InTheCapital

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

www.inthecapital.com is a Streetwise Media Property set to launch in early 2012. follow @inthecapital , @cwarzel , &@carlpierre for the view from inside DC.

Good Afternoon, folks. I hope this email finds you all in good spirits as the weekend draws near. I, for one, have been receiving emails about $1 beers all day and am developing what appears to be a twitch of some sort at the thought of $1 mugs of golden ale. If booze isn’t your thing (who are you people?!), there is plenty to look forward to this weekend including, but not limited to:

OPEN BAR SPEED DATING: One word comes to mind. Dangerous. If you’re in the DC area and looking for love (among other things) this trainwreck of an idea is in need of men to drink heavily and converse with women. Link is here at your own peril: http://thingstododc.com/eventframed.php?show=121

Okay, three and a half hours till you can leave work…GO:

TWEET OF THE DAY: Absolute FIRE from The Daily Beast’s prolific blogger, Andrew Sullivan on Newt:

VIDEO OF THE DAY: 

Yahoo! and Funny or Die Parody GOP debate with a great cast. Dr. Cox from Scrubs as Rick Santorum, Puddy from Seinfeld as Rick Perry, Mike Tyson as Herman Cain, Larry King as…himself. Even Horatio Sanz came out to play too as Newt. Worth it for the intro, alone. 

http://news.yahoo.com/cyber-debate-parody-funny-or-die/

HAS ROMNEY ALREADY WON THIS THING?: After the party (NH Primary) is the after-party (which will be a decidedly lame, sparkling apple juice affair) and after the party is South Carolina, where Mitt just picked up a decisive lead and a 17% bump in polls since December on the competition. http://swampland.time.com/2012/01/06/timecnnorc-poll-romney-storms-ahead-in-south-carolina/

IF YOUR NAME IS ‘MITT ROMNEY’, YOU’RE GONNA HAVE A SHITTY WEEKEND: Raise your hand if you’d like to be the victim of Newt Gingrich’s corpulent ire, antagonized by Jon Huntsman, and condescended upon (doubt that’s proper usage) by Rick Santorum’s piousness. Two debates this weekend. Shots will be taken…probably by Newt.

INTERESTING SNIPPET: “Attacks this late in the game may not matter much. The debates played a significant role in the lead-up to the caucuses since they drove the narrative, but now that Romney has won a contest and heads into Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary as the front-runner by a wide margin, there’s a limited amount his opponents can do to drag him down…Except for the very rare silver bullet, attacks on opponents need to start before voters and the media have begun to harden their sense of who the candidate is,” said one veteran GOP strategist. “This late in the election cycle, it will be very difficult to introduce attacks and make them stick, particularly on Romney, whose vulnerabilities are so well known.” 

  http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71138_Page2.html#ixzz1ihM4C5nc”

OBAMA TO ‘MAKE IT RAIN’ ON GOV’T EMPLOYEES: Well, uh, sorta. For the first time since 2010, The White House is proposing a very small, totally-not-impressive-when-said-outloud-but-still-really-good-news pay raise for Federal civilian employees of…wait for it: .5%. It’s gonna get CRAZY in Adams Morgan TONIGHT!   http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/post/white-house-proposes-05-percent-pay-increase-for-federal-workers/2012/01/06/gIQA18fyeP_blog.html

GET WASTED WATCHING GOP DEBATES - There’s two, count ‘em, two GOP debates this weekend. They are conveniently spaced only 12 hours apart. Now we know that too much political windbaggery might lead you to eject yourself from a third-story window…but never fear! We got you covered with a GOP debate DRINKING GAME! Sure, you’ll hear the same talking points OVER and OVER…but now you’ll be drunk! [Thanks to BuzzFeed for this (older) gem] http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/the-republican-debate-drinking-game

NICK DENTON MAPS OUT GAWKER MEDIA’S 2012 STRATEGY: Damn, Nick Denton is good. This manifesto made me want to lock myself in a closet and blog till my eyes bleed.

IMPORTANT SNIPPET: “If the site as a whole is growing in both audience and reputation, we can afford for some writers to take time off from the news grind to work on a story or opinion piece that will transform the debate or win the internet. It’s more satisfying both to writers and readers that way. Relentless and cynical traffic-trawling is bad for the soul. Yes, I just said that.”

