Our Hottest Stories of 2009
Tina Brown told Hillary to take off her burqa, Gerald Posner revealed Tiger’s new prenup, and then there was that Iranian porn tape. The best reads from The Daily Beast this year.
Tina Brown told Hillary to take off her burqa, Gerald Posner revealed Tiger’s new prenup, and then there was that Iranian porn tape. The best reads from The Daily Beast this year. Plus, view our hottest galleries of 2009.
Tina Brown: Hillary, Take Off Your Burqa
July 13, 2009
The Daily Beast’s editor in chief created a media storm when she urged the secretary of State to doff her metaphorical burqa and stop rolling over as President Obama’s dutiful foreign-policy wife. MORE >>
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Krista Kennell, Sipa Press / AP Photo
September 1, 2009
After his unexpected death, Michael Jackson was buried in a mysterious cemetery that Jackson watcher Diane Dimond toured and called “the opposite of the stairway to heaven.” MORE >>
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Harry How
Gerald Posner: New Details on Tiger’s Prenup
December 3, 2009
News outlets across the country picked up our story that Tigers Woods may be ringing in the New Year alone—and without a chunk of his enormous wealth. Gerald Posner’s exclusive report. MORE >>
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Christopher Buckley: The Audacity of Poping
March 26, 2009
Newt Gingrich, the would-be candidate presidential candidate in 2012, converted to Catholicism and got a flogging from our devilish columnist. MORE >>
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Gen. McChrystal's Credibility Problem
October 14, 2009
Can the president trust his general? In the midst of the Afghanistan surge debate, Jon Krakauer, author of Where Men Win Glory, uncovered McChrystal’s fraudulent medal recommendation for footballer-turned-soldier Pat Tillman. MORE >>
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January 22, 2009
In a year of greed and excess, few came out looking worse than the embattled CEO who wrote a resignation letter on his $18,000 George IV desk. Charlie Gasparino investigated in a Daily Beast/CNBC exclusive. MORE >>
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February 3, 2009
Former sex worker Tracy Quan revealed one of the best ways to combat the recession: freelance fetish work. MORE >>
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The Karzai Brothers Fight Back
October 28, 2009
Gerald Posner, The Daily Beast’s chief investigative reporter, dialed up the brothers Karzai on their cellphones after an accusatory article in The New York Times. MORE >>
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© Chip East / Reuters
Madoff Employee Breaks Silence
March 19, 2009
Lucinda Franks, who was on the frontlines of the Bernie Madoff scandal from the start, exposed the Ponzi schemer’s secretive 17th floor and the con man’s odd obsession with the color black. MORE >>
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America’s Smartest Cities—From First to Worst
October 4, 2009
Angering—or delighting—local news outlets everywhere, we ranked cities by how many residents had bachelor’s degrees, among other factors. Sorry, Fresno! MORE >>
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Dennis Brack / Landov
Lloyd Grove: Katie Talks Katie
February 19, 2009
Grove spoke to the ever-chipper host about Sarah Palin, how she landed Sully, and why she never says “Oh, woe is me”—despite her sagging ratings. MORE >>
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Meghan McCain: Looking for Mr. Far Right
March 2, 2009
John McCain’s election loss wasn’t just a headache for Republicans—it made his daughter’s love life come to a standstill. MORE >>
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Kim Masters: My Father, the Inglorious Basterd
August 9, 2009
Quentin Tarantino's ultra-violent Nazi revenge movie had plenty of drama, but the real story was even better. Kim Masters on her father’s heroic band of Jewish commandos known as X Troop. MORE >>
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SAUL LOEB
October 22, 2009
Lee Siegel went back—way back—to compare the VP’s belittling of Obama with Aeschylus’ trilogy of tragic plays, The Oresteia. MORE >>
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Dirty Secrets of College Waitlists
March 30, 2009
Do bribes work? Maybe! College admissions officers dished to Kathleen Kingsbury about why you probably shouldn’t call them every day—unless you have something to offer. MORE >>
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GARDINER ANDERSON/CARLOS VILA
I Got Cast in Sex and the City
September 23, 2009
Rebecca Dana landed a walk-on part as a lipstick lesbian in the Sex and the City 2. It was the worst day of her life. MORE >>
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Tucker Carlson: How Jon Stewart Went Bad
March 18, 2009
After the Comedy Central mainstay eviscerated Jim Cramer on the air, Carlson, who had his own run-in with Stewart, analyzed the tempestuous marriage between the comedian and the media. MORE >>
