The American Spectator : Newsweek: The Canary In The Liberal Coal Mine

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Newsweek: The Canary In The Liberal Coal Mine

By Jeffrey Lord on 5.18.10 @ 6:09AM

Sale of liberal media star a symbol of looming election verdict on Obama.

(Page 3 of 3)

Now, what does this say? Either Mr. Meacham, surely a fine guy and writer of interesting books on subjects like the relationship between FDR and Churchill and, recently, a biography of Andrew Jackson, honestly doesn’t get it. Or, as millions of Americans believe in general about the Bernard Goldberg-dubbed “lamestream media” — he does, and simply chose to be less than forthcoming to O’Reilly about Newsweek’s real agenda.

In any event, Americans have long since decided they know the real answer whether Mr. Meacham chooses to admit it or not. So — they have over time stopped reading Newsweek. Just as they have long ago stopped believing in the liberal agenda, this time from the failed stimulus to ObamaCare.

Let’s go back to the statement announcing Newsweek’s sale from Donald Graham. He also said this:

We’re a public company and we have to consider the price offered. But we’ll have a second and third criteria: the future of Newsweek and the future of those who work here.

Let’s focus on number two, the future of Newsweek.

When CBS premiered Katie Couric as its new anchor, one of Couric’s first moves was to invite Rush Limbaugh to tape a piece of commentary. He did, and CBS enjoyed huge ratings as a result. But here in this space we predicted a steady downward drift for Couric. Why? Because the CBS news team had no intention of absorbing the lessons Rush Limbaugh, his talk radio friends, Fox News and others on the Internet have been delivering to greater and greater success. To wit: CBS had no intention of presenting the news as a straight, fair-and-balanced event. They would sooner, I said, ingest cyanide before making Mr. Limbaugh their anchor, not to mention treat a conservative fairly. They were and are, just as was true of Newsweek, possessed about reporting the news not as it happened but rather with a politically leftward slant to it. Move the clock ahead and sure enough — Katie was out there gunning for Sarah Palin, hoping to paint her as a fool and an idiot when not mumbling right-wing extremities. This was precisely the same treatment endured over the years by every conservative or Republican of note (even the moderate Republicans) from Goldwater to Nixon to Ford to Reagan to the Bushes, Bob Dole, Dan Quayle, John McCain and now Palin. So CBS drifts, Couric frequently rumored for replacement in some sort of mythical search for restored glory days. Days when the news was slanted and everybody believed what they heard.

In fact, if one presents oneself as a moderate Republican, one will find quicker than you can say “John McCain” that your image in the liberal media will be trashed in a nano-second if you are standing between liberal X and control of the White House. George H. W. Bush was saluted respectfully by liberals as long as he could be used to portray his president-son George W. as wild and reckless in comparison. But back in 1992, Newsweek demanded to know if Bill Clinton had what it took to defeat George H.W.

So.

Contrary to what the Newsweek editors and reporters believe, the American people do not believe we’re all socialists now. They want to be Americans, not Europeans. They like Sarah Palin. They love Rush Limbaugh. And in spite of reporter Romano’s fantasy, Reagan Reaganized the Republican Party over the objections of reporters of the day like Romano. Becoming in the process not dogmatic but winners. The American people want more of this, not less. They want their borders protected and their grannies safe from death-dealing government bureaucrats. They see Reagan’s creation of 21 million jobs and Obama’s near 10% unemployment and know exactly what they do not want. They understand full well what they were really reading in the pages of Newsweek, and they were smart enough to understand that putting George Will at the end of the magazine wasn’t anywhere near enough to get them to read the rest. Why? Because “the rest” — the so-called “news” — was as O’Reilly accurately it summed up to managing editor Meacham: it was the news as carefully presented by “a left-wing magazine.”

Newsweek is, as readers have come to understand, not about the news. It’s about the Left. The glories of liberalism and its practitioners as lovingly and carefully presented by liberal writers from Eleanor Clift to Jon Meacham to Evan Thomas and on back to Ben Bradlee and surely others. As long as Newsweek’s future looks like its past, the results will be some version of the same-old, same-old. And the same old in 2009 was a loss of $28 million.

