Conservative paper says that Dem nominee’s feelings about what should guide federal judges conflicts with the oath of those very judges. Heady stuff!

Though the Examiner first wrote up its cliche-ridden endorsement of the Republican presidential ticket weeks ago, the paper continues to showcase the piece on its Web site, with big, bold images and grand type.

Last time we at City Desk wrote about the endorsement, we capped on the Examiner for swallowing the rhetoric of the Republican party and putting it straight onto its pages, as follows: “It is for times such as these that men like John McCain are made, to put country first so that it can be put right in its time of need.”

Today, however, we are capping on the Examiner for swallowing the rhetoric of the Republican party and putting it straight onto its pages, as follows:

While no candidate is perfect, presidents like Harry Truman remind us that defending and enriching America’s place in a dangerous world often requires the sometimes rough-hewn character of men and women who always put country first, no matter the cost to them personally. It is precisely for times like these that America needs John McCain and Sarah Palin.

That’s right–at least twice in the same editorial, the Examiner, once known as a bastion of original thinking (or maybe not, actually), recycles a campaign slogan with a perfectly straight face. Perhaps next time, they should put it in capital letters, just because.

Ben Westhoff, a New York freelance writer and occasional contributor to City Paper’s arts pages, recently signed on with the Examiner’s new blogger-generated-content model, where writers proclaim themselves experts in some discipline and get paid based on pageviews. It didn’t work out so well for Westhoff, who had a brief stint as a “music examiner,” because, well—he was trying to get pageviews:

In the beginning I took my column pretty seriously, shouting out stories I’d written for other publications, and including some original content. It quickly became a slog. My hits were 200 or 300 a day, not terrible, but translating to pennies (or perhaps quarters) per day. Then, around the time of the Republican convention it occurred to me that the idiots who dial up Examiner don’t want to read about Jamie Lidell or whatever, they want to read about Sarah fucking Palin. And so I began posting about her, every day. My hits went way up, well over 1000 for this Sarah Palin drinking game.

I was immediately told by an editor — a different one — that this was unacceptable, that I had to write about music only. I pushed back, noting my agreement with the first guy. But he couldn’t be swayed, and since I was near a payment threshold I capitulated. I silently vowed to get over the threshold as quickly as possible, and to entertain myself in the process. And so I began to blog about nothing but Lil Wayne and boobs — Katy Perry’s, mostly — in as absurd a manner as possible. Oh, and I still talked about Sarah Palin via ridiculous musical tie-ins. “Katy Perry and Sarah Palin to wrestle in Jello?” one was titled.

My hits stayed high, probably because nearly every post included a picture of Katy Perry with her tits hanging out, which were splashed across the site’s front page next to headlines like “Katy Perry voted biggest boobs in music.” (The first line of that particular post was, “By my friend Darryl”). After about a week of this they cut me off. My page is still up, but as of Saturday I can’t post to it anymore. This annoyed me at first, but this morning I got paid so I’m over it.

Westhoff’s post includes links to his Examiner posts, but they’re all dead now.

In the coming weeks, many publications across this country will be endorsing the Republican presidential ticket. And there are some solid reasons for doing so–John McCain is indeed a great American, serving the country admirably in times of war and peace. Nearly three decades in Congress have given him a good grasp on the issues, as his performance in the first prez debate conveyed. Not falling in the plus column is his choice of running mate.

Even so, there are plenty of good things to say about McCain. Which raises a question: Why does the Examiner, in its McCain endorsement, feel compelled to regurgitate a Republican campaign slogan? I am talking about this passage:

America is at war overseas and in an economic crisis here at home. Many of her citizens believe the country is on the wrong track. It is for times such as these that men like John McCain are made, to put country first so that it can be put right in its time of need. For this reason, The Examiner endorses McCain for president and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, for vice president.

And at just the moment when it has become a staple of American comedy, the Examiner invokes that “M” word: “Ever the maverick, McCain selected Palin because her record mirrors his own in courageously standing up to corrupt special interests regardless of party and cutting government waste.”