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January 7, 2009
Mansfield Frazier predicted the convicted schemer would be king of the prison yard long before he became an inmate. MORE >>
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November 10, 2009
House Democrats were right to sacrifice abortion protections to get the health care passed. Peter Beinart on how that strategic tradeoff saved the bill—and the Democrats’ future. MORE >>
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January 26, 2009
In an exclusive interview, The Daily Beast’s Kevin Sessums talked to Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe about being adored by gay men, the “stupidity” of Prince Harry, and why he wants to give Sasha and Malia Obama a personal tour of Hogwarts. MORE >>
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July 10, 2009
This summer, John Avlon reported on a 38-year-old Republican who “LOL”-ed at her friend’s comments that “Obama Bin Lauden [sic] is the new terrorist.” She went on to become the new chairman of the Young Republicans. MORE >>
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September 14, 2009
Before Kanye West apologized and Taylor Swift became America’s sweetheart, Choire Sicha defended the unlikeliest of heroes. MORE >>
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Josh Reynolds
Liza Gates: My Daddy, the Jailbird
July 22, 2009
When Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. was arrested at his home, his daughter Elizabeth interviewed her dad about what happened to him in jail, how the incident affected whites, and why she shouldn’t give up on America. MORE >>
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Requiem for a Transsexual Sportswriter
December 17, 2009
A little over a year after deciding not to go through with a sex change, Los Angeles Times sports columnist Mike Penner killed himself. Jacob Bernstein on the anguish of his final days. MORE >>
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Jose Luis Magana
November 6, 2009
As the far right’s star House member hit the headlines with a rowdy health-care rally on Capitol Hill, Benjamin Sarlin reported on the Democrats lining up in Minnesota to send Michele Bachmann into early retirement. MORE >>
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Mark Sanford Is a Romantic Hero
June 26, 2009
Ben Crair asked: What if the Appalachian Trail-wandering South Carolina governor wasn’t a jerk but someone who was acting… admirably? MORE >>
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MBF-Sasha-Cooper-BROZ/X17online.com
November 16, 2009
Long gone are the days of forking over $14 million for photos of Brangelina’s twins. As Nicole LaPorte reported, the price for paparazzi photos is down 31 percent. MORE >>
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Matt Sayles
Kathleen Parker: Elizabeth the Hypocrite
May 6, 2009
Elizabeth Edwards was her husband's co-conspirator in his reckless pursuit of power, and then she cashed out on the whole sorry spectacle. MORE >>
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Conor Friedersdorf: Rush the Race-Baiter
October 16, 2009
Henry Louis Gates, Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama. Is there anyone the talk-show host didn’t call a racist this year? MORE >>
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October 21, 2009
In a Beast Bar video interview, Tina Brown talked to the most celebrated of American authors about his fear of the Kindle and why writing about sex is an art form. MORE >>
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February 28, 2009
Asra Q. Nomani uncovered horrific new details about the evening Muzzammil Hassan allegedly murdered his wife while their young children waited in a nearby car. MORE >>
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November 9, 2009
Dead presidents, divorce, and new digs: Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner talked to us about the show’s game-changing season finale. MORE >>
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Mark McKinnon: Aboard the Bush Plane
January 20, 2009
After Barack Obama moved into Pennsylvania Avenue and George W. Bush moved out, a former Bush adviser filed his account—and his photos—from aboard the former president’s flight back to Texas MORE >>
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December 6, 2009
Is the real Amanda Knox, who was sentenced to 26 years in prison, the sex-obsessed, cold-blooded murderer that the prosecution depicted? Or worse? Barbie Latza Nadeau reported from the trial that gripped the world. MORE >>
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Odd Andersen
Reihan Salam: Hillary Was Right
December 11, 2009
When the phone rings at 3 a.m., Reihan Salam says it’s not clear that President Obama is ready to answer. MORE >>
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January 9, 2009
The Daily Beast was banned in Iran for re-posting a viral video sensation: hidden camera footage of an Iranian cleric committing adultery. MORE >>
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