Pat Buchanan was talking with Chris Matthews about Florida Governor Charlie Crist on MSNBC's Hardball yesterday. Crist, a Republican, is running for the U.S. Senate, and he's drawn a primary challenger from the right. Will Crist be the next Republican to be Scozzafava'd? Buchanan said that it was a real possibility. Crist isn't popular with the Republican base and "gay rights issues" were a particular challenge for Crist because the GOP's base—Republican primary voters in Florida—are strongly opposed to gay rights.

But Crist, a married man (a legally married man), opposes gay rights. Crist backed efforts to ban same-sex marriage in Florida, he has defended Florida's ban on adoptions by same-sex couples (even as Florida places children in foster homes headed by same-sex couples), and has said that "a traditional family provides the best environment for children." (A statement that isn't supported by the facts—see here, here, here, here.)

So when Buchanan says that the GOP base has a problem with Crist where gay rights are concerned, gee, it kinda makes you wonder what Buchanan could possibly be referring to.

If you can't even throw a punch in the office in peace?

Washington Post editor Henry Allen, following news reports that he punched Style reporter Manuel Roig-Franzia on Friday night, told POLITICO that he was surprised by the huge reaction in the media world.

In the old days, said the 68-year-old, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, the press wouldn't have been so shocked by an expletive-filled, newsroom scuffle...

"Back when I got into journalism, the idea that a fistfight in a newsroom would turn into a news story was unthinkable," Allen said when reached Monday evening. "The guys in the sports department at the New York Daily News, they had so many, you wouldn’t even look up."

The line that preceded the fists of fury: “This is total crap. It’s the second worst story I have seen in Style in 43 years.” (Followed by: "Henry, don’t be such a cocksucker.” Followed by a mad search for the first-worst Style story ever.)

Previously.

...that picture of Michelle Obama on the cover of The New York Times Magazine today? For a long, interesting piece about "The First Marriage," the editors of NYT mag selected what has to be the single worst photo ever taken of Michelle Obama. Do they never want to get another interview with her?

About those declining circulation figures...

“Everybody keeps telling the newspaper industry to evolve, to change, to become digital. And when we do that and grow our audience, people focus on these print circulation numbers. We’ve taken the circulation down very deliberately.”

James M. Moroney III, publisher of The Dallas Morning News, in today's NYT.

Building on the responses from Jamie and Clarissa and others—and with today's word of "a mode of distribution going out of existence" in mind—a response from aspiring journalist Lianna:

You have to remember that although people have talked about newspapers failing for years, the actual occurrence is pretty recent. For four years I've been studying a craft I now have no opportunity to practice. I love journalism because it gives me the opportunity to tell important stories that inform and inspire the public. I graduated in May and I've had a tough time, but I'm still young enough to be idealistic and generally hopeful.

That's Josh Marshal's take on the news that daily newspaper circulation dropped by more than 10% in a single year.

A working journalist, seeing the responses from Jamie and Clarissa, writes:

My friend who was laid off from her staff writer job at age 33 (she'd become too expensive), says that she thinks journalism is becoming like pro sports: You push hard when you're young and burn out/get laid off by the time you're 40. Only a handful of the most successful—not best, mind you, but most successful—will make it past that point and become wealthy.

Denver's Westword is looking to hire a new marijuana reviewer. (More here.)

On Monday I kicked off this series with a letter from Clarissa León. She's one of the many people who continue to write us looking for journalism work despite news such as—to pick just three recent "death of journalism" stories—this and this and this.

I've begun writing nice notes back to the aspiring journalists with the following question included:

Given all that's going on—newspapers closing, magazines disappearing, writing staffs being downsized everywhere—why do you people still want to be journalists?

Here's an answer from an almost-30 Seattleite named Jamie:

I don't want to be a journalist.

My 9-5 job is working in corporate real estate, so I was just looking for an opportunity to 1) volunteer my time to an organization I value, and 2) be around creative people for a couple of hours a week. I was always the artsy-fartsy type in high school/college, but I've worked for "The Man" for 6+ years now. So, I was really just looking for something that would help me offset the I'm-on-the-verge-of-turning-30-and-I'm-a-total-yuppie panic that seems more frequent the closer I get to the big 3-0.

So...yeah. That's it. Journalism's dead, dude.

I've been meaning to start this up for a while, and today, which brings the announcement that the New York Times is cutting 100 newsroom jobs, seems a good time.

Every week here at The Stranger, we get e-mails from aspiring journalists who want to be part of what we do. The rate of incoming e-mail hasn't seemed to decrease even as the journalism business has done a face-plant (maybe the continued interest has something to do with this). But after a while, one begins to wonder: What are these people thinking?

So I've begun sending e-emails back to these aspiring journalists, politely thanking them for their interest and then asking them exactly that question:

Given all that's going on—newspapers closing, magazines disappearing, writing staffs being downsized everywhere—why do you people still want to be journalists?

I'm going to post some of their response here on Slog, starting with this one:

I still want to be a journalist because it's the only thing that makes me happy. I've always wanted to be a writer. So becoming a print journalist was an easy decision. But don't tell me that just because an industry is downsizing, I can't do what I want. That's mean. Why should we (new journalists) suffer because people won't buy advertising or subscribe to the print edition? If anything, we will figure it out. We have to.

I didn't become a journalist to make money and if I did, then I shouldn't be a journalist. Sure it's tough not having a great job right now. But right now, while I'm young, I can deal with tough. I don't have children and I can just focus on working. So I keep working . Even though newspapers are closing and magazines are downsizing that doesn't mean journalists will be gone. Besides, as every good journalist knows, not everything is always as it seems.

(I'm 23, graduated in May 2009 from the University of Nevada, Reno with a journalism and political science degree.)

Thank you,

Clarissa León

The New York Times may be laying people off but "I Can Has Cheezburger?" is hiring. The position requires...

Scouring the Internet for new and old memes and meme-like content • Tracking down and contacting original content owners • Answering customer emails • Screening of incoming submissions (weed out X-rated or unsavory content) • Moderation of comments (spam, trolls, etc.) • High attention to detail (grammar, spelling, rules, items in photos, etc.) • Understanding of HTML (basic) • High degree of web savvy with an emphasis on memes • Ability to multitask on multiple repeating tasks • AND A SENSE OF HUMOR.

This position pays...

• Compensation: $8.75 hour.
• This is a contract job.

Ouch.

The New York Times plans to eliminate 100 newsroom jobs — about 8 percent of the total — by year’s end, offering buyouts to union and non-union employees, and resorting to layoffs if it cannot get enough people to leave voluntarily, the paper announced on Monday.