With much fanfare, including a widely-circulated item in Page 6, John Clarke Jr. was poised only a few short weeks ago to become the next fabled editor of the snarky Wonkette blog. It was the same “dream” job that had led to a career at TIME for Ana Marie Cox, the first Wonkette (the one without a penis, we think) — and Clarke seemed quite ready to transform his past unsuccessful career in politics into a new political blogging career. 

But, as we confirmed via a subtle change on the Gawker Media blog’s masthead this morning, Clarke has parted ways with owner Nick Denton in record time. Even David Lat stayed at the blog longer in 2006 when he exited after a few months of reportedly very little pay and even less prestige.

The change is not exactly shocking, as Big Head DC recently noted (twice) that Clarke had started freelancing for Radar, a chief competitor to Denton’s blogs. Within days of those revelations, Clarke was out at Wonkette. That a second editor has left Denton to work for Radar (the first was Alex Balk) surely must be a stinging slap in Denton’s face, especially considering the mass quitting of three of his top editors at Gawker in December. Each of those editors took jabs on the Gawker blog about Denton’s poor management style in the weeks prior to their departures.

Interestingly, Ken Layne, who had run the Wonkette blog with Alex Pareene for a majority of 2006 and 2007 - and who was asked to leave the blog by Denton when Clarke signed up - has temporarily filled the open position. Pareene left to join Gawker’s NYC-focused blog soon after Big Head DC revealed his involvement in a Washington sex scandal.

As for Clarke, problems started soon into his tenure. A source close to the situation says Clarke didn’t realize the amount of posting he’d be expected to do, nor did he understand the extent of Denton’s desire for fresh and original scoops to be broken via the blog. Denton’s demands for scoops similar to mainstream media outlets have become much more intense as of late as some of his blogs, including Wonkette, have lost audience share and ad revenue to competing outlets such as Big Head DC.

Related: Our Xmas Present to Wonkette: Words of Wisdom

BHDC Continues to Dramatically Outpace Wonkette

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In an effort to follow up on our recent post (because that’s what we do, kids), we asked former Wonketter (and former U.S. assistant attorney) David Lat for his expert opinion on a legal issue. We wanted to know whether current Wonketter Alex Pareene could be getting himself into any legal troubles by calling Robert Steinbuch a “pervert” and “Jessica Cutler-fucker.” (See second item of yesterday’s Reliable Source, if you’re not up to snuff on the case.) Replies Lat:

Normally I’d say no, since “pervert” is a matter of opinion, and “Jessica Cutler-fucker” is a fact that not even RS disputes. But given how lawsuit happy RS is…I’d say that it could cause him to drag Alex into a lawsuit — which, however meritless, would take time and money to defend.

And thus, the Washingtonienne scandal will never cease to provide blogging material. Be sure to check out Lat’s Above the Law for more expert legal observations. 

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Patrick Gavin, of FishbowldDC, decides to link to a New Yorker not-that-funny and oldish Christopher Hitchens profile all day long today – in a whopping five different posts thus far. Misses the part where Hitchens says that the most overrated things in life are “champagne, lobsters, anal sex and picnics.” Incredibly not hot. Yeah, Inky must be working out really well. 

DC Bachelor becomes hung up on site visitors. It’s crossing the line into geek territory when a non-professional blogger writes posts tantamount to press releases re: visitor numbers. Yes, we all watch our numbers, but we don’t talk about the numbers. It’s like the eighth rule of blog club. 

Kathryn pens a lengthy, boring missive about her realization that she tells lengthy, boring stories. Few disagree with her. One commenter, Web Cowgirl suggests that Kath might have ADD, due to her lack of getting-to-the-point skills. We can’t help but laugh.

Gavin makes the list again by begging an almost-fired Tucker Carlson via a lame blog entry to have drinks with him tonight! You know, Halloween night. Tucker’s got kids, dude. He doesn’t want to drink, nor dance, with you. (P.S. We can lend you his number, if you need it.) 

Wonkette’s Alex Pareene finds his site’s numbers still stagnant — despite an election cycle (you know, politics?). He replaced TIME’s Ana Marie Cox early this year and his co-editor David Lat left for his own professional blog recently. (Lat’s numbers, meanwhile, have been skyrocketing.)

