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Robert Gibbs and The New York Times spent the weekend tangling with House Minority Leader John Boehner and his staff.

In today’s wired world, the story doesn’t stop on the printed pages of the newspaper. Boehner’s press shop spent the weekend neutralizing the hit piece and Robert Gibbs took to Twitter to make fun of Boehner’s tan [seriously].

Here’s a recap of the weekend’s fireworks:

New York Times Eric Lipton: A G.O.P. Leader Tightly Bound to Lobbyists

That sort of alliance — they won a few skirmishes, though they lost the war on the regulatory bill — is business as usual for Mr. Boehner, the House minority leader and would-be speaker if Republicans win the House in November. He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R. J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS.

House Republican Leader John Boehner: Setting the Record Straight

There is no surer sign that the liberal establishment is threatened by John Boehner than the story that will appear in tomorrow’s New York Times (link here), a story that ignores basic facts, contains numerous factual inaccuracies and distortions, and was written by a reporter that refused to include on-the-record statements from Boehner staff until after the story had already appeared on the paper’s website.


THE PREMISE OF THE STORY IS INACCURATE

Mike Allen’s Playbook:

BREAKING – DNC goes up on national cable Tuesday with an ad on “The Boehner plan.” A DNC official says it’ll be up a little less than a week: ““This ad is one product we’ll use to define Mr. Boehner, his ethics and priorities for the American people – and there will be others.” YouTube

Mediaite’sGlynnis MacNicol: Robert Gibbs Really Wants You To Read NYT’s Harsh Piece On John Boehner

Here’s a preview of how the Midterm media battles will be waged. The New York Times is running a front page feature on House Minority leader John Boehner (“a 60-year-old, perpetually tanned, sharply tailored, chain-smoking golfer”) the man recently cast as President Obama’s main foe in the Republican party, and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has taken to Twitter to tell you how much he really wants you to read it.

And here are the multiple Tweets from the sitting White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs:

PressSec:

RT @mikeallen Ax: Lobbyists “say we don’t need to buy access to Boehner–we already have that We want him in power so..we’re empowered”

PressSec

“They were appalled by it,” said Boehner. “I thought, `Yeah, I can imagine why somebody would be upset. It sure doesn’t look good.’

PressSec

Story on Boehner covers some of his greatest hits – handing out checks from lobbyists on the House floor http://bit.ly/aMEO6j

PressSec

Don’t forget this handy clip & save graphic of “K Street Cabinet” (black & white photo doesn’t do that tan justice!) http://nyti.ms/9n1wVp

Headline says it all…A G.O.P. Leader Tightly Bound to Lobbyists http://nyti.ms/bxbF4D

Not to be outdone, Mr. Boehner took to the Twitter machine to fire back:

JohnBoehner

“Across From White House, Coffee With Lobbyists” http://is.gd/f73cr @PressSec forgot to Tweet about Dems meeting w/lobbyists @ Caribou.

JohnBoehner

@PressSec also hasn’t explained how raising taxes on small businesses will create jobs. We’re still waiting.

Less than two months until election day. Get your popcorn.