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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

The Washington Post Puts a Romney Blogger on the Payroll to Attack Romney’s Opponents

The Washington Post has been subsidizing the left’s bloggers for a while now. Greg Sargent is a veritable mouthpiece of the Democratic National Committee. Ezra Klein repackages left-wing talking points as an “economics” blogger or some such despite the fact that his only credential as an economist is a college degree in political science.

Now the Washington Post has put a Mitt Romney blogger on the payroll and everybody is pretty open about that connection.

Jenn Rubin, when not pushing out Romney talking points is in favor of freeing traitors, claims to be a conservative covering the conservative movement, though she has nothing in common with conservatives other than hating terrorists. A conservative friend says she’s best understood as ‘Likud’ rather than Republican or conservative. There’s nothing wrong with being Likud, but one ought to be honest about it. (Please be sure to read this update regarding this reference)

In any event, in a profile in the Politico, we get two rather stunning admissions for a supposedly objective blogger covering the conservative side of the aisle for the Washington Post.

Couple these two together and one must objectively wonder how the Washington Post can keep her on the payroll without fundamentally changing the description of who she is and what she does.

First:

Anonymous Republican attacks on Perry, for instance, may or may not come from Romney aides, she said.

and second:

[Her attacks on Rick Perry] often echo or prefigure former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney’s attacks on him.

Together, that paints a picture of a blogger who is ostensibly charged with covering conservatives for the Washington Post abusing her position to fixate on one candidate at the expense of another — though to be fair, Rubin has attacked pretty much any candidate who comes close to Romney in the polls whether it be Michele Bachmann, then Rick Perry, and also Herman Cain.

She does, however, adore Chris Christie and adored Rick Santorum when he was attacking the non-Romney candidates.

On Tuesday alone, Rubin wrote eight attacks on Rick Perry alone in a column styled as “commentary from a conservative perspective.”

But this “conservative” has sided with the guy 75% of the Republican primary voters do not want, is pro-abortion, and cannot even admit that all partial birth abortions are wrong. To be fair, I guess it is progress to have someone at the Washington Post who at least speaks for 25% as if they are something.

But I object to the characterization of her. Not only is she not a conservative, she’s shilling for one candidate while being paid by the Washington Post.

COMMENTS

  • don12345

    I’m glad one Washington Post blogger is supporting conservatives like Mitt, which is better than all their other bloggers that support liberals. If she was a liberal blogger she would be bashing Mitt like all of the liberals along with Obama is doing right now.

    WRITING in New York, Benjamin Wallace-Wells makes a case that Bain Capital under Mitt Romney played a significant role in creating the contemporary economy:

    “Romney developed one of the tools that made this possible, pioneering the use of takeovers to change the way a business functioned, remaking it in the name of efficiency. Whatever you think of his politics, you have to give him credit,? says Steven Kaplan, a professor of finance and entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago. ?He came up with a model that was very successful and very innovative and that now everybody uses.?

    Romney single-handedly helped us beat the Japanese in the 90′s. Now he’s here to single-handedly help us win against the Chinese in the 21st century. Too good to be true, why of course, and I can’t believe the American people would let that happen since we all know that we really want to live in a Libertarian Somalia under Obama instead.

    Regarding Mitt Romney’s flip flops:

    I view it this way knowing Romney is a conservative businessman. It’s like building a good stock portfolio. If the company earning reports are bad, you sell. If the earning reports are good, you buy. The idiots are the ones who hold on to their stocks as their companies file for bankruptcy to stay true to their convictions.

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    From personal experience, I am aware that editors have differentiated “journalists” and “bloggers,” allowing greater latitude to the latter.

    Be forewarned; the argument that has been invoked is the desire for provocative interaction, even if documentation-ethics need not be respected.

    Ultimately, however, a clear message is being conveyed to the core members of the TEA Party Movement….one that should motivate those who have derived pride from infiltrating the GOP into concerted action against the obvious “establishment” candidate [who goes "squish" whenever an issue arises that hasn't yet been polled [such as Kasich's referendum].

  • avgjo

    He’s not getting his money’s worth…

  • sunshinek67

    Case in point, Romney and Perry: Money Reflects Performance. She erroneously reported that Perry’s money dropped in September after the debates, specifically the Tampa one.

    Fact is, looking at the FEC charts, Perry raised more money the first and last weeks of September, with the last week being his 2nd highest intake. The two middle weeks of September he ran a close 2nd to Mitt Romney.

