I'll admit that I'm a fan of Politico. I follow most of their bloggers and while some of their 'headline' stories are sub-par, I like most of their coverage. Politico seems to have developed an interesting relationship with former Vice President Dick Cheney (which I have my own theories about), but they make news whenever he gives them a few quotes. I have no problem that the former VP comes out of hiding every so often to criticize the President--it keeps him current--but why only talk to Politico? Jason Linkins on the Huffington Post has a really interesting take on the Politico/Cheney connection:
Cheney is willing to provide the paper with exclusive commentary on topics of
his choosing, that Politico can then use to garner page views and attention from
other media outlets, who deem the things Cheney says to be newsworthy. The cost
that Cheney exacts from Politico is the promise to not apply any sort of
critical thought to his ramblings. And so, the two combine to create mutually
beneficial, journalism-like word salsa, contrived and calibrated for maximum
attention-getting.
Check out his full article here.