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Big Head Rob is excited to bring you an exclusive Friday afternoon interview with the bloggerific lawyer David Lat (take that, Mr. Tim Russert, with your exclusive Sunday morning interviews all the time). The former assistant U.S. attorney is perhaps best known for impersonating a lady at Underneath Their Robes and for, well… impersonating a lady at Wonkette. A man with happy feet, Lat’s now shaking his bon bon to grow an audience at Above the Law, which is part of the Dealbreaker.com network. And, for the first time in a long time, he’s not impersonating a lady. Or is he?

BHR: With Foleygate in full swing, do you miss being a part of Wonkette?

DL: Alex, Ken, and the rest of the Wonkette crew are doing a great job covering Foleygate. But it’s actually not as esy a story to cover as one might think. The expectations for hilarity are ridiculously high. So I’m actually fine with not having to cover the misadventures of Mark Foley.

BHR: Yeah, they are trying pretty hard, aren’t they? What was your favorite part of your old position?

DL: The frequent parties, especially the hors d’oeuvres — like those goat cheese puffs at the GQ book party, or those mini-tortilla shells filled with southwestern salad at the Peter Beinart book party. I get invited to some parties these days, but not as many as before.

BHR: Ha. Goat cheese puffs, funny. Underneath Their Robes — hard to find time to keep it going? Will it continue?

DL: Basically I’ll be folding UTR into Above the Law. There’s nothing I could write for UTR that I couldn’t also post at ATL. Composing a formal UTR “farewell post” is on my long “to do” list.

BHR: Is Above the Law turning out to be all you hoped it would?

DL: Above the Law is turning out to be all I hoped it would — and more. It’s literally my “dream job”: I dreamt up the coolest job I could imagine, pitched my idea to some investors (Dead Horse Media LLC), and got them to back it. So far it has been a blast. Some days I can’t believe I make a living doing what I do.

It’s a lot of work, but it doesn’t feel like “work” because it’s so enjoyable. It’s the most fun job I’ve ever had, and I could see myself doing it for quite some time. I view myself as part of a long and distinguished line of what I’d call “niche gossip columnists” — e.g., Army Archerd and Hollywood, Michael Riedel and New York theatre. They’ve covered their beats for years, and I could see myself doing the same thing, assuming all goes well.

BHR: You’d make a great Asian version of Armey Archard, wethinks. But how’s the site doing thus far?

DL: ATL has been doing very well. As Elizabeth Spiers noted elsewhere, traffic is about three times what we expected. Reader feedback has been overwhelmingly positive; people are really enjoying the site. And this is just the beginning. ATL will only get better over time, as we obtain the assistance of interns (now accepting applications), recruit guest columnists, expand our readership, etc.

BHR: Why should Big Head Rob readers visit you everyday?

DL: Because we look at the law, which so many Americans find fascinating yet inaccessible, from a new and different perspective — one that’s irreverent, fun, and refreshing. It’s like “The Daily Show,” but for the legal profession. That pretty much says it all.

BHR: Well played, dear friend. Well played.

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We noted last week that the NY Times article by David Carr, which covered the Gawker empire shuffle, made it appear as though Wonkette co-editor David Lat had been let go. Lat quickly informed us that he was requesting a correction from the notoriously correction-averse paper of record. But, yesterday, he got exactly what he wanted:

The David Carr column in Business Day last Monday about cost cuts at Gawker Media, a blogging company, erroneously included a Web site on a list of sites where editors were moved to new jobs or replaced on June 30. The changes occurred at Gawker.com, Gizmodo.com, and Gridskipper.com; no editors were moved or replaced at Wonkette. 

Congrats, Mr. Lat. We always knew you were special. Now, please don’t leave us. Alex Pareene — the “regular kid” from Minneapolis — is a little scary.

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We weren’t the only ones confused by the “underperforming” reference to David Lat, the soon-to-exit Wonkette editor, in the nation’s newspaper of record. He’s submitted a request for a correction to the NY Times concerning David Carr’s article, since he’s leaving Wonkette of his own free will and was not fired like his Gawker counter-part Jesse Oxfeld. “We’ll see what they have to say,” says Lat, who’s enjoying his last days in the District.

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Yesterday, the NY Times offered a startling peek inside the increasingly pessimistic world of Nick Denton, the blog mogul behind the Gawker empire (which includes Wonkette).

The article raised more questions than it answered about the recent Women’s Wear Daily scoop, which noted that David Lat has been lured away from the DC polisnark blog by the burgeoning media empress Elizabeth Spiers:

“Better to sober up now, before the end of the party,” [Denton] said in announcing the realignment. As of last Friday, Sploid, a tabloid-infested site built on screen shots, and Screenhead, an aggregator of video clips, were put up for sale. Editors at Gawker, Wonkette, Gizmodo, and Gridskipper were moved or replaced. At a time when mainstream media companies are madly baking their own piece of blog pie, Mr. Denton was summarily executing underperformers. 

