"The problem with moral authority," he said, was "people who should know better, like yourself, siding with the assholes, to put it crudely."

Admitting that you ate lunch with Doug Feith is shaming enough that you've already done sufficient penance in advance -- therefore you should definitely go ahead and pass on the good word.
 Zed | 3:35 PM

If it was off the record, so it stays. Your reputation is all you've got, man.
 Clarke | 3:59 PM

It was lunch with the *New Republic.* You're not the *New Republic* anymore. If they wanted you to keep their secrets, they should have handled your "termination" more politely.

I say spill!

Or at least email me with the juicy details...

Brad DeLong
 brad | 4:37 PM

Ok, can you just say if the lunch was not as bad as, just as bad as, or worse than the Vanity Fair quote?
 Anonymous | 4:43 PM

I thought your profession had a roundabout way of dealing with this. You know, you tell Matt or Ezra, and then he does a blind item like, "One Surger told another Surger ...," and us six cool kids figure out the rest.
 chrismealy | 4:45 PM

Spill it!
 BCM | 4:46 PM

You can leak to me! "An anonymous source with knowledge of the event stated..."

We want to know. But Clarke is also right. Unless it demonstrates that Feith is lying -- the he doesn't deserve your discretion.
 James F. Elliott | 4:48 PM

It's so tempting. So, so, so tempting. But your audience's hunger for further validation that Douglas Feith is, in fact, a total douchenozzle, isn't worth the violation of journalistic ethics.
 Ned Resnikoff | 6:49 PM

Could you just say, "In 2003 administration sources said ...," and be in the clear? Isn't that what Woodward does with Colin Powell?
 chrismealy | 7:51 PM

Damn, Spencer -- you just reminded me that I wanted to use the title of this post on my own blog, in my post about height issues.
 Kathy G. | 8:30 PM

And yes, by all means spill about your off the record lunch. You know I'm a total gossip hound for any and all TNR and Bush admin-related dirt.
 Kathy G. | 8:33 PM

As much as I'm sure I'd enjoy reading you laying into Doug Feith, just because he would deserve such a thing doesn't mean you should give up your own word. A man's gotta have a code.
 Unknown | 9:44 PM

Really, having someone breach OTR on him is the fucking least that monster deserves. In a just world a well-funded secret service would be tasked to pursue him to the ends of the earth and bring about due process; it's been done.
 Alex | 4:01 AM

Oh, definitely spill.

To assuage your conscience, conclude your reminiscence with one additional sentence: "Not."
 Unknown | 7:41 AM

Wow, I want to know the details. But you shouldn't violate off the record.

Now, hypothetically, if a certain reporter were to make statements –– off the record of course! –– to, say, certain bloggers and if those certain bloggers were then to share some of those statements with their readers...
 Jacob | 4:39 PM

Oh my goodness, yes!

Feith is one of those loathsome creatures that needs a stake driven through his heart (in the metaphorical Bram Stoker/Buffy sense, of course) once and for all. Even though nothing Feith says is worth a ball of spit, anything to accomplish his complete erasure from our political scene would be worth it...
 Unknown | 3:46 PM