David Weigel
Encyclopedia
David "Dave" Weigel is an American journalist
, currently working for Slate
magazine and MSNBC
. Weigel began appearing on MSNBC in 2009, accepting a position as a paid contributor in June 2010. From April through June 2010 he wrote a weblog for The Washington Post
website focusing on the conservative and tea party movement
s and the Republican Party
's preparations for the 2010 midterm elections. Weigel resigned from the Post following the leak of several emails he had written on JournoList
, a private "independent to left-leaning" listserv
, that were critical of prominent conservative figures and the conservative movement.
He is a contributing editor of the libertarian Reason
magazine and was one of their staff political writers from 2006 to 2008. Weigel also served as an assistant at USA Today
's editorial page and as a reporter for Campaigns & Elections. In 2006 and 2010, Weigel guest blogged at Andrew Sullivan
's The Daily Dish for The Atlantic
. He wrote for The Washington Independent from November 2008 until early 2010. His work has appeared in numerous publications including Slate, Time
.com, The Guardian
, The American Prospect
, The American Conservative
, The American Spectator
, The Washington Monthly
, Politico
, and The Nation
.
and attended high school in England, graduating from the American Community School
in Cobham, Surrey
, on the London commuter belt
, in 2000, having moved there in 1998. He moved to Chicago in 2000 and received a Bachelor of Science
degree in 2004 from the Medill School of Journalism
at Northwestern University
, with a double major in journalism and political science
and a minor in history. While at college, Weigel wrote for The Daily Northwestern
and was editor-in-chief of the campus conservative newspaper Northwestern Chronicle. He described his interests as including politics and far right and far left radicalism. Weigel was mentioned in a 2006 New York Times article about bloggers who roomed together. At that time, he shared a house with fellow Reason.com writer Julian Sanchez
that they had dubbed "Casa de Libertarios". He presently lives in the Columbia Heights neighborhood
of Washington, DC.
, Weigel voted for Ralph Nader
, and served as a Delaware
college elector for Nader. In 2004
, Weigel voted for John Kerry
. Weigel later wrote that "[he regrets] the Nader vote, but not the Kerry vote, as a weak Democratic president with a conservative Congress would have been pretty tolerable in retrospect". He voted for Jack Ryan in the Illinois United States Senate election, 2004 Republican primary. Since early 2007, Weigel has been a registered Republican in the Washington, D.C. area, in order to vote for Ron Paul
at the Republican primary stage of the 2008 presidential election
. In 2008
, Weigel voted for Barack Obama
, explaining "I really don’t think McCain has the temperament to be President or the interest in standing up to a Democratic Congress... I’ve got the luxury of a guilt-free, zero-impact vote in the District of Columbia, which I would cast for Bob Barr
if he was on the ballot". In January 2011, Weigel stated that he has voted for Republican Patrick Mara
on elections to the Council of the District of Columbia
, and that he has voted for Mara "every time he's been on the ballot." He confirmed this in April 2011.
s editorial page and as a reporter for Campaigns & Elections. He has contributed articles to Slate, The Guardian, The American Prospect, The American Spectator, The Washington Monthly, The American Conservative, Politico, and The Nation. He has appeared on NPR
's Fresh Air
and MSNBC
's The Rachel Maddow Show
. Weigel has also blogged for The Economist
's "Democracy in America" blog, and guest-blogged for Andrew Sullivan
's "Daily Dish" blog.
Weigel wrote for the libertarian
magazine and website Reason from 2006 to 2008. He remains a contributing editor.
Weigel wrote frequently at the Washington Independent between 2008 and 2010 and was one of the "best sourced" reporters there, according to Michael Calderone of Politico.
He then took a job writing the "Right Now" column on The Washington Post website focusing on aspects of the conservative movement. Weigel told Politico that "If readers get a deeper understanding of these people, their strategy, and their ideas, then I'm doing my job". The national editor of The Washington Post said Weigel was hired to add a voice to the paper's online politics coverage. Howard Kurtz
of The Washington Post said the online columns are supposed to contain a mixture of reporting and opinion.