We highly doubt that Lat is an underperformer, but that is an implication one could garner from the article, which also notes that Denton “has a massive noggin and a quiet ego to match.” Sounds like a man after our own heart (head).

Meanwhile, team Wonkette has raised its collective nose skyward — ignoring the Times report altogether — instead putting a happy face on their remaining days together with a gay-old-time report on Congressional baseball — including lovely pics from our favorite Wonkette reporter, Liz Gorman.

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Some big, big blogger/gossip news has hit the fan in recent days, and you’ve asked us lots of questions. (What do we look like, a damned Magic 8 Ball?) Actually, we’re flattered, so here are a few of our best guesses:

Q: What’s your take on David Lat’s sudden exit from Wonkette?

BHR says: The departure was so quick it was like one of Ana Marie Cox’s job tenures. Actually, we’ve heard that Lat was really homesick for NYC, so it wasn’t hard for him to be snatched away by that savvy Elizabeth Spiers of dealbreaker.com to write a new legal blog for her growing empire. Can she really afford to be paying more than Gawker, which publishes Wonkette? We think not. But we wouldn’t be at all surprised if Lat was actually able to be a lawyer and blog as part of the deal of this new adventure. He just really wants to talk about what judges are wearing all day long anyways.

Q: Will Patrick Gavin and Jeff Dufour make a dynamic duo?

BHR says: When we recently learned that the amazingly talented Dufour, of The Hill’s Under the Dome column, would be forming a male gossip team with our arch nemesis, Patrick Gavin, the editorial page editor of the DC Examiner, we thought it was a prank. While Dufour definitely has the chops to fill the shoes left by Ms. Karen Feld, we think that PG will only weigh the endeavor down. He’s just too pretty (right, Alex Pareene?), and he wants to be gossiped about. Our prediction: Dufour will edge PG out of the job quicker than David Lat left the District.

Q: Is the Washington Post investigating gossip queen Karen Feld?

BHR says: Yes.

Q: How did Kelly Ann Collins get the early scoop on Star Jones’s hasty farewell to The View before most major pubs?

BHR says: KAC bought her a donut. (And has friends at People.)

Q: Did MSNBC’s David Shuster diss Big Head Rob?

BHR says: Yes, long ago he promised us an exclusive interview and then gave a blah, blah one to stinky Fishbowl DC. Jessica Cutler noted that the questions were “softballs.” And who knows more about soft balls than her?

Q: Who will become the new editor of The Village Voice now that Washington City Paper’s Erik Wemple bowed out?

BHR says: Someone, probably. OK, maybe.

Kisses, kids, we missed ya.

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When local news station NBC4 chose to do a “Meet the Bloggers” series this week, they couldn’t have picked a sexier round-up than Pat Thibodeau, of DCBlogs.com, Mike Grass of Free Ride, Kathryn of Kathryn On…, Liz Chang of D.C. Sports Chick, and David Lat and Alex Pareene, our Wonkette brothers.

By now, they’ve all patted themselves on the back — some have even gone a bit lower — and we say good for them. When we recently asked who you have to f*** to get ahead in this town, we now have a definitive answer: It’s “Scott,” a production assistant from NBC4. Duh. (No one from the station has gotten back to us with Scotty’s last name, but we’ll post as soon as we have it…that way, you really can F him — or stalk him — tonight!)

But not everyone is happy with the selections. We’ve been busy little beavers this week, e-mailing DC bloggers, left and right, seeing what everyone really thinks of this Gang of 5, as Circle V might call them… And we got some results. And we’re gonna share ‘em. (it’s called stirring the pot, right DCB?):

Pat Thibodeau, of DCBlogs.com: To be fair, 99 percent of the people we asked about Pat (aka KOB) love, love, love him. But one sassy blogger has had her fill. “What, he like rounds up links all day and that warrants attention?” she asked. “He’s like a janitor who brooms all our puke together after we’ve had all the fun.” As we said, most blogophiles were much more supportive of Pat’s talents, as represented by this post from The Senator on Pat’s blog: “Congrats on the NBC story…you appeared very gracious and kind. I can see why you were asked to go first.”