Hey Examiner, can’t you do some original thinking here?

*I think we won’t soon hear the end of all this. It’s enough to make me want to skip town for the week.

*This’ll explain why Henry Paulson had such a nice weekend.

*OK, so the post is a week old, but it so embodies the humanity of the young professional class in the District.

*Maine: Preparing not for winter–but a hurricane?

*McCain is right: Could that have been the blunder of the 2008 campaign?

*The Examiner gives local theater some good play.

This week: FF’s triumphant and merciless return!

Watch in awe as Erik gives the cold shoulder to the Dupont Current, the InTowner, and the Examiner. The Washington Hispanic is en fuego, naturally, while Erik himself is back on the attack…sporting a dashing new haircut.

Don’t touch that remote!

[FF Bonus: Scroll down after watching to discover what the Examiner's cover really says!]

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[...and the Examiner says... "Palin's Slapshot." Zing!]

There are plenty of people in the Washington area who’ve cursed out the Examiner for its penchant to throw papers willy-nilly on lawns and stoops.

Yet Shepherd Park resident Don Squires came up with perhaps the most original protest. At an advisory neighborhood commission meeting earlier this year that addressed the unwanted deliveries, Squires showed up with a bag of Examiners that’d landed on his front lawn. He proceeded to dump them in the meeting room, provoking a commissioner to declare him out of order.

Squires responded that he was just making a point: No one wants a pile of trash in their space. Watching all of this was Examiner Publisher Michael Phelps.

Phelps also absorbed some blows on the very candid Shepherd Park listserv, which boiled over with nastiness about the free newspaper. Wrote one neighbor:

Recently, we were out of town for 10 days and our home was broken into. In our absence, The Examiner had been delivered and was littering the sidewalk to our house (I stopped the Post). For 2 years, I have begged and pleaded for delivery to stop, repeatedly voicing my concern about this being a home security issue. I have contacted Mr. Phelps and the head of circulation numerous times; I have called the 800 number; and, I have filled out the “Stop Delivery” function at The Examiner (all suggested by Mr. Phelps himself during his ludicrous ANC appearance).

The Examiner also got some pressure from the office of Councilmember Muriel Bowser, which acted as an intermediary between Phelps and the angry residents. Phelps was unavailable for comment.

These days, less newsprint is getting thrown around in this stately D.C. neighborhood. Squires reports that for the first time since mid-July, he’s not getting the deliveries. One big help is that the Examiner around that time bagged its nearly daily deliveries and went with a twice-weekly schedule. “I think it was done with an eye toward not bothering people as much,” says Squires.

The Washington Post has got a photo gallery of the early skirmishes at Redskins training camp. The Skins are out there on the field early, and in the worst of the summer heat. Many other NFL teams open up practice later this week, amid a cooling trend.

Chapter 7 in the Chandra Levy series also hit the streets Sunday, and I am starting to withhold less and less judgment. I mean, whatever new stuff is in this episodic disaster is marginal. So marginal, in fact, that when I come across things that I think may be new, I check my memory in search of what I knew before the series. Most of the time, I can’t quite remember, but I do know this: The series has yet to tell me anything way above and beyond what I knew before, or at least enough to justify throwing multiple reporters on the thing for a whole year. I mean, the Post is verily boasting of sinking that much time into the thing. I’d think they may be embarrassed to admit as much.

Examiner profiles first gun registrant, saying that Amy McVey didn’t seem like the “typical” owner of a firearm. And the paper’s conservative editorial page slams Pelosi.

So what else is going on, aside from the heat?

Well, there’s former Washington City Paper Editor David Carr’s book, The Night of the Gun,” excerpted in the New York Times mag. Carr is a close friend, by way of disclosure, and I helped a bit with the book, so attach whatever weight you choose to my opinion that the book is a compelling page-turner.

This week’s Fuego/Frio is, quite literally, off the charts. The Beacon is legit on health care, the Post is stale on Levy, and the Washingtonian is still the Washingtonian.

So what’s the big deal? The Washington Examiner, whose attempt to hustle readers merits a whole new category.

