The WaPo Finally Gets One Right

In 2008, Jennifer Rubin was Pajamas’ then-DC editor, who, along with myself and other Pajamas people, kicked off PJTV with coverage from the 2008 GOP convention in Minneapolis. She would leave PJM to blog up a storm over at Commentary’s Contentions blog, but still made time for frequent appearances on PJM Political, our Sirius-XM show. Jennifer has been hired by the Washington Post, editorial page editor Fred Hiatt writes:

I’m delighted to announce that Jennifer Rubin will be joining The Post with the launch of a new blog next month. Jennifer will provide critical news coverage and commentary, with an exacting eye on conservative policy-making and Republican campaigns, pundits and politicians.  From a conservative perspective, she also will cover a wide range of foreign and domestic issues and media controversies. We imagine her blog in some ways as a companion to Greg Sargent’s Plum Line, though of course with its own style and blend of reporting and analysis. With a Republican majority moving into the House and the 2012 Republican primary cycle gearing up, there couldn’t be a better time to bring Jennifer’s fresh perspective and insightful reporting to our readers.

Jennifer comes to The Post from Commentary Magazine where, as contributing editor and chief blogger, her provocative writing has become “must read” material for news and policy makers and avid political watchers. Her work has also appeared in the Weekly Standard, Politico, the New York Post, the New York Daily News, the National Review, the Jerusalem Post and numerous other print and online publications. Before her career in journalism, Jennifer was a labor and employment lawyer in Los Angeles for 20 years.

At Commentary, John Podhoretz writes, “We’ll miss her, but we’ll keep reading her, as I expect you will too.”

And to think I knew her when…

Update: Stacy McCain adds, “My favorite piece by Jennifer Rubin was a column she wrote for Pajamas Media in February 2009:”

You will recall that, at that time, many Republicans were still talking about the need to cooperate and compromise with the new president. Rush Limbaugh had become a lightning rod because of the Four Famous Words: “I hope he fails.” (I had expressed my own view of the Democratic agenda in three less-famous words: “It won’t work.”) Yet in February 2009, the question of whether the GOP should oppose or support the Obama agenda was still very much debated. It was Rubin who distilled the correct insight into a strategic maxim: “The opposition party must oppose.”

And now that the opposition party has triumphed — winning 241 House seats – by obeying that maxim, Rubin will now be positioned to provide excellent coverage of the battles ahead.

In addition to her blogging, Jennifer’s recent lengthy Commentary expose on California’s myriad woes, written from the perspective of a longtime California resident who finally hit the ejector seat in recent years after surveying decades of fiscal and legislative insanity, is also well worth your time.