Jacob Weisberg

The New Republic performed a service for journalists and bloggers the world over by posting Jacob Weisberg's oft-cited March 12th 1990 article "The Veep's Keeper" in which he dubbed then-chief of staff to the vice president William Kristol "Dan Quayle's Brain." (Mr. Weisberg's article comes via a post by Christopher Orr on TNR's blog The Plank.)

The piece is a little dated—references to John Sununu and the invasion of Panama are unlikely to ring bells with younger readers—but it definitely sheds some light on Mr. Kristol, who is now a New York Times columnist who writes spectacularly pro-Sarah Palin columns for the paper and shows his fondness for the Republican vice presidential nominee in his magazine, The Weekly Standard, and during TV appearances.  read more »

Spinoffs are well known in television. Sometimes they work: The Jeffersons spun off from All in the Family and ran for 10 years. Sometimes they don't: Look at Joey. (You didn't while it was on.) Slate, the Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive's wonky, contrarian Web site of politics and pop culture, isn't a sitcom—if it were, Christopher Hitchens would surely be Archie Bunker—but it's launching a spinoff of its own today with The Big Money, a business site.

This is the first new site from The Slate Group, which was created in June and is overseen by Jacob Weisberg, the former editor of Slate. It encompasses the flagship site (which, amazingly, is on its second owner, third editor, and fourth presidential election since it was founded by Michael Kinsley for Microsoft in 1996), the video site  read more »

"I don't know anything about what's happening at my magazine!" exclaimed Domino editor in chief Deborah Needleman Wednesday night at a party she was hosting for the magazine's fashion issue at socialite and contributing editor Alison Sarofim's West Village townhouse.

Ah, Fashion Week. "I'm hoping it will still be there next week," she sighed.

Ms. Needleman called Ms. Sarofim's house "the prettiest house I know. I can't figure out how to top it." Her own Tribeca loft, which she shares with hubby Jacob Weisberg of Slate, has been featured in New York magazine.  read more »

Surprisingly, no one caught wind of this early, but Slate editor Jacob Weisberg has apparently signed on to write a biweekly column for Newsweek. Like Mr. Weisberg's long-running on-again-off-again Slate column—which last appeared in January, and has not been a regular feature since April 2007—this new one will be called The Big Idea, and it will run in Newsweek and Slate simultaneously.

The first edition of the column appears as part of this week's special issue on the DNC, along with pieces by Princeton professor Sean Wilentz and Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, both of whom will, according to Jon Meacham's editor's note, contribute to Newsweek occasionally.  read more »

The Slate family is getting bigger, and consquently, a restructuring is in order! David Plotz, longtime deputy for the thinky, contrarian Web magazine, is becoming the new chief editor of the site. He'll be the third editor of the 12-year-old site, succeeding Jacob Weisberg who succeeded Michael Kinsley. Weisberg will now oversee all the Slate Web sites in a role not dissimilar to Jim Kelly's current role at Time Life.

"I’ll be in charge of what we do: who works for us, who writes for us, how we cover it," said Mr. Plotz to Media Mob today.  read more »

I love Professor Juan Cole's site. He's been a leading voice against the Iraq war, he knows what he's talking about and he writes with sympathy for the Arab world from the standpoint of an international American who cherishes America's best interests. I trust his judgment.

But Cole is doing himself a disservice by getting so worked up about Christopher Hitchens's quotation of his statements about Iran on a listserv, a statement Cole thought to be private. Lately Cole has published his petulant emails to Jacob Weisberg, the editor of Slate (who brushed him off coolly and correctly). One claim Cole makes is that he was going to publish the statement himself, and Hitchens scooped him, and illegally and unethically deprived him of the value of his work. Yes, Hitchens scooped him, but I don't buy all the violations. I give Cole great credit for the lines that Hitchens printed (and attacked). I will look forward to what Cole has to say at greater length on the question. I think a lot more people will now be tuned to Cole, a good thing indeed. And how much money was he really going to make off these ideas? He says the listserv was a "small" group. How small? And what has Cole done about the real violation, the colleague who emailed his stuff to Hitchens. Give us some facts.

I generally can't stand Hitchens. I think he masks weak and sometimes vicious arguments on the war and related issues with tangential bloviations, self-satisfied turns of phrase and a grandiosity that yes, does seem vinous. On this matter, though, he's right. Someone leaked this stuff to him, he found it interesting and important. Go with it. And no, he doesn't have to call Cole for comment, as Cole demands.

If an idea is so important to you, any journalist will tell you—keep it close to the vest. That's the bottom line here: Cole has a lot to learn more about journalism.

P.S. And another lesson, Cole sent one angry email to Weisberg at 12:31 a.m., per the date stamp. Always a bad idea.

According to two sources with knowledge of Time magazine's search for a new managing editor, Time Inc. editor-in-chief John Huey has approached Slate editor Jacob Weisberg to see if he would be interested in the position.

"I shouldn't say anything about it," Weisberg said by phone. "I love my job and am happy where I am."

Time declined to discuss the subject of a replacement for current managing editor Jim Kelly. "We couldn't be firmer in saying Jim is the guy," Time Inc. spokesperson Dawn Bridges said. "People like to speculate. Jim has the honor of working for the flagship of Time Inc. and Time Warner. The name is on the building, and a lot of things come with that. One of those things is a bigger microscope." But according to multiple sources with knowledge of the search, Time is actively looking for a new managing editor. One source said that Huey has consulted Michael Kinsley, Slate's founding editor, about candidates to consider. According to another source, Time initially approached Weisberg this spring to discuss Time's Internet strategy. Since then, Huey reached out to Weisberg to discuss the managing-editor position.

--Gabriel Sherman

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