Mike Grass of Free Ride: Even the silliest blogger wouldn’t bad talk a well-connected journalist blogger, like Mike, right? Wrong. The forever-fashion-conscious Jason Linkins (aka The DCeiver) poked a stick at Mike’s soft underbelly, suggesting that no respectable blogger would blog in a suit, as evidenced by Mike’s NBC4 appearance. The classy journalist that he is, Mike commented, “Blogging in pajamas in the office doesn’t work all that well.” Even though he tends to be a fan fave, oddly, among people we e-mailed, Mike’s segment was considered to be the least sexy.

Kathryn of Kathryn On…: : While she was queen of the Hater’s Happy Hour the other week, with nay a naysayer among the legions who flocked to see how the popular marketing director would market herself, some girl-y bloggers couldn’t resist sharing some anonymous hate this week. “She looked a little big,” wrote one. “It’s spring, going into summer, we wouldn’t have worn a dark dress, if we were her. Which we aren’t,” said another catty kitten. The writer of Neurotic in Ashburn also managed to get in some snark in the process of complimenting Kathryn, calling her a “little guy” compared to Mike Grass, et al. But, as ever, Kathryn put her PR skills to fine use, commenting, “Thank you! I was really pleased with how it turned out, and I am definitely a ‘little guy’ compared to the others they are interviewing.”

Liz Chang of D.C. Sports Chick: Put succinctly, one blogger asked, “Who the f*** is she?” Yes, her appearance shocked several self-obsessed bloggers (who us?) caught up in the District’s blogging scene. One person speculated that she made the cut instead of DC Bachelor because she was a safer choice, in terms of content. But, we think that DCB was probably asked to do this little local loo-loo, and said no, no. Because that’s the kind of guy he is.

David Lat and Alex Pareene, of Wonkette: OK, we’re going to do the opining on this dashing duo. They’re young, they’re fun, they link to us, and that’s all you need to know. Let’s face it, NBC4 needs them more than David and Alex needed a poorly lit segment on that ratty little station. They’ve got readers from Timbuktu, and according to Alexa.com, they’re at least 100 percent more popular online than NBC4.com. We’re betting that if they had a political talk show, it would clean NBC4’s clock in the ratings. As for us, we’d sooner have a threesome with Wonkette than ever get down and dirty with Scotty, the P.A.

Anywho, have a charming weekend. And see you at “From Russia with Love” tonight.

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That’s where we were tonight at the National Press Club. And, yes, it wreaked of keyboard smell and shallowness. We loved it, of course, but we made sure to take a long, hot shower afterwards. The big event was a reading by Ana Marie Cox from “Dog Days,” but that was definitely not the highlight of the evening. In fact, there were so few questions for the author that we think plants in the audience made stuff up. What was her writing process like? Um, she drank and typed. That’s the gist we got at least. And her favorite DC monument is the Jefferson Memorial because she thinks it’s pretty. Scandalous. Now, that’s the way to hawk books.

She did share some juice about our friend Jessica Cutler, Washington’s most famous former love slave. When asked if she’d read Cutler’s book “The Washingtonienne,” she replied she had not. For some strange reason, our internal lie detector immediately perked up. “I don’t have much to say about it,” she said. “I wish her well.” She also shared that she heard Cutler is working on a new book. “Maybe she’s gathering experiences for that one, too,” chirped Cox. We detected some snarkiness.

At approximately 6:50 p.m., in walked Jeff Gannon, the infamous White House “reporter,” and he sat and stared at Ana the whole time. After her talk, we tried to get him to sign our copy of “Dog Days” (on the back page, of course), but he flat out refused, saying that we’d have to wait for his book to come out if we wanted him to sign anything. We asked if the book was to be fiction or non-fiction. It took him several seconds to decipher that apparently difficult question before answering “non-fiction.” Can’t wait to read it, Jeff, but we’re not asking you to sign anything ever again. Unless we see you again. After our encounter, he quickly proceeded to run up to be with Ana where we have no idea what they talked about (probably gay sex, or something).

Next, we met David Lat, one of the Wonkette brothers we were tough on earlier today. We liked him. And we’re sorry for being mean.

Finally, we got up the nerve to ask Ana to sign our copy of “Dog Days.” We made some joke about something, but she didn’t laugh. We think she kind of smiled, but we couldn’t tell because we were too surprised that she had tats all over her arm. Stars, we think.

Finally, she signed our book:

For Rob– 

That which does not kill you makes you funnier. Trust me. Ana Marie Cox

We don’t know what the hell that means exactly. (Do you, Scott?) But we are satisfied. For now.

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