Read the whole dang thing here: http://www.observer.com/2012/01/leaked-gawker-memo-01052011/

RIDERS ‘ANNOYED’ BY SUICIDE ON THE METRO, ARE ALL GOING STRAIGHT TO HELL: Today in ‘boy, people sure are horrible’ news, woman dies on Metro and folks bitch and moan about ‘being late’. Yeah…

http://www.inthecapital.com/post/15399318642/person-struck-by-metro-friday-morning-speculation

SANTORUM LINKED TO EXCORCISMS PERFORMED ON AUTISTIC CHILD: I can’t say this even surprised me. Which is sad…and terrifying:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/rick-santorum-uhs_n_1186443.html

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

www.inthecapital.com is a Streetwise Media Property set to launch in early 2012. follow @inthecapital , @cwarzel , &@carlpierre for the view from inside DC.

Good Afternoon, folks. We got some good stuff for you guys today to ease yourselves into the home stretch. It’s nearly Friday, which means almost certainly that beer and sweet, sweet relaxation are not far away. 

I’d like to take a quick moment and implore you, the early adopters of InTheCapital.com’s ‘Working Lunch’, to help spread the word. If you’ve been enjoying the newsletter and the afternoon links, I’d like to encourage you to take roughly 60 seconds and forward it to friends/family/loved ones/etc. We’re just starting out, but we’re ambitious and we hope you can help as we drive the conversation and keep you sane at work in the coming year. If you know of anyone who might want the links have them send me an email charlie@inthecapital.com or shoot me over their address and I’ll throw them on. We appreciate your continued support of InTheCapital. Thanks!

About halfway through his screed, Kanye dropped this totally out of the blue:

We have so many questions, here; namely, WHAT THE FUCK?!

BEST OF ‘POLITICO’S PLAYBOOK’ (We Read it So You Don’t Have To): via a direct copy/paste:

“ZEITGEIST — DANA MILBANK in Manchester, WashPost A2, “Romney’s victory, minus the thrill ”: “If this is Mitt Romney’s idea of a victory rally, one shudders to think what would have happened if he had lost the Iowa caucuses. … McCain gave his endorsement address without mentioning Romney’s Iowa win until the end. ‘By the way, we forgot to congratulate him on his landslide victory last night,’ he said, laughing. … Then came the questions: First, one from an Occupy Wall Street infiltrator … A second questioner wanted to know why Romney flip-flopped on universal health care … Later, a Chinese American woman accused Romney of saying ‘degrading’ things about China … Romney sat through most of the ambush with a tight grin and raised eyebrows. … When the end mercifully came, the candidate gave a final rallying call to ‘get the White House back.’ All but a few rose and put on their coats without applauding. This undoubtedly was not the victory lap the campaign had in mind. … After Romney’s win in Iowa, it is his turn. But he doesn’t seem to be enjoying it.” http://wapo.st/xrstfx”

TWITTER FOLK TO FOLLOW IN NEW HAMPSHAH’: The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza with a stellar list of political nerds who are freezing their faces off in New Hampshire and bringing you the latest 140 characters at a time : http://wapo.st/zjjviK  

TIME MAGAZINE & MITT ROMNEY, FLIP FLOPPIN’: Has public opinon on Mitt changed like the candidate himself? Conspicuously similar covers suggest maybe yes. 

WE SAW THIS COMING - KEITH OLBERMANN REMAINS A COLOSSAL DOUCHE: The verbose Current TV pundit/enormous windbag is at odds with his network. Why? We suspect he’s probably just bored or something. I suppose the Countdown to his last day has already begun (see what I did there?). http://gaw.kr/zAobyV 

TECH GIANTS THINK ABOUT MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, GOING DARK FOR A BIT IN FIGHT AGAINST SOPA: Important to note that this is just something that’s being floated about and probably, very likely, will not happen. You can be sure we’re stocking up on bottled water, shotgun shells, torches, and pitchforks though…just in case.

IMPORTANT SNIPPET: “Wikipedia was the first to consider a blackout of their services, in order to demonstrate what SOPA could potentially do to any website that allowed user-generated content. Now, a number of sites including Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon are considering coordinated downtime on their platforms.” http://zd.net/xoqpds 

STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT THE COLD, YOU COULD LIVE IN FLORIDA: Seriously, Florida got rocked by frigid weather yesterday. Something about a pressure system and Siberia or something…I dunno…we’re not science people. http://wapo.st/wQJItO  (h/t city guru, @carlpierre)

PAYPAL FORCES YOU TO DESTROY ANTIQUES: We admit, this is slightly misleading, but it’s a wild story that goes like this: Woman tries to sell antique violin, buyer thinks its counterfiet, seller agrees to refund, strange PayPal clause dictates the violin MUST be destroyed, buyer destorys violin, WTF.

