What a complete and total asshole:
No one cared about the Facebook photos of one Pari Bradlee. No one cared that one of them portrayed her in a “Swiss-cheese bra.” No one cared that another showed her posing nude, “shot from the back, twisting one arm behind her.” No one cared that the photos were “R-rated.”
Except for Howard Kurtz, the recently installed media correspondent for Fox News. The quotes above come from his posting today, titled “Ben Bradlee’s daughter-in-law reveals (almost) all on Facebook.” Pari Bradlee, nee Pari Williamson, is married to Quinn Bradlee, son of the former and famous Washington Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee. She’s a well-known yogi, at least inside the Beltway, and her choice of photos, at least in Kurtz’s estimation, constituted a public issue worthy of FoxNews.com.
You really have to read the Kurtz piece– it’s worse than Wemple is crediting it. Love the use of the Cavuto marks, though, Howie.
This Kurtz/Wa Po feud may turn out to be very entertaining, regardless how much of an asshole Kurtz may be. Once again, DougJ from 2009:
I’m watching Monica Crowley and Pat Buchanan on the McLaughlin group and so help me God, I am praying for a dirty bomb in Georgetown.
These people will destroy us all.
Don’t be fooled by Obama — we are fucked.
We really are doomed.
Gin & Tonic
You really have to read the Kurtz piece
Uh, no, I don’t. Does anybody other than you and Howie’s mother actually give a shit?
BruceFromOhio
If Kurtz were trapped in a burning building, would you:
A. Try to save him.
B. Call 911.
C. Find flammable materials to throw on the flames.
Always let your conscience be your guide.
manyakitty
@BruceFromOhio: You beat me to it, Bruce.
SiubhanDuinne
I hate punctuation
Nunca el Jefe
You should put a link to Ed’s post today at Gin and Tacos (and the link he has to the Onion). Very relevant to your post.
Comrade Jake
I think Atrios tweeted that these folks sure do acquire the Fox-asshole personality/worldview rather quickly once they make the move to that network. With Kurtz, I don’t think there was ever any doubt that he was a grade-A jackass at heart.
Comrade Jake
Speaking of assholes:
livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/video-pat-robertson-says-san-francisco-gays-deliberately?ref=fp…
the Conster
Absolutely no one outside of Kurtz’s family and close friends (assuming he has one) would have known anything about this. The only way Kurtz will ever get anyone’s attention ever again is if he appears with Miley Cyrus. Pari Whosits isn’t going to happen, Howie.
Billy Dilly
@BruceFromOhio: If he was on fire would it bad to waste hard good urine on him?
scav
They speak internet as though it was a foreign language.
“media correspondent” Ahhhh, dedicated navel gazers.
fka AWS
What is frustrating about Kurtz is the same thing that is frustrating about all these RW hacks. He was *never* a good “media critic,” whether at WaPo or at CNN. His conflicts of interest were wide enough to drive a truck through, and yet STILL he lands on his feet. FOX will probably consider this a badge of honor for this douchecanoe.
BruceFromOhio
@Billy Dilly: Only if he was already dead.
Ruckus
@Billy Dilly:
Yes. Absolutely. Yes.
Ruckus
@BruceFromOhio:
Still not worth the effort.
SiubhanDuinne
@Comrade Jake: I don’t think it’s very nice to make fun of confused, demented, befuddled old men.
But in this case, I guess I could make an exception ( ::points and laughs:: )
BruceFromOhio
@Ruckus: … always let your conscience be your … oh, hell, you know what you’re doing. Hey, didja see the Miley Cyrus video?
LeftCoastTom
@BruceFromOhio: I think my conscience would require setting Howard Kurtz aflame as a backfire in the hopes of saving the building.
Redshift
@scav:
Even considering Kurtz’s long career of douchebaggery, the fact the he decided a good way to extend his “media criticism” to social media was to do slut-shaming about the Facebook page of someone most people have never heard of is still pretty mind-boggling.
BruceFromOhio
@LeftCoastTom: LCT, meet Ruckus! Ruckus, LCT.
beltane
This post is giving Howie Kurtz more attention than he deserves. He’s really “Howie, who?” at this point and can be safely ignored.
the Conster
@Redshift:
Howie’s “future” in media is to be a Mean Girl. He must be so proud.
