National

Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has replaced publisher Katharine Weymouth with a co-founder of the newspaper's competitor Politico, the company announced Tuesday. Weymouth's departure is the end of an era of Graham family involvement with the Post. Her great-grandfather bought the newspaper in the 1930s, and her uncle Donald Graham sold it to Bezos last August for $250 million. She'll be replaced by Frederick J. Ryan, the founding CEO of Politico and a former Reagan administration official.

Radio talk show host Dan Gaffney called a segment of his Aug. 28 morning show “damned odd,” while Republicans locked in a primary battle for the Sussex County 5th District council seat called the show "crazy" and "surreal." Call it what you want – bad timing, miscommunication or a calculated election-year ploy – an exchange on a local radio talk show has ignited swirling controversy. During the segment, the two Republican candidates running for the District 5 seat both used up airtime. According to Gaffney, one of the two – incumbent Vance Phillips of Laurel – was not invited during that time slot. About half way through a scheduled interview and call-in session with Republican challenger Rob Arlett of Frankford, Phillips entered the studio and put on headphones.

WDEL’s Rick Jensen Rips Simpler Debate Performance: Weak, Awkward and Creepy WDEL political talk show host Rick Jensen has leveled devastating criticism toward Ken Simpler and his performance in the recent WDEL Treasurer debate. Jensen described the performance at times as “weak,” “awkward” and “creepy.” Speaking live last week on his daily radio show, Jensen said Simpler’s opponent, Sher Valenzuela, was “strong, tough and every time Simpler took a swing at her, she blocked it and hit him real hard in the face.” Jensen concluded that he “didn’t think [Simpler] is very good at this debate stuff.”

What? You want to know about a time when I wasn't such a crusty old bastard so down on Democrats? You want to hear about a piss-filled young progressive? Well pull up a chair Jason990.   Let me tell you a little story about the olden days.  It must be about forty years ago now that a man named Howard Dean came down from Vermont made some rumbles and raised some money online talking like a genuine Democrat.  Why, he went right 'round the usual fundraising and appealed directly to the folks out there for $20 or $30 bucks at a shot. Well, the people were right parched for a nice cool drink of undiluted Democratic speechifying and they came to that campaign by the bus load.  I even started a blog back then to help support that campaign and pour rhetorical boiling oil down on all the Republican Morlocks, and the Democratic compromisers and bank lovers.   'Course the national media and all the DC insiders couldn't stand it so they put on the TV lynching of that campaign.  But for a few months there it really looked like the Democratic Party was going to run an actual Democrat in an election. But Gramps, after Howard Dean showed what could be done, why didn't other authentic Democrats do that? Fuck if I know.