    From Hot Air,

    “The pace is even more impressive. Perry had 49 days in which to raise funds, rather than the full 92 days of the quarter, a rate of about $349,000 a day. The final debate in September didn?t hurt Perry?s fundraising rate, either. In the 42 days prior to the Orlando debate, their rate was $323K per day; in the eight days following the Orlando debate, that escalated to $478K per day. Perry?s on-line operation did well, too, drawing in $1.1 million ? despite, as my source says, not driving contributions with their on-line ads.”

  • cajungirl2012

    For calling Rubin out for what she is. Lately she seems to be an unhinged Perry stalker. Not that I ever expect to see anything honest written about Republicans in the Washington Post. Especially if it originates from the sleazy Romney camp.

  • sunshinek67

    Americans do not need a corporate chop shop czar living in the White House. We need a leader that inspires social values while simultaneously implementing policy that will jumpstart the economy. I realize there is a 25% electorate out there that believes in this guy, or in his money. The last line of your thread is a thinly veiled attempt to characterize the 75% electorate that does NOT and most likely will not in large numbers warm up to Mitt Romney.

  • mirac777

    Apples are apples and oranges are oranges. Calling Romney a conservative is about as ignorant as calling Bernie Madoff ” My honorable friend across the aisle,” as we see these misfits in Congress do so often in plumping and fluffing up each other’s feathers. When this is all said and done Romney’s big government spending will make GWB look like Ebeneezer Scrooge . Straddling the fence as all “moderates” are want to do is exactly how this country got $15 trillion dollars in debt. Moderate politicians are gutless, soul-less pawns who lack the core principles and backbone to actually take a stand on the important issues facing America today.

    It’s nice to see Erick calling out the lefty Romney-pimps over at the WAPO. As far as Ezra Klein goes, what kind of self-respecting person calls themselves a “WONK”. ( as in his leftist rag blog site) Klein belongs right down there with the idiots at OWS that cry because they have college degrees ( in liberal arts, or Somalian Social Justice) and then can’t get a real job. Just what does a political science degree qualify you to do in the private sector workforce anyway? Answer? Become a pimp of a prost. for one political party or the other. It sure as heck doesn’t give anyone qualifications to tell me who to vote for or what a conservative is [supposed] to be.

  • mollyminks

    Why can’t journalists just report the news. There is too much shenanagins going on at every political race. I think polititions should wear their sponsor’s/contributer’s decal logos on thier jackets like the drivers do in Nascar

  • 1stRichard

    We voted Romney in to change the horrible state we are in

    http://www.redstate.com/1strichard/2011/02/27/the-american-dream/

    this was an epic failure and now he wants us to trust him with the nation, excuse me for being a skeptic.

  • gunslingr45

    about right to me. A liberal booger errr blogger for a liberal Romney.

    “For those who have fought for it, Freedom has a taste the protected will never know” IN GOD WE TRUST

  • gunslingr45

    Well said!
    you would have to stick a match under my rump to get any heat for Mitt.

    “For those who have fought for it, Freedom has a taste the protected will never know” IN GOD WE TRUST

  • gunslingr45

    you had me laughing at “conservatives like Mitt.”

    ?For those who have fought for it, Freedom has a taste the protected will never know? IN GOD WE TRUST

  • billstanley

    Objective reporting of the news does not exist anymore. The media only wants to influence people. www.newsandopinions.

  • bobguzzardi

    This is distressing. Jen Rubin was an excellent commentator when she was at Commentary Contentions. Unfortunately, she has become like David Brooks or David Frum and moved to the salons of “moderate and pragmatic” Establishment Republicans. Not good.

    Big Business is not the friend of The Forgotten Taxpayer.

    Big Business and Wall Street are not conservative; they are opportunistic. Mitt Romney is Wall Street’s candidate and even WSJ shills, in a more subtle way, for him.

    As I see it, the election will be Main Street and The Forgotten Taxpayer v. Wall Street-Washington Network of Big Government Insiders.

    Rick Perry is The Guy.

  • ltcoldon

    Romney,Huntsman,Daniels,Lugar take your pick they are whats wrong with the Republican party.Not my cup of TEA.

  • politicalgal1

    as they are having a real credit crunch these days. Romney’s strength might be in “managing”. That’s why we don’t need a businessman trying to manage the nation’s economy.

    The WSJ isn’t high on Mitt’s 59-point “management” plan either!

  • rmacgilv

    I have a number of concerns about Mitt.The biggest is his left leaning environmental history.I am sure Rubin is shilling for Romney and I am pretty sure Eric is carrying Rick’s water.I would like both to just come out and say it.Me,I am for Newt.Full disclosure.Let’s have a lot more of that around here.Lastly,I will vote for a hemorrhoid rather than Obama.

