some of them (18.7 percent) even below the poverty line: Mike DeBonis, “Census: D.C. Poverty Rates Stay Level as Incomes Rise,” Washington Post, September 20, 2012.
Chapter 1. Heaven’s Green Room
“that handful of insiders who invent”: Joan Didion, Political Fictions (New York: Vintage, 2002), 22.
In an interview with Playboy years earlier, Matthews volunteered: Mark Leibovich, “The Aria of Chris Matthews,” New York Times, April 13, 2008.
Sally Quinn, an avowed atheist for much of her life: Sally Quinn, “The Faith and Joy of Russert,” Washington Post, June 23, 2008.
“Senator Kennedy on the left!”: Dana Milbank, “Russert’s Grand Goodbye,” Washington Post, June 19, 2008.
“If he’s dead or alive, it doesn’t matter”: Mark Leibovich, “Fall from the Top Lands McCain in a Scaled-Back Comfort Zone,” New York Times, October 7, 2007.
“To whom much is given, much is expected”: Dana Milbank, “Russert’s Grand Goodbye,” Washington Post, June 19, 2008.
“In a Washington way”: Jason Horowitz, “Before Meeting the Press, They Met Green Room Attendant ‘Mr. Aly,’” Washington Post, January 26, 2011.
“A man’s either trying to make up for his father’s mistakes”: Jon Meacham, “On His Own,” Newsweek, August 22, 2008.
“Is anyone still an atheist now?”: Tammy Haddad, “The Russert Miracles,” Daily Beast, June 19, 2008.
“No benign deity plucks television news show hosts”: Christopher Hitchens, “Mourning Glory,” Slate, June 23, 2008.
Chapter 2. Suck-up City
“The founding fathers, whose infinite wisdom gave us a Constitution”: Jack Lait and Lee Mortimer, Washington Confidential (New York: Kessinger, 2009), 14.
His image had been “tarnished”: Greg Ip, “His Legacy Tarnished, Greenspan Goes on Defensive,” Wall Street Journal, April 8, 2008.
“She knows where to draw the line”: Brian Stelter, “For Greenspan’s Wife, Covering the Financial Crisis Is on a Case-by-Case Basis,” New York Times, October 12, 2008.
like Laura Bush covering the federal government’s reaction to Katrina: Megan Garber, “The Elephant in the Control Room,” Columbia Journalism Review, September 24, 2008.
“We see a distinction between pure analysis of the bailout”: Don Kaplan, “Near Mrs.,” New York Post, September 29, 2008.
“back to school and get a postgraduate degree”: John Harwood and Gerald F. Seib, Pennsylvania Avenue (New York: Random House, 2008), 134.
People who worked on the Obama transition staff received: Jonathan Alter, The Promise: Obama Year One (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010), 16.
“No one who has ever passed through American public high school”: Joan Didion, Political Fictions (New York: Vintage, 2002), 215.
“Loners may be able to sell themselves electorally”: Meg Greenfield, Washington (New York: PublicAffairs, 2009), 36.
“One thing our founding fathers could not foresee”: Ronald Reagan, “Meet the Students” taping for television, Sacramento, California, September 17, 1973.
Speaking of Teddy, it was Mike Allen: Mike Allen, “In Buffalo, President to Make Aggressive Case on Economy,” Politico, May 13, 2010.
“In a world in which we all tend to pay not enough attention”: Erik Wemple, “Why Is Politico’s Cash Cow Asking Readers to ‘Support Our Journalism’?” Washington Post, November 29, 2011.
Allen even included the name “Washington Superlawyer Robert Barnett”: Mike Allen, “Dems Sketch Obama Staff, Cabinet,” Politico, October 31, 2008.
“If God were writing the Bible again”: Ellen Gamerman, “He Makes Deals for D.C. Elite,” Baltimore Sun, July 6, 2004.
“To list Barnett as a signifier of Washington connectedness”: David Montgomery, “Washington Lawyer Bob Barnett Is the Force Behind Many Political Book Deals,” Washington Post, March 7, 2010.
Barnett is bipartisan: Peter Lattman, “Washington Law Firm Finds Niche in Sports and Entertainment,” New York Times, June 21, 2012.
“Robert Barnett, who also represents the president-elect”: Mike Allen, “Publishers Jump at Plouffe Book,” Politico, December 5, 2008.
“felt this thrill going up my leg”: “Chris Matthews: ‘I Felt This Thrill Going Up My Leg’ As Obama Spoke,” Huffington Post, May 25, 2011.
a reported nineteen would join the administration: Michael Hastings, Panic 2012: The Sublime and Terrifying Inside Story of Obama’s Final Campaign (New York: Blue Rider Press, 2013), 65.