Weigel was criticized by conservatives for tweets
that he made on May 2, 2010, that disparaged news editor Matt Drudge
, and that called opponents of same-sex marriage "bigots". Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America
responded that Weigel's "arrogance disqualifies him as a serious journalist assigned to covering conservatives". Politics Daily
noted that The Washington Post's guidelines require Post journalists to "refrain from writing, tweeting or posting anything ... that could be perceived as reflecting political, racial, sexist, religious or other bias or favoritism that could be used to tarnish our journalistic credibility". Weigel apologized on May 3.
were posted online by the website Fishbowl DC and later by Tucker Carlson
's conservative news site, The Daily Caller
. JournoList had been started in 2007 by Ezra Klein
as an invitation-only discussion and debate forum for bloggers and reporters. The excerpts of Weigel's archived emails contained negative remarks about various public figures associated with American conservatism such as Pat Buchanan
, Matt Drudge
, Newt Gingrich
, and Rush Limbaugh
as well as being critical of the way many news outlets cover the more fringe elements and so-called "grassroots" members of American conservatism. Weigel said all of the emails were sent before he joined The Washington Post. He apologized on line before the second round of email excerpts was published on the Tucker Carlson site, explaining that he had thought the off-the-record listserv environment was a place where he could "talk bluntly to friends". However, The Washington Post responded that the apology could not save his job because "the damage was too severe". Jim Geraghty
of the National Review Online
hinted at another reason for the dismissal, saying "there was definitely a perception that his blog was designed to make conservatives look bad".
As a result of the leaked emails, Weigel resigned from The Washington Post and Ezra Klein
shut down JournoList. The executive editor of The Washington Post said the paper "can’t have any tolerance for the perception that people are conflicted or bring a bias to their work.” Journalist Marc Ambinder
of the Atlantic said Weigel was forced to resign under an "old media", "non-ideological standard that just doesn’t exist". In closing down JournoList, Klein said it had "become a weapon, and insofar as people's careers are now at stake, it has to die". Describing Weigel as "an idiosyncratic libertarian who likes some politicians and media figures, and not others", Klein said that Weigel's "likes and dislikes do not fall neatly across party lines". Remarking that leaked information can show only a partial, cherry picked truth, and that it can be just plain wrong, Klein said that if other emails had been chosen, Weigel could have been made to look like a conservative extremist.
's show, which was followed by Olbermann's announcement that Weigel had joined MSNBC
as a news contributor.
Politico
, listing Weigel as one of the "50 politicos to watch", commented that "Weigel may have lost a blogging job with The Washington Post over his leaked e-mails to an off-the-record liberal e-mail list, but he didn’t exactly damage his career. If anything, the enthusiastic endorsements of his reporting skills after he left the Post last month brought Weigel to the attention of a wider audience than the relatively small group of conservative activists and the reporters who write about them for whom Weigel has long been a must-read" and that he expected to sign on to “some outlet that has a big online presence” by the end of July.
In August 2010, Weigel joined Slate magazine (owned by The Washington Post) as a political reporter. Weigel said "This is the magazine that invented the sort of journalism I want to do", he continued, "And I'm very pleased that I'll get to continue working the beat I developed at the Post, the Independent, and Reason". Weigel runs a blog covering politics, focusing largely but not exclusively on the conservative movement, his area of expertise. He also writes long-form pieces.
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, currently working for Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
magazine and MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
. Weigel began appearing on MSNBC in 2009, accepting a position as a paid contributor in June 2010. From April through June 2010 he wrote a weblog for The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
website focusing on the conservative and tea party movement
Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian, and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009...
s and the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
's preparations for the 2010 midterm elections. Weigel resigned from the Post following the leak of several emails he had written on JournoList
JournoList
JournoList was a private Google Groups forum for discussing politics and the news media with 400 "left-leaning"...
