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Keri Russell, the star of “The Diplomat,” is on her fourth glass of wine; and Debora Cahn, the show’s creator, is on her third. There are cold french fries strewn across the table, empty glasses everywhere, and there’s ice — so much ice.

It’s only a few weeks before the second season of “The Diplomat” drops on Netflix on Halloween — five days before the presidential election — and Russell and Cahn, sitting in an old Upper West Side French bistro on a late afternoon, suddenly remember the time they met Kamala Harris at a White House Correspondents’ Dinner last April, four months before Harris became the Democratic presidential candidate.

Russell, 48, starts to squeal thinking about that night, her hands fluttering to her face in comic excitement, and Cahn says, “Somebody sent a photo of us and Biden and Jill, and I just love that we have it, but I was like,...

VH1 has renewed its hit reality series franchise “Basketball Wives,” and ready to hit the court are several newcomers, including internet personality Brittany Renner.

Season 11 of “Basketball Wives” is on its way, and fans can get rest easy, as their fan favorites Jennifer Williams, Jackie Christie and Brooke Bailey are all heading back to the television screen the show’s renewal. Who also will be making a comeback is “Basketball Wives” original Evelyn Lozada, who left the show twice before. Executive producer Shaunie Henderson will make a guest appearance during the season.

Also Read:

Vox Co-Founder Ezra Klein Exits to Become NY Times Columnist, Podcast Host

And along with that surprise, the show will be introducing three new players to its roster: Renner, Jac’Eil Duckworth, Vanessa Rider and Clayanna Warthen.

In this new season, “Basketball Wives” will feature the sisterhood, growth and adversity of old and new cast members,...

Talent agency WME is establishing a foothold inside the Beltway.

The Beverly Hills-based representation giant has acquired the literary agency Ross Yoon, the company said on Friday. Led by Gail Ross and Howard Yoon, the agency focuses on the non-fiction space, and has a roster of author clients including Time journalist Molly Ball, Mother Jones’ D.C. chief David Corn, New York Times columnist Ezra Klein, Politico Playbook writer Ryan Lizza, Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty, Vanity Fair correspondent Gabriel Sherman and many others.

As part of the deal — financial terms weren’t disclosed — Ross and Yoon will join WME as partners and bring agent Ethan Bassoff and coordinator Dara Kaye with them. A media lawyer in addition to founding the literary agency, Ross is also a partner at law firm Trister, Ross, Schadler & Gold in D.C. Yoon, a former adjunct professor at Georgetown University as well as author and book consultant,...

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On Sept. 15, Propper Daley’s second A Day of Unreasonable Conversation gathering will return to Los Angeles, after being canceled in both 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The invite-only event — produced in collaboration with social impact and culture change agency Invisible Hand — will take place at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and will feature a day full of programming designed to unite television creators (writers, producers, executives) with cultural changemakers to participate in conversations. Conversations will center on intellectual humility, mental health, social and economic division, reproductive rights, climate change, responsible tech, and more. These discussions, coupled with a networking reception to follow, are intended to positively influence future television storylines and help maintain authenticity in narratives seen on screen.

“Now more than ever, television creators are telling the stories that shape our culture and influence what we feel,...

Excerpted from Hate Inc., which can be found in serial form at Taibbi.substack.com.

Sixteen years ago this week, the United States invaded Iraq. We went in on an unconvincing excuse, articulated by George W. Bush in a speech days before invasion:

“Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised. This regime has already used weapons of mass destruction against Iraq’s neighbors and against Iraq’s people.”

To the...

Former Fox News executive Bill Shine’s White House appointment by President Trump has drawn ire across social media. Many Twitter users have been quick to point out that he resigned as co-president of Fox News in 2017 due to his close relationship with Roger Ailes and accusations that he attempted to cover up Ailes’ alleged sexual harassment allegations.