“As Barack Obama stacks his staff with studs”: “Hotties of the Obama Cabinet,” New York Daily News, January 9, 2009.
“honor Robert and Mary Catherine Gibbs with drinks, laughs”: Mark Leibovich, “Between Obama and the Press,” New York Times, December 17, 2008.
Obama ate portobello mushroom salad: Mark Leibovich, “The Making of a New Washington Insider,” New York Times, January 16, 2009.
“the best brand on earth: the Obama brand”: Amy Chozick, “Desirée Rogers’ Brand Obama,” Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2009.
“Obama’s People”: Nadav Kander, “Obama’s People,” New York Times, 2009.
The appetite was insatiable: Mark Leibovich, “Minutiae? In This White House, Call It News,” New York Times, March 13, 2009.
the new president’s hair was going gray: Helene Cooper, “For Young President, Flecks of Gray,” New York Times, March 4, 2009.
a withering profile of Arianna: Maureen Orth, “Arianna’s Virtual Candidate,” Vanity Fair, November 1994.
“The social question is, Who are the closest people to the Obamas personally?”: Julie Bosman, “The Pleasure of His Company,” New York Times, January 2, 2009.
None of these donors have been disclosed: John Cook, “White House Refuses to Release Donors to David Axelrod’s Charity,” Gawker, November 29, 2010.
Chapter 3. Three Senators for Our Times
“A man never stands taller than when he is down”: Jonathan Alter, The Promise: Obama Year One (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010), 166.
“So I say to John Kerry”: Congressional Record, vol. 153, pt. 2, January 18–February 1, 2007.
He once drew a favorable parallel between his press secretary: Mark Leibovich, “Between Obama and the Press,” New York Times, December 17, 2008.
Reid writes about how his father was never as happy: Harry Reid with Mark Warren, The Good Fight: Hard Lessons from Searchlight to Washington (New York: Berkley, 2009), 36.
Reid’s unfavorable rating in Nevada had risen to 52 percent: Laura Myers, “Reid Hits New Low in Poll,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, January 9, 2010.
“Reid fatigue,” diagnosed Ralston: “Reid’s Public Option Push Comes amid Tough Re-election Bid,” CNN, November 2, 2009.
“in the event that he could not carry out his duties”: Mark Leibovich, “Despite Fragile Health, Byrd Is Present for Votes,” New York Times, December 24, 2009.
I wrote a profile of the brash Pennsylvania Republican: Mark Leibovich, “Father First, Senator Second,” Washington Post, April 18, 2005.
“The sensation of stepping inside the Inner Ring of Congress”: Tom A. Coburn with John Hart, Breach of Trust: How Washington Turns Outsiders into Insiders (Nashville: WND Books, 2003), 32.
“spiritual godfather”: Peter Boyer, “Budget Debate’s ‘Dr. Maybe,’” Newsweek, July 25, 2011.
his vote could not be bought but “could be rented”: Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson, Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer—And Turned Its Back on the Middle Class (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), 6.
“waterboarding” his five grandchildren: Mark Leibovich, “A Senate Naysayer, Spoiling for Health Care Fight,” New York Times, October 29, 2009.
“one of the most influential and conservative members”: Steve Kroft, “Is the U.S. Senate Broken?” 60 Minutes, CBS News, November 4, 2012.
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br /> Chapter 4. The Entourage
the unemployment rate was approaching 10 percent: National Conference of State Legislatures, “Unemployment Drops to 7.6 Percent for March 2013,” April 8, 2013.
special interests collectively spent $3.47 billion: Communications, “Federal Lobbying Climbs in 2009 as Lawmakers Execute Aggressive Congressional Agenda,” Open Secrets, February 12, 2010.
“This agenda has been great for OUR economy”: Arthur Delaney, “It’s Official: 2009 Was Record Year for Lobbying, Despite Recession,” Huffington Post, April 14, 2010.
“No single development has altered the workings of American democracy”: Jill Lepore, “The Lie Factory,” The New Yorker, September 24, 2012.
“Those inside the process had congealed into a permanent political class”: Joan Didion, Political Fictions (New York: Vintage, 2002), 9.
“this wild self-congratulatory ski-jump”: Jeff Himmelman, Yours in Truth: A Personal Portrait of Ben Bradlee (New York: Random House, 2012), 323.
By the time he left to run for Congress: Michael Luo, “In Banking, Emanuel Made Money and Connections,” New York Times, December 3, 2008.
The dinner has sold out every table since 1993: Todd Purdum, “The Evolution of D.C.’s Premier Event,” Vanity Fair, April 30, 2010.