, a private "independent to left-leaning" listserv
LISTSERV
LISTSERV was the first electronic mailing list software application, consisting of a set of email addresses for a group in which the sender can send one email and it will reach a variety of people...
, that were critical of prominent conservative figures and the conservative movement.
He is a contributing editor of the libertarian Reason
Reason (magazine)
Reason is a libertarian monthly magazine published by the Reason Foundation. The magazine has a circulation of around 60,000 and was named one of the 50 best magazines in 2003 and 2004 by the Chicago Tribune.- History :...
magazine and was one of their staff political writers from 2006 to 2008. Weigel also served as an assistant at USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
's editorial page and as a reporter for Campaigns & Elections. In 2006 and 2010, Weigel guest blogged at Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Michael Sullivan is an English author, editor, political commentator and blogger. He describes himself as a political conservative. He has focused on American political life....
's The Daily Dish for The Atlantic
The Atlantic Monthly
The Atlantic is an American magazine founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1857. It was created as a literary and cultural commentary magazine. It quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets,...
. He wrote for The Washington Independent from November 2008 until early 2010. His work has appeared in numerous publications including Slate, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
.com, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, The American Prospect
The American Prospect
The American Prospect is a monthly American political magazine dedicated to American liberalism. Based in Washington, DC, The American Prospect is a journal "of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics" which focuses on United States politics...
, The American Conservative
The American Conservative
The American Conservative is a monthly U.S. opinion magazine published by Ron Unz. Its first editor was Scott McConnell, his successors being Kara Hopkins and the present incumbent, Daniel McCarthy....
, The American Spectator
The American Spectator
The American Spectator is a conservative U.S. monthly magazine covering news and politics, edited by R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. and published by the non-profit American Spectator Foundation. From its founding in 1967 until the late 1980s, the small-circulation magazine featured the writings of authors...
, The Washington Monthly
The Washington Monthly
The Washington Monthly is a bimonthly nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C.The magazine's founder is Charles Peters, who started the magazine in 1969 and continues to write the "Tilting at Windmills" column in each issue. Paul Glastris, former...
, Politico
Politico (newspaper)
The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...
, and The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...
.
Early years and background
Weigel was born and raised in Wilmington, DelawareWilmington, Delaware
Wilmington is the largest city in the state of Delaware, United States, and is located at the confluence of the Christina River and Brandywine Creek, near where the Christina flows into the Delaware River. It is the county seat of New Castle County and one of the major cities in the Delaware Valley...
and attended high school in England, graduating from the American Community School
ACS International Schools
ACS International Schools is a group of three schools based in England and one in Qatar. Until 2005, the organisation was known as American Community Schools. The four campuses are located in Cobham and Egham in Surrey and in the London Borough of Hillingdon and Doha, Qatar which is due to open in...
in Cobham, Surrey
Cobham, Surrey
Cobham is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, about south-west of central London and north of Leatherhead. Elmbridge has been acclaimed by the Daily Mail as the best place to live in the UK, and Cobham is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt...
, on the London commuter belt
London commuter belt
The London commuter belt is the metropolitan area surrounding London, England from which it is practical to commute to work in the capital. It is alternatively known as the Greater South East, the London metropolitan area or the Southeast metropolitan area...
, in 2000, having moved there in 1998. He moved to Chicago in 2000 and received a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in 2004 from the Medill School of Journalism
Medill School of Journalism
The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University which offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It has consistently been one of the top-ranked schools in Journalism in the United States...
at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, with a double major in journalism and political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
and a minor in history. While at college, Weigel wrote for The Daily Northwestern
The Daily Northwestern
The Daily Northwestern is a student newspaper at Northwestern University that is published on weekdays during the academic year. Established in 1881 and published in Evanston, Illinois, it is run entirely by undergraduates, many of whom are students at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.The...
and was editor-in-chief of the campus conservative newspaper Northwestern Chronicle. He described his interests as including politics and far right and far left radicalism. Weigel was mentioned in a 2006 New York Times article about bloggers who roomed together. At that time, he shared a house with fellow Reason.com writer Julian Sanchez
Julian Sanchez
Julian Sanchez is an American libertarian writer living in Washington, D.C.. Currently a research fellow at the Cato Institute, he previously covered technology and privacy issues as the Washington Editor for Ars Technica...
that they had dubbed "Casa de Libertarios". He presently lives in the Columbia Heights neighborhood
Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C.