  • red_oakster

    because it sounds like an accusation of dual loyalty.

    I prefer Perry and it’s been disheartening to see Rubin attacking him. But reasonable people can differ on whom they prefer to be the nominee. Earlier in the cycle, Rubin was strongly positive about both Bachmann and Pawlenty, so equating her dislike for Perry with being non-conservative is just silly.

  • clintonformccain

    She’ll be just another faux-Republican (see Brooks, David) who pretneds to be a conservative while clucking about the stupidity of conservatives and siging of the brilliance of liberals.

  • http://jeffemanuel.net Jeff Emanuel

    Rubin has no pretense of being a reporter. Unfortunately, WaPo does sell her as representative of the conservative movement as a whole, when she has a very narrow ideology and writes everything from that perspective.

  • bobguzzardi

    Jenn Rubin is not “Likud” by any stretch. In fact, Likud is not Likud.

    Rick Perry is solid and reliable on Israel and is, actually, better on Israel defense issues than Israeli government which allows itself, reasonably, to be pressured by US government.

    Israel needs the US as an ally.

    For some reason, Jenn Rubin identifies with the Washington-Wall Street mindset. I think that is what happens when you sell out to the WaPo.

  • http://jeffemanuel.net Jeff Emanuel

    …sounds like a declaration of dual loyalty.

  • http://jeffemanuel.net Jeff Emanuel

    She’s too pro-natsec and pro-Israel for that.

  • carolina

    WaPo is doing a ‘favor’ for some friends in the establishment. The masses likely will not be reading Rubin, and the political junkies (like us) will see it for what it is.
    If it is a blog, I presume folks can respond and take her to task.

  • drivlikejehu

    Rubin is a true neo-con; she switched sides because of the GOP’s military/foreign policy but never really changed her views on domestic issues. People can do whatever they want but the out-sized influence of neo-cons has always bothered me for that reason, though some also adopted legitimately conservative views on most economic issues. They are probably close to unanimous in being pro-Pollard though.

  • bryankdonnelly

    It should come as no surprise that Mitt “McCain II” Romney, the candidate of the GOP Washington-New York establishment has to resort to PAID blog posters. He has almost NO geniune “grass roots” support that procuces thousands of energetic volunteers, as does Herman Cain. He is, for most of us conservatives, merely “Obama LITE.” We DO NOT want him as our nominee!

    I was up at “Presidency5″ in Orlando last month; went there to vote for Perry, ended up backing Herman Cain. Perry just does not “have it” to get elected. Here in Florida we are getting a massive volunteer effort going to support Herman Cain and defeat RINO Romney in our Jan. 31st primary. Same thing is happening in Iowa and South Carolina. Obama is beatable. Why nominate another Nixon type like Romney, a big government “Republican?” We do NOT want to be ruled by the former governor of the People’s Republic of Taxachusetts.

  • red_oakster

    They all have called for Pollard’s release. Again, I don’t agree with the view, but this kind of language undercuts the argument.

  • msjallen

    is hiring a blogger for Mitt and against the other candidates then that proves we DON’T need Mitt. I pray that I don’t have to vote for him. I don’t trust the RINO. He is as slick as Clinton and as devious as 0.

  • tailfins1959

    This isn’t scientific or anything, but I know hard core liberals at Harvard that said they would take Romney any day over Perry. I may question parts of conservatism, but hearing that made me really question Romney. If you really believe Perry will be the nominee, you can multiply your money by seven over at Intrade if your belief is correct. I’m close to putting a couple hundred on that and bailing when it gets to about 40, it’s currently at 14.

  • bryankdonnelly

    Absolutely right! Forgot how “slick” Romney was. Comes from having been running for the presidency since 2005. You have to give him credit though, his “core principles” are as variable as the latest poll or focus group. How moderate of him.

  • dskinner11

    In the 2008 cycle she was just as anti-Romney as she is now anti-Perry. I was very suprised earlier this year when I started to read some of her stuff that is neutral to positive on Romney.

    I still don’t think she is that much pro-Romney as pro-establishment. In 2008 when conservatives were with Romney in an attempt to stop McCain, she was against him, now that he is the establishment guy she moves the opposite direction of everyone else and starts to support him.

  • avagreen

    Maybe others should do the same.

  • itsmeyask

    There are sale-outs that have constantly shaped History…. For as little as 30 pieces of silver, I say if you dwell with snakes you become one.

  • lucasblack

    I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately, the person you describe is certainly not Rick Perry.