SNIPPET: “The buyer then sent Erica a picture (above) of the destroyed instrument. She contacted PayPal, who strongly defended its actions. In the Terms of Service for PayPal, there is a line that reads “PayPal may also require you to destroy the item and provide evidence of its destruction.”” Read more here: http://yhoo.it/x3tV9z

DC IS GOOD PLACE TO GET A DATE, SAYS DAILY BEAST: Our City Guru, Carl is pumped about this as he loves DC and women with equal (albeit very different) fervor. I remain skeptical though, as the study seems to cite only like, three random metrics one of which (price of avg. movie ticket) is just the dumbest indicator, well…ever. HOW WILL THE KIDS FIND LOVE IF THEY CAN’T AFFORD TO SEE ‘WE BOUGHT A ZOO’?! http://bit.ly/y8wcvm 

Okay, folks. That’s all for right now. Until tomorrow.

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

www.inthecapital.com is a Streetwise Media Property set to launch in early 2012. follow @inthecapital , @cwarzel , &@carlpierre for the view from inside DC.

Good afternoon, folks. What a night we had. CNN’s pundits got slaphappy, at one point only 1 vote separated Romney and Santorum, and Rick Santorum appeared…human? Seriously…it was bananas. 

We’d like to apologize for the lateness of the lunch links today, we’re working overtime right now to get InTheCapital up and running as soon as possible and time has a way of disappearing. Feel free to direct angry emails to charlie@inthecapital.com

TWEET OF THE DAY: There were many from Former Gov. and 2012 Presidential Candidate Buddy Roemer but this was my favorite.

“Gov. Buddy Roemer @BuddyRoemer 15h BREAKING: Nobody in Iowa knows I exist. #LetBuddyDebate”

RUNNER-UP TWEET OF THE DAY: “Russell Berman I borrowed a copy of Santorum’s “It Takes A Family” from DC public library; 1 of 2 copies in main branch, it was last borrowed in 2006” …ENOUGH SAID…right?

RACHEL SKLAR ON SANTORUM’S NEW HAMPSHIRE APPEAL: I refuse to believe Santorum will be a force in New Hampshire…then again, I refused to believe anybody sound of mind would put an check next to his name on a ballot…ever.
BEST SNIPPET: “More to the point, will people care? The GOP is weary. They’ve watched a slate of meh candidates skip gaily across the news cycle, failing to meet expectations, getting built up and torn down, while the one they can’t quite fall in love with stands there hopefully with flowers and candy. If they have a shot at another Romeo, won’t they finally want to take it? Especially when they’ve got Newt-as-Iago whispering into their ears?”  http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/01/santorum-win-new-hampshire-primary

HEY….NEW HAMPSHIRE….UH…WHAT? (via Slate’s Dave Weigel)

BEST OF BUZZFEED POLITICS TODAY: This shit is getting ADDCITIVE. DANGEROUSLY SO.

Axelrod’s Epic Romney Burn

SINCE IT’S TOO LATE FOR ‘BEST OF POLITICO’S PLAYBOOK…

SCREENGRAB OF THE DAY: Politico’s Mike Allen looking exhausted (deservedly, so) after five-plus hours of tracking the Iowa returns via livestream (no, that isn’t public access television) . BEST PART: his infamous blackberry clinging to life via charger after 22 straight hours of button mashing.

HERE’S HOW THE IOWA CAUCUSES FELT FOR ME:

(Source: ronpaulswanson)

LINKS BLITZ…

@carlpierre with these next three…

Okay folks, it was haphazard and I didn’t think we’d make it at one point there…but hopefully you can use these guys to keep you busy for the rest of your work day/evening. Until next time.

www.inthecapital.com is a Streetwise Media Property set to launch in early 2012. follow @inthecapital , @cwarzel , &@carlpierre for the view from inside DC.

By Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel

www.inthecapital.com is a Streetwise Media Property set to launch in early 2012. follow @inthecapital , @cwarzel , & @carlpierre for the view from inside DC. 