Columbia Heights is a neighborhood in central Washington, D.C.-Geography:Located in the Northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C., Columbia Heights borders the neighborhoods of Shaw, Adams Morgan, Mount Pleasant, Park View, Pleasant Plains, and Petworth. On the eastern side is Howard University...
of Washington, DC.
Political affiliations
In 2000United States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
, Weigel voted for Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
, and served as a Delaware
Delaware
Delaware is a U.S. state located on the Atlantic Coast in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It is bordered to the south and west by Maryland, and to the north by Pennsylvania...
college elector for Nader. In 2004
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
, Weigel voted for John Kerry
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...
. Weigel later wrote that "[he regrets] the Nader vote, but not the Kerry vote, as a weak Democratic president with a conservative Congress would have been pretty tolerable in retrospect". He voted for Jack Ryan in the Illinois United States Senate election, 2004 Republican primary. Since early 2007, Weigel has been a registered Republican in the Washington, D.C. area, in order to vote for Ron Paul
Ron Paul
Ronald Ernest "Ron" Paul is an American physician, author and United States Congressman who is seeking to be the Republican Party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Paul represents Texas's 14th congressional district, which covers an area south and southwest of Houston that includes...
at the Republican primary stage of the 2008 presidential election
Republican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
The 2008 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election...
. In 2008
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, Weigel voted for Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
, explaining "I really don’t think McCain has the temperament to be President or the interest in standing up to a Democratic Congress... I’ve got the luxury of a guilt-free, zero-impact vote in the District of Columbia, which I would cast for Bob Barr
Bob Barr
Robert Laurence "Bob" Barr, Jr. is a former federal prosecutorand a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2003. Barr attained national prominence as one of the leaders of the impeachment of...
if he was on the ballot". In January 2011, Weigel stated that he has voted for Republican Patrick Mara
Patrick Mara
Patrick Mara is a political strategist and school board member in Washington, D.C.In 2008 Mara defeated incumbent Carol Schwartz in a heated 2008 Republican primary for an at-large D.C. Council seat. He went on to lose the general election, coming in fourth place with 10 percent of the vote, behind...
on elections to the Council of the District of Columbia
Council of the District of Columbia
The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative branch of the local government of the District of Columbia. As permitted in the United States Constitution, the District is not part of any U.S. state and is instead overseen directly by the federal government...
, and that he has voted for Mara "every time he's been on the ballot." He confirmed this in April 2011.
Career
Weigel began his professional career as an editorial assistant and researcher for USA TodayUSA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
s editorial page and as a reporter for Campaigns & Elections. He has contributed articles to Slate, The Guardian, The American Prospect, The American Spectator, The Washington Monthly, The American Conservative, Politico, and The Nation. He has appeared on NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
's Fresh Air
Fresh Air
Fresh Air is an American radio talk show broadcast on National Public Radio stations across the United States. The show is produced by WHYY-FM in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its longtime host is Terry Gross. , the show was syndicated to 450 stations and claimed 4.5 million listeners. The show...
and MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
's The Rachel Maddow Show
The Rachel Maddow Show (TV series)
The Rachel Maddow Show is a news and opinion television program that airs weeknights on MSNBC at 9:00 p.m. ET. It is hosted by Rachel Maddow, who gained popularity with her frequent appearances as a liberal pundit on various MSNBC programs. It is based on her former radio show of the same name...
. Weigel has also blogged for The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
's "Democracy in America" blog, and guest-blogged for Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Sullivan
Andrew Michael Sullivan is an English author, editor, political commentator and blogger. He describes himself as a political conservative. He has focused on American political life....
