The Post is a joke. The only halfway decent American paper is the NY Times.

The best paper in the world is L'Unita', the Italian Communist Party newspaper. It runs Doonesbury. It is a bit odd – several pages of communistic polemic & then Doonesbury, speaking Italiano. Newspapers – partisan newspapers – in Italy sell millions of copies & are healthy b.c. the clown Silvio owns the TV networks & puts on propaganda, so people get their news from the partisan newspapers.

It is indeed possible that MR hoped XH would assume (as have so many posters in this thread) from the phrasing of the email that her chat had in fact resulted in a promise to write a favorable piece. It would be a great way for MR to put XH in her debt. But the wording is sufficiently ambiguous that it seems possible that there was no link, and that MR wasn't even trying to draw one, between the conversation and the editorial.

If MR had the huge clout attributed to her on this board, she would have wanted to make sure XH knew it. So wouldn't she have been clearer, by saying something like "they said I had persuaded them, and . . ." or "I made it happen for you . . ."?

TH- The email is not a record of a "cozy relationship" between Rhee and the WP EB. It's a record of a communication between Rhee and Hartsock.

The Post has become a shill for the right wing nationally & for the Fenty-Rhee regime locally. Mrs Graham must be crying in her grave.

I just don't see anything wrong in and of itself with WP communicating with the Admin. That is expected, or should be. Nor do I see any smoking gun with Rhee communicating with Hartsock. Again, should be expected. And lastly, I don't see any evidence that Rhee has the ability to improperly or even single-handedly sway the WP editorial board.
See, it's just natural- expected, if you will- that WP would want to check out Hartsock before writing an editorial. And an obvious way to do so is by speaking with her coworkers or former employer.

What's weird is that you make it in to something more than that. If you have additional insight into the matter, you both have certainly silent about it, and yet you freely project your fantasies as fact, and pretend you know more than you do.

That's your bias showing, not mine.

What does this email prove? That the WaPo e-board talked to Rhee before writing the editorial on Hartstock. So...? Don't we want the e-board talking to people before they write? Isn't that what makes them different from bloggers who spout off their opinions without doing any research or reporting? The WaPo e-board has access to the most powerful people in the city. Why wouldn't we want them to use that access?

This kind of thing happens with every e-board of every newspaper in every city, and it goes both ways. You don't think Vince Gray or Phil Mendelson have ever lobbied the WaPo before for more favorable coverage?

Don't get me wrong; DeBonis is a titan. But let's not get into haigographic mode here for something that is, ultimately, just a nice little scooplet.

Did you ever get the criminal report? If you still need it, let me know here and I'll send you a copy in the mail. That would leave some serious 'splaining' to do.