Gretchen Carlson, who filed the first sexual harassment lawsuit almost exactly two years ago, pointed out the irony in a tweet, saying: “This …. on the 2 year anniversary eve of filing my harassment lawsuit; giving women a voice, letting them know you can be believed, launching a national movement to stand up and speak up and say enough is enough. Life… works in mysterious ways. #BeFierce”

This …. on the 2 year anniversary eve of filing my harassment lawsuit; giving women a voice, letting them know you can be believed, launching a national movement to...

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg responded to criticism from Tim Cook, saying the Apple chief’s analysis of his business was “glib” and untruthful. Last week, Cook blasted Facebook over its business model which monetized its customers at the expense of their privacy. “You know, I find that argument, that if you’re not paying, that somehow we can’t care about you to be extremely glib. And not at all aligned with the truth,” Zuckerberg told Vox Media founder Ezra Klein in an interview released Monday. “The reality here is that if you wanna build a service that helps connect everyone in the world,...

Twitter was divided on Thursday as people voiced their approval — or disappointment — over Sen. Al Franken’s resignation amid multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.

Much like Franken himself did in his emotional Senate-floor speech, many tweeters pointed out the irony that the Minnesota Democrat was forced to resign over his alleged actions while other politicians who have been accused of sexual misconduct — including President Donald Trump and embattled Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore — have not faced consequences. (Trump and Moore have denied the allegations against them.)

Actress Ellen Barkin showed support for Franken while decrying Democrats for their part in his resignation,...

"You have thrown our budget a little out of whack, because we've spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico and that's fine," Pres. Trump says pic.twitter.com/9V4caKaG80

— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 3, 2017

President Donald Trump has arrived in Puerto Rico for the first time since Hurricane Maria devastated the island last month, and is already causing controversy.

During a meeting with local and federal leadership on Tuesday, Trump was introducing his Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney when he commented, “I hate to tell you Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack,...

Hillary Clinton continued to express her frustration with the media coverage of the 2016 election in an interview with Vox's Ezra Klein.

Several leading journalists across a range of genres have received warning from Google that state-sponsored hackers are attempting to steal their Gmail passwords and gain access to their email, according to Politico. Among those cautioned were CNN senior media reporter Brian Stelter, GQ special contributor Keith Olbermann, Julia Ioffe of The Atlantic, Jonathan Chait of New York Magazine and Ezra Klein, the founder of Vox, who says he’s been receiving the warning as recently as in the last few days. In several of their cases, the alerts started coming a few weeks after the November election and appear as a bright.

Facebook’s recent algorithmic shifts dropped a big bomb on the bottom lines of many publishers with a newly emphasized “Friends and Family First” approach. The resulting handwringing, however, missed a broader question: What should publishers be doing, on Facebook and everywhere else, to build sustainable businesses for the long-term?

It’s increasingly possible, perhaps even obvious by now, that we’re doing this all wrong. To make matters worse, we’re almost certainly feeding into our readers’ problematic and compulsive behaviors.

Publishers have been shoveling content into the Internet maw at increasing rates, trying to generate enough cash to keep going. But they face an impossible conundrum. Even as they create more content to bring in more ad dollars, all that content devalues the ad rates the stories can attract. More creates less, in a vicious cycle.

Yes, there are some substantial new publishers (Vox, BuzzFeed, Vice) and some...

Updated, 2:27 p.m. Pt, April 13th In a piece titled “How Vox Aggregates,” Editor-in-Chief Ezra Klein apologized to Silver. “Our policy, to our staff, is simple: any time we use work created by someone else, we need clear attribution to the original author and a link back to the source,” he wrote. “When appropriate, we should do more than that: we should add to the conversation with new facts, ideas, or reporting.” Klein went on to point out that the story Silver was upset about actually did reference FiveThirtyEight, but didn’t link. The attribution there was clear. The first line reads,...

Vox Media, the owner of seven editorial sites, expanded its company with Vox Entertainment — a new arm geared toward video and talent partnerships — and signed with Wme to create TV and film productions. The media company started in 2003 as SportsBlogs Inc, expanding in 2011 with the tech-site “The Verge.” It’s since added to its portfolio with gaming site Polygon; acquiring the Curbed Network; food website “Eater”; real estate website “Curbed,” and most recently, Vox.com; an explanatory journalism site ran by former Washington Post “Wonkblog” columnist Ezra Klein. In November, the company raised $47 million in venture capital, helping...

