I mean honestly, what would it say about the state of Beltway journalism if Politico didn't publish a long piece about the deep, underlining ramifications --the true meaning-- of how a couple of young White House staffers were photographed at a Georgetown bar, five days ago, without their shirts on.

So yes, the good news is Politico is on the story. The bad news is Politico has a tough time differentiating between the West Wing and a Georgetown bar.

Politico is quite clear that the aides were photographed, surreptitiously, at a Georgetown bar. But watch carefully how the scenario quickly changes so Politico can pretend the shirtless tale is really about workplace behavior [emphasis added]:

But some White House observers said the episode revealed something else: The Obama team needs to get an Evelyn Lieberman.

Lieberman made an unwanted cameo on the public stage during the Clinton years, when she became briefly famous as the White House staff member who tried to shoo Monica Lewinsky away from Bill Clinton after she noticed that the intern seemed to be “spending too much time around the West Wing.”

Lieberman ostentatiously failed in that mission. But among Clintonites she was celebrated as the person who usually succeeded in demanding that people who work at the White House not forget they are working at the White House — and comport themselves appropriately.

...

If such bare-chested behavior had occurred in the West Wing, “Evelyn would have said the same thing she'd say to women in the White House whose skirts were too short,” said Jennifer Palmieri, a deputy White House press secretary during the Clinton years. "

If Clinton aides were photographed shirtless in the West Wing, there would have been holy hell to pay, writes Politico. Yeah, and I'm pretty sure that same standard holds true for the Obama WH. But this pointless story isn't about West Wing behavior, it's about what happened one afternoon at a Georgetown bar.

For some reason Politico has trouble separating the two.