  • hoosierchristian

    In Phyllis Schlafly’s 1964 book “A Choice Not An Echo”, the author documented how the conservative movement had been marginalized in election after election as establishment kingmakers selected the party’s nominee and how that “echo” reverberated into election losses against FDR and Truman.

    Have we not learned from our mistakes? Are conservatives really so willing to split hairs over minor issues that we can’t hear the establishment train coming down the tracks? Iowa happens in just over two months. Then New Hampshire. Then South Carolina and so on. It will be over before you know it and the establishment will pick the nominee yet again. This happened last time with McCain. It happened not that long ago with Bob Dole. If conservatives don’t want to get patronized with just the bottom-half of the ticket then we MUST coalesce around a SINGLE conservative candidate NOW.

    Time is short. While people are entitled to their differences of opinions, what we can all agree on is that it’s time to wake up to the fact we’re playing chicken with the selection of another establishment-picked nominee. Seventy-five percent of the electorate may not want Romney, but unless more than one-third of those can agree on who that someone else is, Romney is going to win early and win often in the primaries.

    The time for cohesion is NOW. The time for unity is NOW. The time for decision-making is NOW. Ask yourself, which candidate has a conservative RECORD of governance and not just the right words? Which candidate has conservative ACCOMPLISHMENTS, not just an AGENDA?

    It’s time for supporters of Bachmann, Santorum and Johnson, to name a few, realize that a vote for one of them is a vote for Romney.

    Let’s get serious about choosing a candidate – one candidate who will best implement a conservative agenda once elected – and send the distractions home, even if their egos – and the press – insist on keeping them around.

    Remember: our enemies want Romney to be the candidate. That is inevitable so long as conservatives continue to get hung up on tertiary things. Keep your eyes on the prize, friends!

  • carolynr

    Where is his record concerning being Conservative??? Gay Rights?; Pro Choice; Mandated Healthcare; Cap and Trade? Please let me know…I’ve missed it with Romney. The adjective Conservative should not be linked with Romney…he can have Republican…because that is the party he chooses to run with…but Conservative…Nope.

  • nepanyrush

    “In their 2007 endorsement of Romney, the National Review editors pointed out that in 1994, when he tried to unseat Ted Kennedy, ‘ ?he ran against higher taxes and government-run health care, and for school choice, a balanced budget amendment, welfare reform, and ?tougher measures to stop illegal immigration.?? ‘

    http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/279983/mitt-romney-s-regeneration-christian-schneider

    Everyone of the candidates seem to have flaws. Even Santorum, who has been reliably conservative, ended up campaigning for Specter over Toomey (and cost Santorum a lot of support in his next election). Romney has some liberal positions — although I give him a mulligan because he was running in one of the most liberal states in the union. Despite that, and contrary to some comments (like Santorum saying he ran to left of Kennedy), Romney has consistenly held some conservative position and not been as liberal as some seem to portray.

    Romney may have waffled in some key areas, but it seems like a number of the candidates have waffled in various areas relative to conservatism. Santorum with supporting Specter, Perry with supporting in-state tutiion for illegals, Gingrich with AGW, etc.

  • YnotNOW

    Because the question is really “conservative compared to what?”
    If Romney wins the nomination, I will vote for him because he is way conservative compared to Obama. But in the primary, I would vote for Perry or Cain, because they are conservative compared to Romney. And neither of them is a “perfect” conservative, but they are conservative overall compared to other options.

    Romney is not as bad as many on this site assert, but we can do better.

  • red_oakster

    Commentary is the leading neoconservative publication and if you look at their articles on Pollard over the years, they range from very anti-pardon to ambivalent.

  • bobguzzardi

    I think this is true in many cases but Norman Podhoretz and John Podhoretz and Jonathan Tobin, the online Contentions editor, are Free Market advocates. They are, for sure, not CATO but are from being Liberal or Big Government advocates.

    Pollard is a traitor in my view but I in the minority. I think the focus on Pollard has been mistaken.

  • bobguzzardi

    Rick Perry has introduced one of the most dramatic ideas of this campaign. Unfortunately, Jen Rubin has obscured the importance of this idea with diversion of birther issue.

    I see the contest as between Main Street and Wall Street-Washington Network. It appears that that the Washington-Wall Street commentators have a visceral dislike of Rick Perry and a natural affinity to Wall Street’s candidate Mitt Romney.

    The Tea Party will be humiliated and marginalized if Mitt Romney is the Republican nominee.