President Obama’s media strategy is apparently shifting to digital, as Vox.com published its two-part interview Monday. Obama first spoke with editor-in-chief Ezra Klein about the decades long expansion of income inequality. Also Read: Ezra Klein’s Vox Launches With ‘Game of Thrones’ Explainer and Wikipedia-esque ‘Card Stacks’ “Today what you have is quarterly earnings reports, you have compensation levels for CEOs that are tied directly to those quarterly earnings, you’ve got international capital that is demanding short term profits…” the president said, concluding that the old distribution model—decent wages, healthcare, defined pension plans—are being eliminated,...

Watchup, a free video news app that allows users to cobble together their own personalized newscasts from local, national and international sources, partnered with Fusion, The Verge, Vox.com and Al Jazeera’s Aj+ Tuesday, TheWrap has learned exclusively.

The four news outlets join a select group of featured partners on Watchup, and will be among the first seen when users begin curating their own newscasts. Once logged in to the app, users can sift through these and 100 other news sources to refine their own feeds, choosing the ones they’d like for their featured list, which ultimately becomes a newscast.

Rachel Maddow made a rare daytime appearance on MSNBC Wednesday, sitting down with Ezra Klein, who was filling in for Alex Wagner, to talk about the possibility of a Congressional vote to authorize airstrikes against Isis in Syria. Referring a report from The Hill quoting unnamed aides on the Left who don't want Congress to vote on the issue, Maddow diagnosed a severe case of "Democratic wuss-itude."...

A new explainer blog is entering the crowded fray to compete with the other infographic upstarts. The Upshot, a data-driven site from the New York Times, launched on Tuesday and vows to help readers crunch the numbers in many topical political and economic news stories. Washington bureau chief David Leonhardt is spearheading the project, the Times’ first shot across the bow at replacing Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight blog, which was a big success during the 2012 presidential election before moving to Espn. The Upshot will also compete against Ezra Klein's flashcard-obsessed Vox.com, which debuted earlier this month. “You have no shortage of excellent.

Is there a better way to launch a news site than have a “Game of Thrones” explainer the night of the HBO season premiere? Ezra Klein's new web venture officially set sail on Sunday with a shiny, unique user interface and an interesting system for getting readers to understand the news through “card stacks” that define confusing wonky news concepts in layman's terms — including “Everything you need to know to start watching Game of Thrones today.” These Highlighter-yellow cards provide Wikipedia-esque “crucial context alongside new information” and serve essentially as Vox's killer app that differentiates itself from the rest.

Here is last week’s caption pic winner. This week’s caption pic is at the bottom of the page.

Thanks to everyone for participating! The winner is …

“And I learned this one on my trip to Vegas after I lost that billiards game”

Thanks to dostka for this week’s winning caption!

Weekend Birthdays! Kellan Lutz (above) is 29, Jamie Bell is 28, Kevin Williamson is 49, and Donal Og Cusack is 37.

Op-ed: The Lasting Impact of Out TV Teens on Lgbt Youth

Game Developers Conference Tackles Lgbt Representation in Video Games. Gimme more Kaidan!

Sarah Palin Is Starting Her Very Own Web Channel

Ricky Martin on a balcony in his boxers.

Ezra Klein, I’m Calling Bullsh*t on Your Defense of Hiring Brandon Ambrosino, and Here’s Why

Ezra tries again.

Out rapper Le1f made his network debut last night, performing “Wut” on David Letterman

thank you so much...

Which Noel do you prefer?

Birthday shoutouts go to Noel Fisher (above), who is 30, Dana Delany is 58, and Emile Hirsch is 29.

TV Line has a behind-the-scenes look at nest week’s 100th episode of Glee.

A lot has been written over the decades about murder victim Kitty Genovese and how accurate the “bystander effect” was, but I had no idea that Kitty was a lesbian, and on her way home to her partner when she was attacked.

