Slate’s Jack Shafer is trying to pull the wool over somebody’s eyes.

In yesterday’s column about vain journalists (say what?!), he discloses, “[Mark] Feldstein is a friend—not as good a friend as David Corn, but a lot better than Michael Isikoff,” which some people are interpreting as a fast-on-the-heels new diss of the freshly engaged Newsweek journalist. (Earlier this month, in a review of the new book, “Hubris,” penned by Corn and Isikoff, Shafer also wrote, “Michael Isikoff is a friend, but not so good.”

But does Shafer really hold that much hate in his heart for Isikoff? Not from what he tells Big Head Rob (By the way, does anyone else believe in just flat out asking people about who they hate anymore?).

“On and off, I’ve been dissing Isikoff in print for the last fifteen years in hopes of destabilizing him just enough to prevent him from becoming the best reporter in the universe,” he told us recently. ”Such a development would hurt the feelings of Bob Woodward and Seymour Hersh, and we can’t have that.

“I conduct most of my anti-Isikoff psy-ops in public, towel-snapping him at parties and on the streets of Washington. But once in my Washington City Paper press column I described him as such a good friend that his daughter called me daddy. People still ask him what I meant by that.

“Isikoff’s career didn’t really take off until I left town in 1995 and I could no longer undermine him as part of my daily routine. Since I returned to Washington in 2000, I’ve done my best to cripple his ego, but to little avail. I think my recent diss rolled right off his back.”

Isikoff, indeed, confirmed that there’s no hard feelings between the two during his recent BHR interview, so it seems high time for people to stop speculating about these secret bosom buddies — no matter how well Shafer appears to keep pulling off his schtick.

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Disclosure: We consider Shafer to be a friend, but not as good a friend as Corn, and not as good as Isikoff – and definitely not as good as Hersh and/or Woodward.