  • damianvincent

    The things Romney’s doing to win this election are down right low and dirty. First it was the fliers in Fl scaring seniors telling them Rick Perry is going to take their SS checks. Then he created an entire website to attack a fellow Republican, again Perry, making a entire commercial off a discredited study on jobs and immigration in Texas, I’d bet Romney himself commissioned. He’s somehow gotten fox basically rooting for him, and now his people are in the wapo blogs.

  • damianvincent

    Man, I like Herman Cain, but this nonsense is got to end. This is how the left will portray Herman Cain, a former burger king manager proposing to raise taxes on 84% of American’s. More importantly, I do not support raising taxes on anyone, especially myself. Most important though, is this is achieved with a new form of taxation, one more washington hand in our pockets. That’s just not Conservative, hell Obama doesn’t even have the guts to propose a new form of taxation upon us. If the Democrats won’t even touch that, how is that Conservative? It’s not and I can’t support it.

  • damianvincent

    i post on politico all the time, it’s full of romney bots however.

  • damianvincent

    I think that’s why Cain was pushed up so hard, to split the Conservative vote. I just don’t see how Conservatives are supporting tax hikes with new forms of taxation???

  • williamjameson

    Rubin is not only a shill and a fake but her bias is more than enough to call for this corrupt tool to be fired. People like this are the cooking the books in the new industry making them the Enron equivalent of journalism.

    Media corruption in the USA is bordering on RICO violations of the law. Where’s OWS, rofl.

    I cancelled my WaPo subscription because this rag would rather demonize other candidates while supporting liberal extremists like Obama, Reid and Pelosi. Because they “conspire for Romney” gives me just cause to read the paper free online. No point in paying for tabloid shillery.

    Is it no surprise the WaPo attacks Senator Rubio’s family and past………..liberals would call such a story “racist”. Maybe they are based on the Herman Cain attacks. Using the liberal standards of racism, one could say yes.

  • bzip

    Cain isn’t conservative in many areas at least from what he is showing us. Cain supports TARP, doesn’t want the fed audited, proposes the 999 plan which starts a whole new national sales tax that will morph into a VAT. The guy has no prior elected office, The Dems are going to eat him alive.

    A Cain Nomination ensures a 2nd term of Obama and if it does buy some strange reason well we have another 4 years of on the job training and watching the liberal Cain govern. Why do you think Cain agrees so much with Romney. Good grief,

  • Doc Holliday

    ooh, a scary “new form of taxation”!!! lol. Money is money, it all spends the same. It does not matter if the form of taxation is new or old, the key is reducing overall taxation. I think having half the country NOT paying taxes is dangerous to our nation. The Democrat dream is a majority who pay nothing for government. These people who pay nothing will have no reason to ever vote against government spending, they have no skin in the game, they only get the largess.

    I find the argument about a scary “new form of taxation” specious and opportunistic.

  • bzip

    It’s that rock star quality you know. Can’t figure it out, he sure has no substance or record.

  • avagreen

    ……
    it doesn’t make sense, does it?

  • damianvincent

    No I keep waiting for everyone to come to their senses, and Cain’s a good guy, I don’t not like him, but his idea’s are radical, raising taxes on 84% of American’s with a new form of taxation. That sounds like something Nancy Pelosi and Obama would come up with after to much time at the bar. I’m dumbfounded really.

    Personally I’m all for Perry, he’s balanced six budgets in a row, while cutting taxes over 50 times, and reduced the debt load in Texas to the second lowest per capita rate in the nation. Through this over a million new jobs where created, and Texas had it’s credit rating upgraded. That’s the direction the US needs to go, there is far to much at state for people not to give Perry a proper look just because he isn’t the best debater. Perry’s got the record to beat, and the idea’s to beat, energy independence, a flat tax, a balanced budget amendment.

    Baffling really

  • Scope

    he is being annointed by the American Idol crowd.

  • mikeevergreen

    Her Mitt promotion is totally obvious. Doesn’t that make her ineffective?

  • 1rationalmind

    Eric, Isn?t this a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black? I don?t know if you are a paid conservative commentator for CNN, but whenever you are asked (when I?ve been watching) about the GOP 2012 presidential race or GOP candidates, you find your way to a negative comment(s) regarding Mitt Romney, spinning his positives into negatives and distorting or misrepresenting many of his positions. In short, I?m sure you would agree that your commentary regarding Mitt Romney is agenda based, which is DEFEAT Romney! Would it not be fair or right for CNN or you to disclose your agenda?

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    You people can never figure out which candidate Erick is secretly pulling for. One day it’s Romney, the next it’s Cain, then it’s Perry.

    Get your story straight.

    PS: Tu quoque is not an argument. It’s a fallacy.