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Mike Allen’s bizarre attack on Conan O’Brien

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:54:00 +0000

Do not insult the Washington Hilton in the presence of Mike Allen, or Politico's star reporter will launch a multi-day crusade against you in his widely read morning tip sheet.

Conan O'Brien made this mistake while emceeing the White House Correspondents Dinner. "You know, I was worried with the sequester that we would be forced to hold this event at less prestigious hotel than the D.C. Hilton -- then I was told that's not possible," O'Brien said in a riff mocking the aging mid-century modern hotel in Washington's Dupont Circle.

Allen was not pleased. The scribe whose odd obsession with "influence" and Washington power inspired a legendary Mark Leibovich profile cried in Playbook Monday, "Conan O’Brien hurt his buzz" by making "four baseless, elitist cracks about the Hilton, acting as if it were a Motel 5." Allen returned to the subject in today's Playbook, adding that on top of Conan's "bizarre, elitist attack on his hosts at the Washington Hilton," the comedian also eschewed the free room provided by the hotel to instead stay at the Four Seasons.

Hack List No. 1: Politico

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 21:59:00 +0000

This year, my annual list of the worst of political media highlights not just individuals, but the institutions that enable those individuals. The 2012 Hack List will be counting down the 10 media outlets that are hurting America over the next two days -- stay tuned! (Previous Hack List entries here, here and here.)

Surprise! It's Politico.

I have written tens of thousands of words on what, precisely, is wrong with Politico. But I can put the case much more simply here: It's Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei.

Politico: Politico stories don’t matter

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:41:00 +0000

There is a new story by Mike Allen, Politico star reporter and man who is unable to name a single recreational activity he enjoys, and his boss, Politico co-founder Jim VandeHei. According to this story, the last big VandeHei and Allen story -- one published three days prior to this one -- doesn't matter.

They explicitly say so. The new story is about Mitt Romney's new plan to rescue his campaign with more personal appearances and ads. (His previous strategy, I guess, was just not do any campaigning.) At the end of the story there is a recap of bad things that have happened to the Romney campaign over the last 10 days, divided into "What Does Matter" and "What Doesn't Matter." Here is my favorite entry in "What Doesn't Matter":

A hard-hitting Politico interview with “ideas machine” Newt Gingrich

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 20:36:00 +0000

Here's what I learned when Mike Allen interviewed Newt Gingrich at the Politico Hub: Newt Gingrich loves zoos because he loves animals, and many zoos are private-public partnerships.

Also: Newt Gingrich's wife, Callista, has a new children's book coming out, and it was more challenging to write than her earlier children's book. Newt's next book is about George Washington. (It is a novel.)

Newt Gingrich enjoyed Paul Ryan's speech, but he wishes Paul Ryan had said "Mr. President, she did built that" after he introduced his mom.

Here is an actual question Mike Allen -- Politico superstar reporter -- asked Newt Gingrich: "You have always been the ideas machine in the Republican Party. Are you worried that now that's going to be Paul Ryan?" Newt Gingrich, for the record, thinks there is room for two ideas machines in the Republican Party.

Here's another actual question Mike Allen asked Newt Gingrich: "You recently made a very fundamental change in your life: You switched to an iPhone from a BlackBerry." Wait, sorry, that's not a thing Mike Allen asked Newt Gingrich. That's just a thing Mike Allen said to Newt Gingrich while he was interviewing him.

Mike Allen makes around a quarter of a million dollars a year.