Baud
@BruceFromOhio:
D. Toast marshmallows.
Botsplainer
Between the puppy and the cat. The cat is growling and the puppy is furious and shouting shrill barks at him. He’s so damn mad he can’t see straight.
The unhappiness would be perfect save for the fact that the barking is both shrill and loud. I walked the little shit, furminated him, fed him, and think he needs to go to his crate if his mouthiness continues.
I might be a little guilty of fomenting the discord for the sake of cheap amusement.
Suffern ACE
@Redshift: do you know how hard it is to find people in the media who are willing to be quoted. Do you know how long it takes to find the relatives of your Facebook friends?
Chris
@BruceFromOhio:
D. Find him, extend a helping hand, and with a beaming smile say “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.”
beltane
@Botsplainer: Puppy needs to learn who’s boss.
Gordon, the Big Express Engine
OT – red dawn is on now (the original). I completely forgot that the only black character in the movie (the teacher) gets killed first! How marvelous.
Why is the class president such a ninny? Voting on fighting or turning themselves in? Come on!
This does not rise to the level of sharknado.
Amir Khalid
If Pari Bradlee’s notoriously fastidious mother-in-law isn’t scandalised by her photos, then there is no scandal here. (I wasn’t able to see them, so I couldn’t judge for myself.) And Pari is neither a politician nor a political journalist, so how is this a political story?
Comrade Jake
@Gordon, the Big Express Engine: what channel?
Botsplainer
@beltane:
Clearly, the ancient, nasty one-eyed cat is the boss. He’s the one with the pointy things at the ends of his arms.
Ted & Hellen
Um…I’ll bite: Why is Kurtz an asshole IN THIS SPECIFIC INSTANCE (acknowledging that he is a general, all round asshole?)
The woman in question posted the pics on her FB page and made them publicly available. She’s obviously comfortable with her body and doesn’t mind people seeing her in these pics. She may well pick up some extra yoga biz as a result of his article.
Furthermore, should this type of silliness actually cause inappropriate and unnecessary embarrassment to Ben fucking Bradlee, then I’m kind of glad. He and his wife and their friends are elitist douche bags.
Cole, your puritan streak is showing.
Ruckus
@BruceFromOhio:
See there is a difference in pissing on him or his grave and setting a backfire.
That might just be worth the effort. Have to tie him to something real heavy inside first but still a worthwhile effort.
lamh36
OT, but some awesome audio.
Well, sounds to me like the President and the admin are gearing for a ACA media blitz come October reaching out to urban radio listeners. So remember this comment when October comes!
Rickey Smiley Shares His Experience Meeting President Obama [EXCLUSIVE AUDIO]
The big bit is at the beginning of the audio where Rickey Smiley talks about what they were talking about and what they were gonna do, but please listen to the whole thing.
beltane
@Amir Khalid: I don’t understand why this any kind of story at all, political or otherwise.
Bill in Section 147
While he was observatin’ did he have any of those Foxxx chix in short skirts at their plexi-glass news desks behind him or were they just running the video of last Spring’s Bikini Riot. Almost as exciting as Kentucky Tentacle Porn..
Gordon, the Big Express Engine
@Comrade Jake: encore 405 on comcast. So awesome. This movie ages like fine wine.
Suffern ACE
@beltane: I think the lack of the story is the story.
Amir Khalid
@Suffern ACE:
It’s not so much the lack of a story, it’s Kurtz’s feeble attempt to inflate nothing at all into a scandal.
beltane
@Suffern ACE: It’s better that Kurtz is writing about nothing rather than something. I see this as an improvement.
jheartney
I think this is like a gang forcing a new recruit to commit a murder so as to bind him to the group. Ailes ordered Kurtz to burn his bridges by humiliating Sally Quinn’s daughter-in-law, so now he’s unemployable by any non-Murdoch outlet. Kurtz now completely belongs to Fox.
chopper
@jheartney:
(insert nerdy comparison to palpatine and vader)
GregB
Forget it Jake, it’s Versailles on the Potomac.
