) March 4, 2019
Read all about the reporter being threatened at CPAC. (RELATED: Sebastian Gorka Tells Daily Beast Report To Lick A Street Lamp)
How CNN’s Brian Stelter frames bad news for CNN
Ann Coulter rips on Washington Post
“I had no idea what interesting articles I was missing by not reading the Washington Post!”
WaPo: “Why Americans are on track to eat the most eggs in nearly a half-century”
