That Matt Drudge (pictured) 'should set himself on fire' is just one of David Weigel’s most unvarnished opinions that was leaked from a liberal off-the-record listserv. JournoList wonders who leaked

The leak of some of Washington Post blogger David Weigel’s most unvarnished opinions (Drudge “should set himself on fire”) on the off-the-record listserv JournoList to Fishbowl DC – which prompted an apology on Weigel’s blog – was not the first time the by-invitation-only group of left-leaning journalists and wonks has had their exceedingly frank comments unintentionally aired in public.

It was, if anyone is counting, the third – following one disclosure by Slate’s Mickey Kaus of postings on the list and another, of sorts, by Salon’s Glenn Greenwald. That is an astoundingly low number for a three-year-old community of some 400 of the most outspoken and well-known voices in the American intelligentsia, and evidence of its members’ loyalty to its code of silence.


But it was the first time the listserv has been used specifically as a weapon of the anonymous professional takedown, and so, sent shivers through the JournoList community.

“People are feeling betrayed by whoever the leaker is, once again,” said Eric Alterman, the Nation columnist and journalism professor who is a member of the listserv. “I think it’s unwise to put anything on that list that you can’t defend in public. There’s no such thing as off-the-record with 400 people.”

But the off-the-record nature of the listserve has been closely guarded, to the point that a previous article by POLITICO’s Michael Calderone on JournoList last year got only a handful of the three dozen listserv members he contacted to share even basic elements of how the list functions.

“The list is confidential,” said one member who, in typical fashion, declined to be named for this article. “Whoever broke the confidentiality of the list obviously has no respect for some pretty basic journalistic norms. But I can’t talk about it because it’s supposed to be confidential.”

The member added: “Whoever leaked that is obviously extremely jealous of the exceptional work that Dave is doing for the Post, and whatever Dave said should be viewed in that light.”

Weigel’s specialty covering conservatives (his blog “Right Now,” is subtitled “Inside the conservative movement and the Republican Party”) has made him a target for some on the right who feel he is not sufficiently supportive. His controversial comments on the list came in response to a rough few days last week after the Drudge Report linked to his reporting on North Carolina Democratic Rep. Bob Etheridge’s altercation with an anonymous videographer under the headline, “WaPo: Not an attack, a hug.” Shortly after, the Washington Examiner published an item about him dancing at a friend’s wedding.

He took to JournoList to vent his frustration:

"This would be a vastly better world to live in if Matt Drudge decided to handle his emotional problems more responsibly, and set himself on fire,” he wrote.

And elsewhere: "It's all very amusing to me. Two hundred screaming Ron Paul fanatics couldn't get their man into the Fox News New Hampshire GOP debate, but Fox News is pumping around the clock to get Paultard Tea Party people on TV."

In his apology Thursday, Weigel tried to explain himself (“Paultard,” he argued is “a neologism coined during the 2008 campaign to describe fanatical supporters of Paul”) but the leaked comments played into the suspicions harbored on the right about Weigel’s ability to cover them fairly.

He has had to apologize before for calling opponents of gay marriage “bigots,” and has often taken heat from right-leaning blogs, such as Newsbusters, for another joke he made about Drudge on Twitter.

“It seems like he spends a lot of time apologizing,” said Penny Nance, the chief executive of Concerned Women for America, one of Weigel’s conservative critics. “The problem is Concerned Women for America and other conservatives resent the idea of the Washington Post or other major news affiliates hiring people who hate us to be the ones to report on us. David Weigel has already shown great distaste, if not downright disdain, for conservatives, so it’s difficult for us to take the Post seriously when this is the person the Post hires to cover conservatives.”

But the Post does not seem moved by the criticism. Hiring Weigel – along with Ezra Klein and Greg Sargent – was an effort by the Post to increase the paper’s relevance in the blogosphere and to present new content that Post National Editor Kevin Merida described to POLITICO’s Ben Smith as “a unique space between reporting and commentary.”

The paper seems determined to stand behind Weigel on this one.

“Dave’s apology to readers reflects he understands, in calmer hindsight, the need to exercise good judgment at all times and of not throwing stones, especially when operating from inside an echo-filled glass house that is modern-day digital journalism,” said Post Managing Editor Raju Narisetti, the architect of the Post’s latest moves into the blogging space. “Time to move on.”