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You have to hand it to the ever-blushing Observer — days after news broke that Page Six's Jared Paul Stern had allegedly tried to shake down billionaire Ron Burkle, and they still manage to delight us by sending Gawker alum Choire Sicha up to the Catskills for some cozy time with Stern and his wife, Ruth "Snoodles" Gutman. While Stern's working the press galore, the Observer wisely just lets the voice recorder run, resulting in some really revealing quotage. First, there's the delusional:

"But it's funny," Mr. Stern said. "You know, I am optimistic that by the time all this is done, really, I won't be damaged goods. I'll be better known—and, if anything, at least back where I started, if not better."

Then there's the wide-eyed innocence:

"I'm trying to move the story forward," he said, "trying to move it off of me." He went to freshen his drink. "What's annoying me now is these people who're still picking on me. Have you seen this shit on Editor and Publisher? They had this fucking idiot woman who's like the head of the National Society of Columnists, some crap I've never heard of. The national society of bullshit! That just annoyed me."

And finally, the campaigning:

Was he winning his war against Ron Burkle?

"Yeah, at the moment," he said. "But check with me tomorrow. You've got to take it—Oh fuck, I never called Variety back. We've got to take it a day at a time still."

We should check back in right now, actually: the Times reports today that months after they last had any contact, it was Stern who emailed Burkle's people on March 10th and 14th. The first email didn't put him in touch with Burkle, so the second was more explicit: "I understand Ron is upset about the press he's been getting. I think I can help him get the situation under control."

One day at a time.

In Jared's Cottage [NYO]
Billionaire and Post Writer in Dance of Tips and Turns [NYT]