Do you think this kiss up piece to Karl Rove and his new role on FOX News is going to help Howard Kurtz convince any of his critics that he isn’t in the tank for the GOP?

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In the tradition of St. Valentine’s Day, Howie Kurtz delivers the wettest kiss of all to MSNBC commentator, Chris Matthews – you know, the one who ends up sticking his foot in his mouth for sexist remarks pretty much on a daily basis. In the 3,000 plus word piece in today’s Washington Post, Kurtz assumes the role of Sherlock Holmes, attempting to seek out any good lurking beneath Matthews’ erratic and controversial on-air antics. Media insiders are talking about how one of the most respected media writers could lay down for a .5- rated commentator, while both he and his own network are under a serious microscope for their pattern of bias. The puff piece has many in the industry asking how Kurtz could have whitewashed so many things in one piece and fell for this degree of spin, leaving some to even joke that Matthews, known for being a drunk in certain circles, took Kurtz out for a few drinks during the interview. Asks one insider, “Did Chris leave Howie money on the nightstand when they were done?”

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After investigating charges first raised by Matt Drudge that John McCain played favorites with a certain lobbyist, WaPo reporter Howard Kurtz has labeled Drudge an “Internet gossip.”

Drudge first reported the New York Times investigation into the McCain matter on Thursday.

“The Times inquiry burst into public view when the Drudge Report Web site posted an item about the newspaper’s probe,” Kurtz reports in the Friday edition of the Washington Post. “Internet gossip Matt Drudge has occasionally served as a conduit for allegations that news organizations are investigating but have not yet published.”

Before Kurtz released his book, Reality Show, in October, one of the first place excerpts from the book appeared was on the Drudge Report. Drudge also links to the online version of Kurtz’ latest column.

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Howie Kurtz, the media writer for the Washington Post, today uncovers a fishy relationship between a journalism giant and a liberal blog. While Kurtz didn’t make much wind about it, he reveals within an item about GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee that the Huffington Post and ABC News have teamed up to report the news.

“ABC, working with the Web site, interviewed a former parole board member who said Huckabee had pressed the panel to release the convict, Wayne Dumond,” Kurtz writes regarding a well-referenced story the Huffington Post published last week.

The quote raises an important question: How common is it for an apparently nonpartisan news source to team up with an admittedly liberal Web site in reporting a news item? Isn’t this a case of liberal media bias at its worst?

Also raising questions about the news relationship, Kurtz quotes Huckabee as saying he’s “amazed” that ABC News investigative reporter Brian Ross ignored information he provided to him.

Earlier: Top ABC News Investigative Journalist’s Tactics Called Into Question

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MarketWatch’s Jon Friedman thinks the WaPo media critic faced “a bum rap” during his recent plagiarism scandal:

What struck me was the glee that some bloggers displayed when they ripped Kurtz and his book. Read more…

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“I’m happy to talk to him,” Howard Kurtz tells Big Head DC regarding David Blum’s agitation.

Earlier: Howie Kurtz Defends Self From Plagiarism Charges

Also: New Gawker Editor Was Run Out of Washington for Affair With Married Woman

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While WaPo’s Howard Kurtz told us this morning that he didn’t copy any excerpts from David Blum’s 2005 book, “Tick… Tick… Tick..: The Long Life and Turbulent Times of 60 Minutes,” for his new book, “Reality Show,” Blum still, apparently, needs a bit more convincing. “It doesn’t seem like a scoop to me,” Blum told the New York Observer, after faxing them a copy of his long ago published scoop. According to their media blog, he was quite “aggitated” by Kurtz’ re-hash.

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Maggie Shnayerson, a new Gawker associate editor, is alleging that the Washington Post’s media critic Howard Kurtz plagiarized portions of his new book, “Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War.” In her analysis, she centers on an excerpt from the book that appeared on the Drudge Report on Sunday:

That excerpt recounts a discussion between Dan Rather and ‘60 Minutes’ executive producer Josh Howard that took place on the eve of the airing of the controversial piece that would end Rather’s career at the network. Kurtz’s story was treated as big news—but the substance, and some of the language as well, was no different from New York Press editor-in-chief David Blum’s 2004 book, “Tick… Tick… Tick..: The Long Life and Turbulent Times of 60 Minutes.”

The meat of the Drudge-worthy news from Kurtz was that Rather said he’d take his items to the Times. But Blum had published that in his book:

Read more…

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“David (Bradley) [owner of The Atlantic magazine] regularly offered me tea and scones every year or so for the better part of the last seven years, to find out what I was up to, and always suggested ways to go work for him,” Andrew Sullivan told Howie Kurtz today.

And it worked. Sullivan left for The Atlantic after a brief period blogging for TIME.

Shoot, where might he go for a donut and soda? Big Head DC???

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Jason Cherkis is almost Darth Vader! His mentor Darth Sidius, aka the Washington City Paper’s editor-in-chief Erik Wemple, has taught him well. Taught him well to hate on The Washington Post, he has.

“OK, I know I’m a bit late on getting to this. But after reading Howard Kurtz’s profile of Campbell Brown last night, I couldn’t help but be a little miffed,” writes Cherkis today. ”With its headline, ‘At CNN, Taking On the Cable Guys,’ the piece had the potential to explore how Brown was going to succeed in a world dominated by ranting men. Instead, we get Kurtz serving up way too many details that have nothing to do with Brown’s journalism.”

Hmm. Kind of like how when the City Paper did a story about investigative reporter Murray Waas and wrote extensively about his problems with landlords, his battles with cancer, and his personal relationships? A story that Cherkis played a key role in reporting?

As Anne Schroeder might say: “Not sayin’, just sayin’.

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