“If either of them had been in love with a tree surgeon”: Walter Shapiro, “Star-Crossed Politicos,” Time, June 24, 2001.
It was suddenly news in the capital: Mark Leibovich, “Titillating or Not, Washington Gossip Blossoms,” New York Times, February 3, 2007.
I authored a story on the proliferation of flies: Mark Leibovich, “What Has 132 Rooms and Flies?” New York Times, June 17, 2009.
Chapter 5. Embedding
a New York Times Magazine story about Mike Allen: Mark Leibovich, “The Man the White House Wakes Up To,” New York Times Magazine, April 21, 2010.
Chapter 6. “Thank You for Your Service”
June profile of General Stanley McChrystal: Michael Hastings, “The Runaway General,” Rolling Stone, July 8–22, 2010.
$60,000 a pop for speaking gigs: David Gura, “Gen. Stanley McChrystal Reportedly Earns $60,000 per Speaking Engagement,” NPR, August 30, 2010.
Some members of McChrystal’s staff said as much: Sean D. Naylor, “Sources: Rolling Stone Quotes Made by Jr. Staff,” Army Times, July 7, 2010. Howard Kurtz, “Rolling Stone’s McChrystal Interview Shows the Magazine’s Nonmusical Side,” Washington Post, June 24, 2010.
Hastings was quizzed: CNN Reliable Sources transcript, interviews with Michael Hastings and Lara Logan, June 27, 2010.
“If there’s a lower form of life”: Matt Taibbi, “Lara Logan, You Suck,” Rolling Stone, June 28, 2010.
“too many d-bags”: Kiki Ryan, “Tammy Haddad’s Brunch ‘Fun, Personal,’” Politico, April 30, 2010.
“There’s just something about her that pisses people off”: Henry Louis Gates, Jr., “Hating Hillary,” The New Yorker, February 26, 1996.
“Anyone who sleeps with that bitch deserves a medal”: John F. Harris, The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House (New York: Random House, 2006), 357.
“outraged by the president’s behavior”: Sally Quinn, “In Washington, That Letdown Feeling,” Washington Post, November 2, 1998.
“24/7 echo-chamber”: Remarks by the President at the University of Michigan Spring Commencement, The White House, May 1, 2010.
“Japan Surrenders—Where’s the Bounce?”: Remarks by the President at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, The White House, May 2, 2010.
“You know, Alsop”: Purdum, “The Evolution of D.C.’s Premier Event,” Vanity Fair, April 30, 2010.
spearheaded a $50 million television campaign: Aaron Smith, “BP’s Television Ad Blitz,” CNN, June 4, 2010.
Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi had to stay home: Mark Leibovich, “Terry McAuliffe and the Other Green Party,” New York Times, July 18, 2012.
“One of the reasons they wanted to hire me”: “First Mover: Ed Henry,” Adweek, September 12, 2011.
Chronology of events: Frank Rich, “They Report, You Don’t Have to Decide,” New York Times, May 8, 2010.
Rachel Sklar, “From ‘Lone Wolf’ to Taliban: The Disconnect in the Developing Times Square Bombing Story,” Mediaite, May 6, 2010.
“The guy memorizes four words”: Bill Sammon, “Bush Mocks and Dismisses NBC White House Correspondent,” Washington Times, May 27, 2002.
Chapter 7. The Roach Motel of Power
He is the five-term senator: Mark Leibovich, “Dodd Prepares to Depart in Triumph,” New York Times, May 24, 2010.
He worked as a Senate page: David Halbfinger, “Citing Tough Race, Dodd Steps Aside,” New York Times, January 6, 2010.
“Tip O’Neill once came down here”: Mark Leibovich, “‘Top-Tier’ Candidate? Maybe Not, but Dodd Is Still Enjoying the Ride,” New York Times, April 28, 2007.
David Obey . . . joined the lobbying shop run by former colleague Richard Gephardt: Thomas Edsall, “The Trouble with That Revolving Door,” New York Times, December 18, 2011.
a lobbyist who was being paid about $70,000 a month: Dan Eggen, “Armenia–Turkey Dispute over Genocide Label Sets off Lobbying Frenzy,” Washington Post, March 4, 2010.
Susan Bayh as a “professional board member”: Sylvia Smith, “Across the Boards,” Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, December 16, 2007.
“perfectly representative face for the rotted Washington establishment”: Glenn Greenwald, “The Face of Rotted Washington,” Salon, November 30, 2009.
“acting to entrench the culture of narcissism and hypocrisy”: Matthew Yglesias, “Evan Bayh’s Narcissism,” ThinkProgress, December 16, 2009.
