Blowing Smoke: "Huff Po" Hits Big Time

The real news of the night for the blogosphere was when President Obama looked down at his list of reporters and said "Huffington Post". I didn’t completely catch the question, because my mind was busy reconciling some of Sam Stein's crazier posts with the moment. I wondered – at what point does an alternative outsider tabloid cross the line and become a part of the insider status quo press?

"Huff Po", as it's name is abbreviated on the web, probably doesn't have to worry about crossing the line anytime soon, but you never really know what Arianna Huffington is going to do next – she's never meet a social order she wasn't willing to scale to get to the top. She always reminds me in television interviews of Zsa Zsa Gabor, as if she is a homelier but more intelligent cousin of the Austrian born actress.

If Fox News is a shill for the Republican Party, "Huff Po" must be the White House's house organ. The only site any more pro-Obama is www.barackobama.com And its headlines - well, let's say they don’t really seem to worry too much about the headline matching the story in the promo department.

But if you are tired of reading the same old tired, recycled headlines in the traditional papers, you cannot beat "Huff Po" for going with a story hours before others will even think about touching it. For instance, it is the only source today that sticks this quote right at the top of its home page - "Huff Post's Sam Stein Asks Obama About Leahy's Proposal To Investigate Bush Officials - President's Response: 'Nobody Is Above The Law'."

How do I know all of this? Because the web address sits right smack in the middle of my address bar drop down box.