Fox Affiliate Cut A Reference To Evolution From Neil deGrasse Tyson‘s Cosmos

Ezra Klein defends his hiring of Brandon Ambrosino. “I don’t want to pretend that I have the context and the background to perfectly or authoritatively judge this debate,” Klein said. “But when I read his pieces, I didn’t come away with the impression that he holds an iota of homophobia.” Oh Ezra, you are officially off my long...

Birthday shoutouts go to Aaron Eckhart (above), who is 46, James Taylor is 66, Ron Jeremy is 61, and Al Jarreau is 74.

Pretty Woman is coming to the Broadway stage.

Meet Brandon Ambrosino, Homophobes’ Favorite Gay Writer And Vox’s Newest Hire. Yes, we’re well aware of this guy. Really, Ezra Klein?

How the National Organization for Marriage Was Banished to the Basement at Cpac 2014

Anti-Gay Barilla Doesn’t Mind Profiting Off Gay-Friendly City

Jim Halterman talks to Stephen Amell about the recent Sara and Nyssa development on Arrow, and what the reaction would have been if it was two male characters.

Pastor Says Frozen is a Satanic Attempt To Make Kids Gay. Yeah … and?

Kevin Bacon explains the 80′s to Millennials.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the Neil Patrick Harris photoshoot for Out

Macklemore has a message: Its Time That Us Men Started Respecting To The Basin That Our Queens Sit On!

Ezra Klein announced Sunday he was launching a new news website with the D.C.-based internet media company Vox Media. Klein, who rose to fame with his popular and influential Wonkblog at the Washington Post, made the big switch after weeks of speculation of where the wunderkind writer would wind up next. Also Read: Ezra Klein Out at The Washington Post, Starting ‘His Own News Organization’ “Early last year, Melissa Bell, Matt Yglesias and I began wrestling with a question that had bugged all of us for a long time: why hadn’t the Internet made the news better...

On Tuesday, National Journal Editorial Director Ron Fournier published a column examining the similarities between the first year of President Barack Obama’s second term and that of former President George W. Bush. He observed that the parallels are eerie and Obama runs the risk of leaving office with a dubious record of achievements. On Tuesday, Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein dismissed Fournier’s analysis as overly focused on intra-Washington politics and lacking the perspective that the average American applies to presidencies.

The weeks since the rollout of Obamacare have seen a level of media rodent-fornication worthy of a midnight screening of Willard in a dumpster, but most of that has been die to some rather transparent motives and deficiencies in the mainstream media. Less obvious, though, is the reason behind the egregious rodential sexcapades of Washington Post scribe and MSNBC contributor Ezra Klein, whose appearance on Thursday night's The Last Word was a veritable clinic in misleading and misinforming on Obamacare.

This Friday sees Real Time with Bill Maher continue its 11th season Friday, Nov.. 15 (10:00-11:00 p.m. live Et/tape-delayed Pt), with a replay at 11:00 p.m., exclusively on HBO. This gives Maher a unique platform to cover contemporary issues with an opening monologue, roundtable discussions with panelists, and interviews with in-studio and satellite guests. Reporter Radley Balko is the top-of-show interview guest. Actor Casey Affleck is the mid-show interview guest. The roundtable guests are tax-reform advocate Mattie Duppler, journalist Ezra Klein and commentator Reihan Salam. Bill Maher has been a favorite of subscribers since his first special on the network in 1989, starring in nine solo specials, including the hour-long presentations “Bill Maher…But I’m Not Wrong,” “The Decider” and...

A roiling blood feud between Salon's Joan Walsh and The Washington Post's Ezra Klein came to a bone-crunching head Wednesday night, as All In host Chris Hayes mediated an epic rhetorical steel cage match between the duo. The brouhaha culminated in Walsh telling Klein "You're a wonderful reporter. I read you every day. I probably read close to every word you write." Sh*t just got real.

