Unfortunately, Mr. Bedard is talking about the ole DC tradition of going off-the-record during meetings with reporters –not the famous Hay Adams bar or the rockin’ song by My Morning Jacket (also, you just witnessed the first time in history Hay Adams and My Morning Jacket were used in the same sentence).

Ok, back to Bedard’s story on the sly flacks: BNA has had enough!

Paul Bedard: Reporters Scold Off-the-Record

BNA reporter Brett Ferguson says it happens regularly, frustrating reporters who are invited to cover technical conferences, only to hear a speaker announce that a talk is off the record. He recalls attending a recent conference where two Hill staffers decided to go off the record. "The two shy staffers—a tax counsel for the Senate Finance Committee Democrats and a counsel for House Ways and Means Republicans—made that stipulation despite the fact that they were in a huge room with people entering and leaving throughout their remarks, making it impossible to know who in the room heard they wanted it to be ‘off the record’ and whether anyone would actually honor that demand. Moreover, it was one of only three events in that all-day conference that was specifically advertised as open press. All of the other sessions were closed to the press."