Check out this quote from Newsweek’s Howard Fineman in Howard Kurtz’s WaPo media column:

Newsweek columnist Howard Fineman says [Rahm] Emanuel “enjoys jousting with the press and the idea that he understands our tribal rituals. There’s no more political being in Washington than Rahm, so you can get a quicker read on a situation just by checking his barometric pressure. Are you going to get the inside story of what’s going on behind closed doors? Absolutely not. But you don’t go to Rahm for that.”

Egad, were they having some sort of contest to see who could pack the greatest number of self-regarding banalities into a single paragraph? “Jousting … tribal rituals … political being [at least it wasn’t “political animal”] … barometric pressure … inside story … behind closed doors.” I wonder if Howard K. put that in there word for word just to let Howard F. embarrass himself.

The rest of column is sort of a hoot: “Breaking News — White House Chief of Staff Talks to Reporters! Rather a Lot!” Emanuel is famous for his obscenity and partisanship, for being a “foul-mouthed ballet dancer” in the WaPo’s words, who just before signing on with Obama to bring down the hammer upon the greedy banksters on behalf of the poor suffering American middle class made a great heaping pile of filthy lucre for himself — more than $16 million in two years — working the nexus between Washington and Wall Street at the Wasserstein Perella investment bank. Quite the character — endlessly quotable! But he let poor Howard K. down:

Emanuel would comment only with an e-mail, and a rather dull one at that: “I’ve always believed it is important to be in close communication with journalists.” He called Washington reporters “professionals who take very seriously their responsibility to act as a go-between for the American people and their government.”

Feel the love, Washington Post readers, feel the love!