The bloggers profiled in the following article are arguably famous, but nice and approachable figures around DC. So of course the NYT masterfully overstates their importance in a clever underhanded attempt at making Washington look "Busch League." “How cute, they run blogs. We have hedge fund managers here.” I will give the NYT credit though: Many people in DC (sadly maybe some of those mentioned in the article) will take pride in this article and not catch on to the subtle insult.
Washington’s New Brat Pack Masters Media "One winter evening, Brian Beutler, 28, a reporter for the online publication Talking Points Memo, sat with his friend and roommate Dave Weigel, 29, a political reporter for Slate and a contributor to MSNBC, at a coffee shop on U Street. Recovering from a cold as snow fell outside, Mr. Beutler spoke about his younger — well, relatively younger — days in the city. “Everyone’s gotten a little bit older and a little more boring,” Mr. Beutler said, speaking of a wave of Washington bloggers who have come of age together...
... In only a few years, these young men and others like them have become part of the journalistic establishment in Washington. Once they lived in groups in squalid homes and stayed out late, reading comic books in between posts as more seasoned reporters slogged their way through traditional publications like The Hill and Roll Call. Now the members of this “Juicebox Mafia,” as they were first called by Eli Lake of The Washington Times, in a reference to youth, have become destination reading for — and respected by — the city’s power elite...
...There is precedent for such packs of smart, self-important young men in other capital cities. More than 50 years ago, Gay Talese wrote of “the witty, irreverent sons of a conquering nation,” led by George Plimpton, who once tromped through Paris…" http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/fashion/27YOUNGPUNDITS.html