Evan Bayh wrote a much-discussed op-ed: Evan Bayh, “Why I’m Leaving the Senate,” New York Times, February 20, 2010.
“They look at us like we’re worse than used-car salesmen”: Ezra Klein, “In Congress, Fundraising’s Steep Price,” Washington Post, October 31, 2010.
“practically a caricature of what a sell-out looks like”: Steve Benen, “Evan Bayh and a Never-Ending Series of Disappointments,” Washington Monthly, June 7, 2011.
congressman-turned-lobbyist Billy Tauzin: Alex Wayne and Drew Armstrong, “Tauzin’s $11.6 Million Made Him Highest-Paid Health-Law Lobbyist,” Bloomberg, November 29, 2011.
Their company would bring in $11 million: Silla Brush, “Patton Boggs Acquires Lobbying Firm of Former Sens. Lott, Breaux,” The Hill, July 1, 2010.
Chapter 8. How It Works
story that explored whether excessive BlackBerry use: Erika Lovley, “BlackBerry, Forbidden Fruit?” Politico, October 28, 2009.
“I haven’t sent a press release”: Ben White, “Bernanke Gives Highly-Anticipated Speech at 10 a.m.,” Politico, August 27, 2010.
“It is only 11:30 a.m. but Kurt Bardella is on his third Red Bull”: Andie Coller, “Blasting Politicos,” Politico, July 20, 2009.
“I don’t ever stop”: Erika Lovley, “Is Congress a Health Threat?” Politico, January 15, 2010.
“It rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way”: Luke Mullins, “The Comeback,” Washingtonian, July 2011.
Los Angeles Times exposé that was published: Erik Lichtblau, “Issa’s Rags-to-Riches Tale Has Some Ugly Chapters,” Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1998.
felony charges related to car thefts in 1972 and 1980: Mark Leibovich, “Republican Emerges as Obama’s Annoyer-in-Chief,” New York Times, July 6, 2010.
“notorious hatchet man”: Erik Wemple, “New York Times and Rep. Issa: A Spat to Remember,” Washington Post, September 8, 2011.
Howard Kurtz conducted a phone interview with Issa: Howard Kurtz, “The GOP’s New Top Cop,” Daily Beast, November 27, 2010.
Ryan Lizza, who was profiling Issa for the New Yorker: Ryan Lizza, “Don’t Look Back,” The New Yorker, January 24, 2011.
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Barbara Walters herself, the queen of the “get”: Bill Carter, “Barbara Walters Apologizes for Helping Aide to Assad of Syria,” New York Times, June 5, 2012.
It was assumed that the job would go to Edolphus Towns: Betsy Woodruff, “Elijah Cummings, Party Man,” National Review, October 23, 2012.
“I did lose my way a little bit”: Mark Walker, “Exclusive: Former Issa Spokesman Breaks Silence,” North County Times, March 18, 2011.
“As long as her candidacy does not completely implode”: Kurt Bardella, “Bachmann Can Win by Losing,” Daily Caller, May 16, 2011.
Chapter 9. Performing Arts
“The Ego Has Landed”: Al Kamen, “In the Loop,” Washington Post, April 27, 2009.
“He would overdo all this flattery”: Bill Clinton, eulogy delivered at Richard Holbrooke’s funeral, Kennedy Center, January 14, 2011.
“Do people really talk like that?”: Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Little America: The War Within the War for Afghanistan (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012), 230.
“the most egotistical bastard I’ve ever met”: Peter Baker, “Woodward Book Says Afghanistan Divided White House,” New York Times, September 21, 2010.
free to fire Holbrooke “over the objection of your secretary of state”: Chandrasekaran, Little America, 229.
They tried to exclude him from an Oval Office confab: Ibid., 230.
One major sore point: James Mann, The Obamians: The Struggle Inside the White House to Redefine American Power (New York: Viking, 2012), 234.
In March, Kati received a postcard: Kati Marton, Paris: A Love Story (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012), 32.
Chapter 10. Anarchy in the Quiet Car
“BP America, facing a spate of investigations”: Mike Allen, “BP America Hires Geoff Morrell,” Politico, September 5, 2011.
exploding to $2.51 billion: Danielle Ivory, “BP’s U.S. Defense Contracts Doubled Since Year of Gulf Oil Spill,” Bloomberg, February 6, 2013.
“made nerdy sexy”: Jodi Kantor, “Obama’s Man on the Budget: Just 40 and Going Like 60,” New York Times, March 27, 2009.
a divorced father of two with a very important job gets very publicly engaged: Mark Leibovich, “If Peter Orszag Is So Smart, What Will He Do Now?” New York Times, January 8, 2010.
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