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Jun 25, 2010 
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Today is "Take Your Dog To Work Day." If I had wished to do so, I could have taken one of my dogs to work. I practice, by choice, in a small laid back insurance defense firm, having left a larger law firm (not Skadden by any means) because I could see myself dying of a heart attack at the age of fifty if I'd stayed with those backstabbing stuffed shirts.
The money isn't as good, but I have a stereo in my office, more unusual art than what I could have displayed at the big firm, and I can take my dog to work.
As a hobby, I write for a "Take Your Dog To Work" blog. I can write about anything I wish. I can cuss up a storm. I can abuse and vilify anyone I choose, and I can write under a pseudonym, like the nameless coward that I am.
Dave Weigel found out, the hard way, that you can't take your dog to work at Skadden Arps Slate Meagher and Flom.
Weigel, long one of the more entertaining journalist / bloggers at Reason and later the Washington Independent, "resigned" today from his new gig as the Washington Post's blogger in chief on the conservative political movement. Weigel, as anyone who can read could tell, is no conservative though he covers the movement well. His resignation was prompted by the revelation of several emails he'd written, he thought in private, concerning Matt Drudge and the followers of Ron Paul. As it turned out Weigel trusted the wrong people, and the emails were revealed.
Weigel, coming from a "Take Your Dog To Work" background at Reason, a "Take Your Dog To Work" political magazine if ever there was one, made the mistake of taking his dog to work at the Washington Post, which is Skadden Arps.
The dog promptly shit on the rug, humped an important client who was allergic to fur, knocked over the aquarium filled with rare Japanese koi, then vomited fish bones all over the managing partner's office. And so Dave Weigel first apologized, then got to carry his belongings out of the office in a cardboard box.
It's as simple as that. Some claim that Weigel was fired for "having an opinion". That's shit on the rug, and it won't come out. Weigel was fired for forgetting that you can't take your dog to work at Skadden Arps, no matter what they tell new associates about the wonderful lifestyle they'll enjoy working at the world's most prestigious law firm.
No doubt Weigel will land on his feet. He's talented and he's smart. But he'd be better off at a "Take Your Dog To Work" magazine or blog.
I've wondered why some of Weigel's former colleagues, such as Radley Balko or Katherine Mangu Ward, aren't working for the Post or the Times. "Shit man, Balko's a thousand times smarter than David Brooks, and a much better reporter than James Risen. He should be in the big leagues."
But they probably enjoy taking their dogs to work now and then, around people who actually like dogs and won't be offended by the smell.
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bloggers, Journalism