The lack of interest in or support for new gun laws in the wake of the latest mass shooting may be taking a toll on the “gun safety advocates” populating MSNBC’s Now panel desk. On Wednesday, Washington Post blogger Ezra Klein permitted himself a moment to fantasize about a public which embraces gun control legislation and votes pro-Second Amendment lawmakers out of office. Then, Klein imagined, a “reverse of 1994” would end the National Rifle Association’s influence in Congress forever.

Ezra Klein apparently picked the wrong day to be absent from the Washington Post offices. In a major deal announced this afternoon, Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos purchased the Post for $250 million. Before the news broke, New York Times media columnist Brian Stelter reported that the Post's staff had been called into an emergency meeting, which columnist Klein apparently missed because after the announcement went public, he tweeted this...

Remember JournoList? Ezra Klein's email listserv of liberal-leaning journalists who thought everything they said was off the record until 2010, when Dave Weigel was caught saying mean things about Matt Drudge on it, lost his job at the Washington Post, and then Klein shut the whole thing down? Well, it's back! Gawker got its hands on 300 pages' worth of the JournoList archives, and threw them up on its site with a "have at it," seemingly spending more time on the lead art (a collage of photos of the various journalists on...

It's a peek at what could have been when The Office goes to "The Farm".

News

I'm just thrilled at the news that Jonathan Del Arco has been promoted to a series regular for the second season of Major Crimes. Dr. Morales has been way too much fun for the little screen time he's gotten, so I've been hoping this would happen.

Last night, Ed Schultz announced that his show is moving to a two-hour weekend time slot next month, which opens up a major prime time slot on the news channel. If I'm reading the New York Times' item correctly, the new prime time host could be announced later this morning, with Chris Hayes, Ezra Klein and Joy Reid mentioned as front runners. That might explain why Klein has been making so many guest-hosting appearances lately.

Sex and the City alum Kristin Davis has joined the cast of CBS' Bad Teacher adaptation,...

The Ed Show is exiting MSNBC’s primetime for weekends, host Ed Schultz announced tonight. “And in the big finish tonight, a big personal and professional announcement. MSNBC will be expanding its weekend programming and this opens a big opportunity for “The Ed Show” and my brand. I will be leaving this time slot at 8 pm Et and moving to Saturday and Sunday from 5 to 7 Pm,” Schultz said at the end of the show this evening. The change to weekends will happen in April. “I’m thrilled for Ed and happy to be expanding our weekend programming. It’s an exciting time for MSNBC and I’m looking forward to having Ed’s powerful voice on our network for a long time,” said Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC in a statement Wednesday. The number two rated cable network says it will likely announce a replacement for the strident Schultz on Thursday.

I may be paraphrasing a bit, but on Thursday morning's Morning Joe, MSNBC contributor and Washington Post über-wonk Ezra Klein was asked to give his read on the chances for new progress on effective gun regulation in the wake of the Newtown tragedy, and served up a bucket of ice-cold water. He's not the only pessimist on gun regulation, but hearing a well-respected, plugged-in liberal like Ezra Klein say that even a weak assault weapons ban will be a "very large lift" is (a little bit) like hearing Walter Cronkite say that the Vietnam War was unwinnable.

This Sunday, New York Times media correspondent Brian Stelter reported that change may be in the air at MSNBC, with Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein possibly replacing Ed Schultz during the network's 8 p.m. time slot. The report was (sort of) denied by MSNBC brass, but on his radio show yesterday afternoon, Schultz took to rant against Stelter for printing any such possibilities without contacting him for his own opinion.

By Rachel Bennett

Television Editor & Columnist

***

Election Day is finally here!

We’ve been bombarded with political ad after political ad (to the point that some of us burst into tears at the mention of President Barack Obama or Gov. Mitt Romney), but one of the most divisive presidential elections in U.S. history is almost over.

After you cast your ballot, you will most likely turn on the TV to watch the returns this evening. With more channels than ever, you will have to make one more choice before the clock strikes midnight: Which election coverage to watch.

Just as you should be informed about your presidential nominees, you should be informed about your election night coverage options. Check out the candidates below:

Broadcast Networks

• NBC: The Peacock network’s election special begins at 7:00 p.m. Est/4 p.m. Pst and lasts until 3 a.m. Est./12 a.m.