's "Daily Dish" blog.
Weigel wrote for the libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
magazine and website Reason from 2006 to 2008. He remains a contributing editor.
Weigel wrote frequently at the Washington Independent between 2008 and 2010 and was one of the "best sourced" reporters there, according to Michael Calderone of Politico.
He then took a job writing the "Right Now" column on The Washington Post website focusing on aspects of the conservative movement. Weigel told Politico that "If readers get a deeper understanding of these people, their strategy, and their ideas, then I'm doing my job". The national editor of The Washington Post said Weigel was hired to add a voice to the paper's online politics coverage. Howard Kurtz
Howard Kurtz
Howard "Howie" Alan Kurtz is an American journalist and author with a special focus on the media. He is host of CNN's Reliable Sources program, and Washington bureau chief for The Daily Beast. He is the former media writer for The Washington Post. He has written five books about the media...
of The Washington Post said the online columns are supposed to contain a mixture of reporting and opinion.
Weigel was criticized by conservatives for tweets
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
that he made on May 2, 2010, that disparaged news editor Matt Drudge
Matt Drudge
Matthew Nathan Drudge is the American creator and editor of the Drudge Report, a news aggregation website. Drudge is self-described as being conservative and populist. Drudge has also authored a book and hosted a radio show and a television show.-Early years:Matthew Drudge was raised in Takoma...
, and that called opponents of same-sex marriage "bigots". Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America
Concerned Women for America
Concerned Women for America is a conservative Christian public policy group active in the United States best known for its stance against abortion...
responded that Weigel's "arrogance disqualifies him as a serious journalist assigned to covering conservatives". Politics Daily
Politics Daily
Politics Daily was an American political journalism web site launched by AOL News in April 2009. It described itself as a "political news magazine for the general reader."Melinda Henneberger, a former Newsweek and New York Times reporter,...
noted that The Washington Post's guidelines require Post journalists to "refrain from writing, tweeting or posting anything ... that could be perceived as reflecting political, racial, sexist, religious or other bias or favoritism that could be used to tarnish our journalistic credibility". Weigel apologized on May 3.
Controversy over leaked e-mails and resignation from The Washington Post
In late June 2010, excerpts of several of Weigel's private emails from JournoListJournoList
JournoList was a private Google Groups forum for discussing politics and the news media with 400 "left-leaning"...
were posted online by the website Fishbowl DC and later by Tucker Carlson
Tucker Carlson
Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson is an American political news correspondent and conservative commentator for the Fox News Channel...
's conservative news site, The Daily Caller
The Daily Caller
The Daily Caller is a news website based in Washington, D.C., United States, with a focus on politics, original reporting and breaking news, founded by journalist and political pundit Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel, former adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney...
. JournoList had been started in 2007 by Ezra Klein
Ezra Klein
Ezra Klein is a liberal American blogger and columnist for The Washington Post, columnist for Bloomberg, a columnist for Newsweek, and a contributor to MSNBC...
as an invitation-only discussion and debate forum for bloggers and reporters. The excerpts of Weigel's archived emails contained negative remarks about various public figures associated with American conservatism such as Pat Buchanan
Pat Buchanan
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...
, Matt Drudge
Matt Drudge
Matthew Nathan Drudge is the American creator and editor of the Drudge Report, a news aggregation website. Drudge is self-described as being conservative and populist. Drudge has also authored a book and hosted a radio show and a television show.-Early years:Matthew Drudge was raised in Takoma...
, Newt Gingrich
Newt Gingrich
Newton Leroy "Newt" Gingrich is a U.S. Republican Party politician who served as the House Minority Whip from 1989 to 1995 and as the 58th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999....
