Author Ed Klein: 'It is Not I Who Has Changed'

Ed Klein, author of the book The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House, was in Washington Tuesday to celebrate his book holding steadfast at No. 1 on the NYT bestsellers list for three weeks in a row. FBDC met with Klein at a book signing at the Barnes & Noble in Union Station (the very one where Mother Jones' David Corn blew his fuse). We inquired about criticism he has received from the left and right on his work as a journalist since being an editor at NYT Magazine back in the 1980s (a recent column in The Weekly Standard called Klein's book "thin material"). "I left the New York Times 25 years ago," Klein said. "The New York Times at that point was a down-the-middle newspaper. Before that, I was at Newsweek which was also a down-the-middle-of-the-road magazine. Those two publications have lurched way over to the left since I left. So, it's not I who have changed. It's the publications who have changed." Klein's handlers said about a dozen people showed up to get books signed. Later in the evening, Regnery, Klein's publisher, hosted a soirée for Klein at the uber masculine Morton's. "I'd tell the men to take off their jackets but I know we're all Republicans here," Klein joked in his remarks. The event attracted a crowed of about 50 people and was exceedingly drama free. It did, however, feature an open bar and shrimp cocktail hors d'oeurves so huge that they could choke a walrus. Delicious. Notables: The Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard, Human Events Editor Cathy Taylor and The Daily Caller's Alex Pappas, Josh Peterson, Jamie Weinstein and Michelle Fields. Quotable: "It's in the freezer."-- The Daily Caller's Tech Editor Josh Peterson telling us the current location of a Bonsai tree he owns. We were just happy he wasn't talking about a severed head. Random Observation: A highly sociable Michelle Fields was spotted wearing her woodshop glasses. CNN's Ashleigh Banfield she's not, but the glasses are fast becoming her signature look.

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Author Ed Klein: 'It is Not I Who Has Changed'

Eddie Scarry

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Eddie Scarry