Jim VandeHei is the CEO and co-founder of Axios. He’s a powerful D.C. journalist. Recently Michael Schaffer, an editor at Politico, asked VandeHei if he was open to being the subject of a profile. VandeHei said yes.
VandeHei got shivved. The sarcastic profile talks about how VandeHei’s newsletter, once steely, is now perfumed with new-agey advice about living your best life, spreading the love and letting go of your “worse instincts.” In other words, Jim’s gone a little Oprah.
VandeHei didn’t like the piece, and confronted Politico editor Matt Kaminski at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Yet after what started as a promising near-fracas, VandeHei retreated back to the therapeutic bromides that made him the subject of the unflattering profile in the first place.
[I myself favor the term “fargin’ icehole,” but YMMV. Read on to find Mark’s advice, and then recall the Roman Moronie lexicon below from “Johnny Dangerously.” — Ed]
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