, and Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
as well as being critical of the way many news outlets cover the more fringe elements and so-called "grassroots" members of American conservatism. Weigel said all of the emails were sent before he joined The Washington Post. He apologized on line before the second round of email excerpts was published on the Tucker Carlson site, explaining that he had thought the off-the-record listserv environment was a place where he could "talk bluntly to friends". However, The Washington Post responded that the apology could not save his job because "the damage was too severe". Jim Geraghty
Jim Geraghty
Jim Geraghty is a conservative blogger and regular contributor to National Review Online and National Review. In addition to writing columns for National Review, Geraghty also blogs for National Review Online and is a former reporter for States News Service.During the 2004 US Presidential election,...
of the National Review Online
National Review
National Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
hinted at another reason for the dismissal, saying "there was definitely a perception that his blog was designed to make conservatives look bad".
As a result of the leaked emails, Weigel resigned from The Washington Post and Ezra Klein
Ezra Klein
Ezra Klein is a liberal American blogger and columnist for The Washington Post, columnist for Bloomberg, a columnist for Newsweek, and a contributor to MSNBC...
shut down JournoList. The executive editor of The Washington Post said the paper "can’t have any tolerance for the perception that people are conflicted or bring a bias to their work.” Journalist Marc Ambinder
Marc Ambinder
Marc Ambinder is an American editor and journalist. He is a White House correspondent at National Journal and is a contributing editor at The Atlantic. He previously worked at ABC News and was chief political consultant to CBS News from 2008 to 2011. For years he was the author of an influential...
of the Atlantic said Weigel was forced to resign under an "old media", "non-ideological standard that just doesn’t exist". In closing down JournoList, Klein said it had "become a weapon, and insofar as people's careers are now at stake, it has to die". Describing Weigel as "an idiosyncratic libertarian who likes some politicians and media figures, and not others", Klein said that Weigel's "likes and dislikes do not fall neatly across party lines". Remarking that leaked information can show only a partial, cherry picked truth, and that it can be just plain wrong, Klein said that if other emails had been chosen, Weigel could have been made to look like a conservative extremist.
After The Washington Post
On June 28, Weigel did a segment on Keith OlbermannKeith Olbermann
Keith Theodore Olbermann is an American political commentator and writer. He has been the chief news officer of the Current TV network and the host of Current TV's weeknight political commentary program, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, since June 20, 2011...
's show, which was followed by Olbermann's announcement that Weigel had joined MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
as a news contributor.
Politico
Politico (newspaper)
The Politico is an American political journalism organization based in Arlington, Virginia, that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio. Its coverage of Washington, D.C., includes the U.S. Congress, lobbying, media and the Presidency...
, listing Weigel as one of the "50 politicos to watch", commented that "Weigel may have lost a blogging job with The Washington Post over his leaked e-mails to an off-the-record liberal e-mail list, but he didn’t exactly damage his career. If anything, the enthusiastic endorsements of his reporting skills after he left the Post last month brought Weigel to the attention of a wider audience than the relatively small group of conservative activists and the reporters who write about them for whom Weigel has long been a must-read" and that he expected to sign on to “some outlet that has a big online presence” by the end of July.
In August 2010, Weigel joined Slate magazine (owned by The Washington Post) as a political reporter. Weigel said "This is the magazine that invented the sort of journalism I want to do", he continued, "And I'm very pleased that I'll get to continue working the beat I developed at the Post, the Independent, and Reason". Weigel runs a blog covering politics, focusing largely but not exclusively on the conservative movement, his area of expertise. He also writes long-form pieces.
External links
- "Wiegel: Reporting about politics and policy" — Weigel's blog for SlateSlate (magazine)Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
- Weigel's articles for SlateSlate (magazine)Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
- "Right Now" — Weigel's defunct blog for the Washington Post
- Weigel's Twitter page
- David Weigel: The Remaking Of The Right, (audio), Fresh Air, NPR September 2009.
- Olbermann, Weigel Discuss Tea Bags and Captain America, The Washington Independent, February 13, 2010.
- Why the Right Wanted David Weigel Out, The Atlantic Wire, June 25, 2010.
- Video debates featuring Weigel on Bloggingheads.tvBloggingheads.tvBloggingheads.tv is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast online to viewers...