Washington Post's Dana Milbank called Huffington's Nico Pitney a "dick"

Dana Milbank has presented himself as the defender of the Washington press corps. Last week, he wrote a bizarre column attacking Nico Pitney for asking a question at the Obama press conference. It really was a pathetic and ridiculous screed.

Today, Milbank and Nico Pitney were on CNN's Reliable Sources. I only caught the tail end of the segment. But, I did get to watch the video. Nico holds Milbank accountable for some of his buffoonish coverage in the past. That didn't go over well. Nico tells us that when the camera was off, Milbank called him "a dick":

The only thing that surprised me was when Dana turned to me after our initial sparring and called me a "dick" in a whispered tone (the specific phrase was, I believe, "You're such a dick"). Howie Kurtz wrote on Twitter that he didn't hear it, which is understandable -- he was doing the lead-in for the next part of the segment on the ABC White House special. But it happened (I urge Howie to watch the video of the panel during the ABC intro) and it was frankly pretty odd.

Class act, that Dana Milbank.

Awhile back, the incomparable Digby coined the term "The Villagers" to describe the inside-the-beltway elite who demonstrate a group-think that is definitely not reality based. Milbank is in that club and they all live in their elite little bubble. There is enormous interaction between any administration and the elite media. Off-the-record conversations, dinners, drinks, backgrounders -- the elite have always had unparalleled access -- and still do. The White House press corps colluded with the Bush administration to bring us into the war with Iraq. The White House press corps colluded with the Bush administration to cover-up the leak of Valerie Plame's undercover status. Many, many reporters sitting in the press briefing knew the administration was lying about the Plame leak lie, but they played along.

I don't know Dana Milbank. I do know Nico. If there's one person in the media (new or old) who isn't a dick, it's Nico Pitney. He is one of the most decent people I've ever met. Nico is a class act all the way -- and his coverage of the crisis in Iran far surpassed anything else out there. The Villagers would rather talk about Nico's question instead of doing real reporting. No wonder old journalism is tanking.