BAHHHRRGGHHH!!! Do you feel that?! That eerie calm that’s blown in over Washington like a frigid, Iowan squall over the cornfields? I sure feel it. And that’s because the 2012 Presidential race kicks off in earnest TONIGHT (gnaws the legs off his dining room table in anticipation).

Yes, folks, it’s finally here. After months and months of raw and unbridled speculation it is time for us to settle into our seats around 8pm ET and watch to see what happens LIVE. I can hardly contain myself.

NEW POLITICS SITES TO CHECK OUT: Political coverage is evolving, and quickly. Both BuzzFeed and Google rolled out politics pages this week. This is what the future will look like (yes, the future will be trend/analytics heavy with a side of memes and some LOLs thrown in for good measure). 

BuzzFeed Politics 

Google Elections

TWEET OF THE DAY: THERE ARE TOO MANY TO CHOOSE FROM SO INSTEAD I INVITE YOU TO JOIN MY SPECIAL, CURATED POLITICS TWITTER LIST! LINK IS HERE: https://twitter.com/#!/cwarzel/dc-politics

THOUGHTS ABOUT IOWA - FROM AN IOWA PROFESSOR: Thought I’d dredge this bad boy up again since we’ve finally reached caucus day. Sure, its over-the-top…but there are some scary truths in there too…

CRAZY SNIPPET: “Those who stay in rural Iowa are often the elderly waiting to die, those too timid (or lacking in educated) to peer around the bend for better opportunities, an assortment of waste-toids and meth addicts with pale skin and rotted teeth, or those who quixotically believe, like Little Orphan Annie, that “The sun’ll come out tomorrow.” 

 http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/12/observations-from-20-years-of-iowa-life/249401/3/

DON’T LISTEN TO CAUCUS-ERS: Slate does a wonderful job of describing the different types of Iowa voters from the ‘Future Bandwagon Voters’ to the ‘Undecided’ to the ‘Ashamed’. One salient takeaway for Caucus Day: MANY IOWANS STILL AREN’T 100% DECIDED ON WHO THEY’RE REALLY, ACTUALLY GOING TO VOTE FOR. 

IMPORTANT SNIPPET: “A much higher percentage of voters appear to make late decisions in the caucuses than in presidential general elections: While 10 percent of voters nationwide in the fall of 2008 told exit pollsters they made up their minds in the race’s final week, 40 percent of Republican caucus-goers in Iowa that year did. Seventeen percent said they made up their mind on the day of the caucuses.” 

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/victory_lab/2011/12/undecided_voters_in_iowa_there_are_12_different_kinds_.single.html

THINK YOU KNOW IOWA?: This video, portraying the more liberal side of Iowa, has been making the rounds. Wonder if he knows that Iowa has never elected a female Governor or Congressperson…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=qLZZ6JD0g9Y

WASHINGTON POST’S 2011 BY THE NUMBERS: The Post lets you know how well they did this year with some nice graphs. The results: Ezra Klein wins again with the most visited and read blog on the site.

CAPITOL POLICE START WEIGHT LOSS CHALLENGE: They may finally be able to catch you when you choose to ‘make your voice heard’ by streaking the monuments… http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Capitol-Police-to-Start-Weight-Loss-Competition-136585103.html?pox

IMAGE OF THE DAY: Courtesy of the Washington Post’s ‘Express’: A creepy mashup of Iowa’s ideal candidate (hint: it’s all of ‘em). If you just look at the face, though, it bears a striking resemblance to Norm MacDonald.

Okay, I gotta go engorge myself on political coverage. Until tomorrow, folks.

By Charlie Warzel/ @cwarzel

ONE YEAR UNTIL DOOMSDAY…or so the Mayans would have you believe. According to a select few who take their cues from the Mayan Calendar, we have exactly one year until fire and brimstone and the end of days. This news, more than anything else, could potentially explain the stalemate in Congress. After all, who needs tax breaks when the sky falls and every volcano on earth erupts in concert? Well played, House GOP…well played.

You’re almost there, folks. If you’re lucky you’re staring down a short week (no work on Friday!!) and hopefully we can help make it fly by. Hope you’re all gearing up for the holidays and getting that last minute shopping done…you know, hanging the stockings by the chimney with care while the worst Congress in history continues their slow and steady spiral toward complete and utter irrelevance. So, crank up the carols, light your menorahs, and pray to whatever god you believe in that all 435 members of Congress wake up like Scrooge on Christmas morning as changed men and women. We’re not holding our breath…