Fuego, frio…falso?!? Tune in to see what all the fuss is about.

Arrriba!

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Erik manages to stay vertical this week, as he calls out the Washington Diplomat for sexist fluff and the Post for their rehash of the Chandra Levy murder.

Meanwhile, FF doles out generous props to the Brookland Heartbeat, and to the Examiner for heeding some sound advice.

The glue stick is back, the stories are hot—or not!—and Erik is in top form. Don’t touch that remote!

Trouble viewing? Try the YouTube version.

Headline pun courtesy of Amanda Hess.

This week’s episode is a veritable gauntlet, as Erik takes on the Post’s “Sunday Source,” sexist sports editing, overly rhapsodic weather reporting, and the Washingtonian—whose wretched T.O.C. proves disastrous for Erik’s central nervous system.

Oy!

Trouble viewing? Try the YouTube version.

It looks like PB&J Television’s proposed Late Night Shots reality show is really going to happen. According to the Examiner, this District ‘Hills’ is currently fielding “offers from three television stations,” and a deal is expected to be made within the next few days.

Who are the lucky instant television stars?

One thing is set in stone, however: the first cast members. They are local socialites / hotties / 20-somethings Katherine Kennedy, Krista Johnson and Sophie Pyle. Johnson’s younger sister, Alexa Johnson, may also play a role in the show. (Both Johnson sisters are alumnae of South Carolina’s College of Charleston, Kennedy graduated from Loyola Marymount and Pyle is taking a semester off from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)

Hotties! Tell me more:

“It’s all going to be about our real lives,” said Krista Johnson, who is a partner at the Georgetown boutique We One You Two. “It’s going to be in the same vein of MTV’s ‘The Hills’ but ours is going to be more realistic.

Realistic reality? Oh, well. At least there are hotties.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery.

Fuego/Frio is back from vacation with a new punch, some added zip and—just for good measure—a fresh touch of oomph.

Watch in awe as Erik assails the Washingtonian for hamhandedness, the Washington Hispanic for gun-nescience and the Washington Examiner for treading on well-trodden ground.

El Pregonero, meanwhile, gets some love for a paradigm-shifting day-laborer piece.

Plus: props to the New York Times for beating Wemple on the Brauchli story.

Trouble viewing? Try the YouTube version.

Harry,

Interesting column today about Kwame Brown—thin, but interesting. But one thing: the deputy mayor for planning and economic development is Neil O. Albert, not “Neal Albert.”

Oh, and belated praise for your column from a few weeks back about how local Republicans are giving council challenger Patrick Mara a hard time. But again, the executive director of the local GOP is Paul Craney, not “Paul Kraney.”

Sincerely, LL

Sports! We all watch them. And what a weekend it was for Washington’s teams. The Caps, holding onto their postseason life, and the Wiz showing again that they’re not in the same league with the Cavs. Even though they are.

*Wizznuttz–whaddaya say about this series? C’mon, it’s playoff time, yet you fellows can’t give me a weekend update? C’mon!

*On Frozen Blog has a great meditation on the woes of Flyer Mike Knuble and the implications for the rest of the Caps series, in which the home squad is down 3-2 heading into a big game on Monday night and then–locals hope–Tuesday night.

*WaPo draws a powerful link between the local econ and one of the most environmentally devastating practice of modern times–mountaintop mining. The fundamental: Washington needs more and more power, and more and more of it is coming from coal. The coal has to come from somewhere, and it often comes from mountains whose buzzcuts make them look like “Mars,” in the characterization of an environmental activist.

*Recycling feat of the weekend: Examiner puts story on its site about how burglaries are up 21 percent in the District. Credits and links to WTOP. Go to WTOP, and find that WTOP links to and credits the Washington Post, which actually did the journalism.

*Columnist Mike Wise makes a good point about the Wiz–until and unless Abe Pollin’s team actually wins a series against this “rival,” there’s no rivalry. Just a one-sided relationship of sorts.

*Check this out on the Washington Times site: Ollie North executes hit piece on Jimmy Carter.