Tags: Rachel MaddowMSNBCBarack ObamaPresident ObamaMitt RomneyIMDbPresidential debates

Last night, nerds ran wild and free as Rachel Maddow and friends kicked off their coverage of first of a series of Presidential debates leading up to the 2012 election.

The debate was moderated by PBS anchor Jim Lehrer. Well, “moderated” in the roughly the same sense that a lone plastic bag “moderates” the speed of freeway traffic. Maddow noted both the absence of the firm hand on the tiller and the failures of the debate structure, which was long chunks of time devoted to particular topic areas, with first an answer and then a response and then a rebuttal and then Mitt Romney interrupting and talking whenever he wanted.

“I personally do not know who won this debate,” said Maddow as they switched from the event proper to Punditland, “I do think that we saw this debate format die a very painful death on camera tonight.

One of the broad narratives of the 2012 election is that President Obama doesn't have a sufficient economic record to defeat former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, which means he must rely on a "contrast" campaign between their respective "visions" for the country. On Tuesday night's The Rachel Maddow Show, fill-in host Ezra Klein revealed a new set of goalposts from Mitt Romney that makes the President's record of job creation much more compelling.

On Monday night, Fox News' The Five beat everyone it the demo: the rest of the Fox lineup as well as those of MSNBC, CNN and Hln. The story was a bit different when it came to total viewers where Bill O'Reilly regained his edge, but The Five slid only to second place. The closest non-Fox contender was Rachel Maddow's fill-in, Ezra Klein, on MSNBC.

Conclusion

As part of a weekly series exploring the policy positions of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, this article examines Obama's American Jobs Act: what it claims, what it promises, and whether it delivers. Make sure to read our thorough analysis of Mitt Romney's jobs plan, and follow PoliticOlogy for weekly analyses of the candidates' positions.

Click Here to Return to Overview

Click Here to Return to Analysis

Although the American Jobs Act has been defined by a lack of any Republican support, it is still modest. Polling data from 2011 suggested that a plurality of voters supported the American Jobs Act. That’s a start, particularly since a plurality of voters disapprove of the stimulus package. Even the Obama team’s imagination of what is possible has been limited by the polarized attitude in Congress. Obama's current jobs plan may be a step in the right direction, but it’s just that.

Conclusion

As part of a weekly series exploring the policy positions of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, this article examines Obama's American Jobs Act: what it claims, what it promises, and whether it delivers. Make sure to read our thorough analysis of Mitt Romney's jobs plan, and follow PoliticOlogy for weekly analyses of the candidates' positions.

Click Here to Return to Overview

Click Here to Return to Analysis

Although the American Jobs Act has been defined by a lack of any Republican support, it is still modest. Polling data from 2011 suggested that a plurality of voters supported the American Jobs Act. That’s a start, particularly since a plurality of voters disapprove of the stimulus package. Even the Obama team’s imagination of what is possible has been limited by the polarized attitude in Congress. Obama's current jobs plan may be a step in the right direction, but it’s just that.

Usually in the business of chronicling cable news, a debate on austerity and inflation is a pretty hard sell. In a world of Jeremiah Wrights and Sandra Flukes, the Euro crisis is rather low on the personal drama scale. This morning's Melissa Harris-Perry shattered that conventional wisdom, with The Washington Post's Ezra Klein and Reason's Nick Gillespie going head-to-head on the woes of the Eurozone and whether the nations should continue to spend money, the sort of crosstalk-laden panel discussion host Melissa Harris-Perry had to interrupt to remind them to keep the audience in the loop.

What were the main Twiitter talking points during the Oscars ceremony?

Twitter was abuzz with commentary throughout Sunday night, as practically every minor detail of the Oscars broadcast was dissected, joked about, bickered over and elevated into minor Twitterstorm status within seconds. Here are just a few of the highlights (and lowlights) that might have passed you by.