Shrillhouse
Kurtz is one creepy-ass motherfucker. I’m sure his “story” earned him a high-five from O’Reilly.
Jane2
@Suffern ACE: Word.
catclub
has all the Syria news, plus this Kurtz thing, been ramped up to cover up the surprising sanity of MoDo yesterday, when she called the GOP crazy saboteurs?
Francis
What would be really funny would be for Pari to post a note on her page saying “keep yanking it, Howie. I’m never going to fuck you.”
Felonius Monk
Howie Kurtz — Sally Quinn? Why should I or anyone else give a fck?
Jeez, Cole, are Steve and the doggies sleeping. One of them should be awake at all times to keep an eye on you.
Mike in NC
Wasn’t Howie shitcanned from Daily Beast? Pretty sad career move. Maybe the Breibart folks could hire him
Roger Moore
@Bill in Section 147:
Interesting the difference from area to area. Is the desire for “ebony” porn in the South because African Americans there want to see porn involving people like them, or is it because whites have socially unpopular interests? Enquiring minds want to know.
Omnes Omnibus
@LeftCoastTom: Would a soggy piece of shit burn well enough to have an effect?
Petorado
Hopefully it sinks in for Sally Quinn that it’s not the liberals in DC that crave the “politics of personal destruction.” And maybe she’ll also finally get how toxic the DC cocktail party circuit is now that her daughter-in-law has been smeared by someone who was in her house. “He came in here and he trashed the place, and it’s not his place” should now be how Quinn refers to Howie Kurtz.
Omnes Omnibus
@Petorado: Oh, dear. Actually I was starting a sarcastic comment about you living in Happy Gumdrop World, but then I realized that an attack on someone in Sally Quinn’s family might really be a game changer.
Brandon
Am I the first to comment on the irony that Sally Quinn lost her column in the WaPo precisely because the private tribulations of her family were not newsworthy and here comes Howie Kurtz to promote the notion that they are? Howie’s article puts Sally Quinn in an interesting conundrum of mixed emotion: upset on the one hand, yet vindicated on the other. Privately I would have to assume she is mostly happy with the article, because this sort of noteriety is probably a badge of honor among the Hamptons set. Any publicity is good publicity after all. And as she probably knows better than most, if they are talking about you and you get written up in Page 6, you are still relevant and being relevant is most important of all. I wouldn’t be surprised if Howie got a tasteful thank you card and invitation to weekend at Grey Gardens (during the offseason of course) when the dust settles.
Petorado
@Omnes Omnibus: Quinn’s infamous column about DC being “our town” spoke all about “the code” that prevails in DC. Now that she’s had her “et tu Brute” moment from a fellow insider, I wonder how cozy the place feels to her now. With any luck, she may get how it feels to be Obama when libels go unanswered. Now that Kurtz is with Fox, waiting for his Pari Quinn to Paris Hilton comparison. Enjoy it Sally, you earned it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Petorado: It actually would not be a bad thing if the courtier class realized that the the current GOP and its minions are not their friends. The courtier class is not our friend, but I would rather have them as allies than enemies.
Steeplejack
@Comrade Jake:
It was on Encore. It’s coming on again (Encore East) at 1:20 p.m. EDT Friday.
Anne Laurie
@jheartney:
I agree, except I doubt it took much “forcing” — partly because Kurtz has always been a quick study picking up on what his current boss wants, partly because lots of people who’ve worked for Sally Quinn seem to enjoy dissing her!
Anne Laurie
@catclub: Well, I liked MoDo’s take!
Keith P
While I don’t endorse anyone clicking over to FoxNews.com, the comments there are brutal toward Kurtz. I’m not even sure they’re gonna keep him around for too long with articles like this.
jheartney
@Anne Laurie: You’re right, Howie may have just grokked without being told that it was time to burn the bridges. Either way, he’s Ailes’ vassal now.
The prophet Nostradumbass
As Scott Lemieux put it over at LGM: ≈ Shorter Howie Kurtz: [fap, fap, fap, fap, fap, fap, fap]
Ilya
Is this the son that lost his virginity to a hooker in the Dominican Republic per his scandalized mother in the esteemed pages of the Washington Post?