On the red carpet: Sacha Baron Cohen

Sacha Baron Cohen empties 'Kim Jong-il's ashes' over Ryan Seacrest on Oscars red carpet guardian.co.uk/film/2012/feb/…

— Guardian Film (@guardianfilm) February 27, 2012

Sacha Baron Cohen's Dictator completely ruins Ryan Seacrest's tux by dumping ashes on him. And it is awesome.

— Jezebel (@Jezebel) February 27, 2012

My mom always told me to pack two jackets for red carpets, always wondered why. Now I know.

— Ryan Seacrest (@RyanSeacrest) February 27, 2012

On the red carpet: Nick Nolte

Three time Oscar Nominee Nick Nolte arrives in style.yfrog.com...

In a recent piece for Washington Post, columnist Ezra Klein referred to President Obama as a "moderate president in an immoderate time." In contrast with conservatives (and some liberals) who think Obama is too ideologically rigid, many like Klein believe he has been one of the most moderate presidents of our era. David Gregory discussed this with the panel on Meet the Press, and whether it's the president or his rivals who are more ideologically stubborn.

Even President Obama likes to have coffee dates. The President mixed it up with progressive media figures during a morning coffee session in the Roosevelt Room. 

Among those attending: The Washington Post's Ezra Klein and Greg Sargent, MSNBC's Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes, Katrina vanden Heuvel of The Nation, The New York Times' Frank Bruni, Arianna Huffington, Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, Faiz Shakir of ThinkProgress and Joy Reid of The Reid Report.

No word on what type of coffee they drank. The conversation covered a variety of topics, ranging from the economy to Obama's 2012 agenda. ...

Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein amusedly reacted to the news of reality television star Donald Trump hosting a Gop debate later this month, mocking The Donald by sarcastically suggesting Top Chef host Tom Colicchio should moderate the next Republican debate. "Someone tweeted that a clown in now charge of a circus which I thought was a nice way of putting it," Klein snarked. "I think it actually raises the question of what other reality show television hosts could be running Gop debates. I'm a Top Chef fan, I'd love to see Tom Colicchio run a quickfire for the Gop presidential candidates -- see who can cook a quiche quickest, maybe I have to wait for 2016."...

"We need a leader not a reader," responded Herman Cain to questions recently about whether he had the intellectual horsepower to be President. The general attitude against academia was the topic on the table for today's Up with Chris Hayes, where some panelists went as far as to call the American right "anti-education" rather than simply anti-elitist, with Ezra Klein left to defend the conservative attitude towards education.

Andrew Sullivan spent a good deal of his morning on television today, following up an appearance on The Chris Matthews Show with an extended interview on Reliable Sources, where the blogger discussed moderate conservatism and his increased alienation from the American right with Howard Kurtz. Sullivan insisted that, despite praising President Obama and, on some issues, falling in the Ezra Klein/Thomas Friedman column, he was still a true conservative.

On MSNBC's Now with Alex Wagner, Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein surmised that Mitt Romney possibly has peaked too early in the Republican nomination race. "Romney has yet to stumble in a debate, he has yet to make a mistake, he has yet to have a good ad released into the field against him. I sort of wonder a little bit given that he's yet to pick up a single voter from the collapses of Rick Perry, Herman Cain, -- I mean, I'm just going to predict the eventual collapse of Newt Gingrich -- if he gets that stumble which will come at the wrong time -- I sort of wonder if Romney hasn't peaked too early."...

It's been frustrating for many in the media and the American people to sit back and watch the markets go crazy since America's credit downgrade on Friday, while some of the few people who can react to situation are on vacation. Case in point: MSNBC's Thomas Roberts, who in speaking with guest Ezra Klein today suggested that future Congressional inaction in light of the dire situation may be considered "an act of treason."...

Getty

After Thursday’s stock market slip, economists and market analysts have started to wonder if the country is about to enter into a “double-dip” recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by as many as 512 points by the closing bell on Thursday afternoon.

But Friday morning’s surprisingly positive jobs report — 117,000 jobs were added in the month of July, bringing unemployment down to 9.1% — has prompted a day of stock market confusion and turmoil.

Celebrities and news makers were on the Twitter sidelines,...