And so?

So Newsweek is for sale, not coincidentally as liberalism itself continues its decades-long fall from grace in the polls.

That sound you don’t hear? The sound an increasingly panicked Obama White House and its liberal media allies can’t hear?

The canary in the liberal coal mine has stopped singing.

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About the Author

Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (171) | Leave a comment Leave a comment

Tim*| 5.18.10 @ 7:03AM

We are in a Media War.

Bankrupt The Mainstream Liberal Media.

The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates.

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 12:51PM

The demise of print journalism has nothing to do with a liberal vs conservative division or "media war".
All newspapers and magazines are at risk with the competition from the Internet and the 24-hour cable news cycle. They all have been losing advertising revenue and market share for years. At some point, the losses are too much and something drastic needs to happen.

The Rocky Mountain News, conservative, closed last year ... "Boehne told staffers that the Rocky was the victim of a terrible economy and an upheaval in the newspaper industry."

and the New York Sun - "NEW YORK, Sept 29 (Reuters) - The New York Sun, the daily newspaper started six years ago as a conservative-leaning alternative to The New York Times (NYT.N), will publish for one more day before shutting down, according to media reports."

and the Daily Republican closed ...

and, in 2006, the American Conservative Magazine almost closed down.

So, you see, it's not a liberal vs conservative thing.

purple canary| 5.18.10 @ 1:13PM

cheep cheep cheep....croak

keep believing your own bs....for another 168 days

then come back and tell us the midterms arent a rejection of purpleism....

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 1:37PM

Stay on topic, twitterbee.

Alan Brooks| 5.18.10 @ 5:50PM

"Stay on topic, twitterbee."

Let the Repuglicans slip on their own shit, Purpleguy. They are helping to build up the economy, so Obama gets credit for it-- as Clinton did in '16-- and wins in '12, and we don't have another second rate Bush as president (at least until 2017).

Alan Brooks| 5.18.10 @ 5:57PM

Oops, Clinton did in '96, not '16.
But, Purple:
Obama is our best defense against clueless post-Gumplicans; think on how they go from one bad general election to another; HW lost in '92; Dole lost in '96; Dubya barely won in 2000; and McCain lost in '08. These people are rebels without a clue. And they will continue to screw it up as they are strategically incoherent.

All tactics, with no genuine strategy.

Bydand76| 5.18.10 @ 7:33PM

Ok genius,
So how do you explain the Republican Revolution Eh? How do you explain what going on right now under your stinking liberal nose?

Moron

Shut up Alan. You know nothing outside of your convoluted little 2 second, fast food pseudo-intellectual pap.

You truly prove the cliche that you can't fix stupid.

Pro Libertate!

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 10:44PM

Hmmm, Mark Critz, Democrat, won in John Murtha's conservative district, PA 12, when the Republicans put 3 times more money into the election and made this a national election. The Republicans lost the only true election tonite... Hahahaha - what Revolution ... Your 15 minutes are up... hilarious, facts are facts and elections have consequences ... 53% Democrat 47% Republican ... Republican (= LOSERS). How's that Revolutionary thingy doin' for ya? Have a headache? You betcha! And Kentucky now has a Tea Bagger for Senate in the fall election... Good luck with that Loony Bird....hahahaha....

Nick| 5.18.10 @ 11:43PM

PurpleJackass,

You show your ignorance of politics, once again.

Murtha the Crook's district is two to one democrat. That means for every one registered Republican, there are TWO registrered democrats.

Can you comprehend that, dope?

Bydand76| 5.19.10 @ 2:11AM

Purple you really are a stupid person.
Critz ran on a Conservative platform ding-a-ling
in a pro democrat district.
He is pro life, pro 2nd amendment and anti cap and trade AND anti-Obamacare.

Not only that but he has to run again in Nov.

And spare me the rhetoric about the money spent. Both parties spent about the same.

The Republican Revolution is in reference to the mid term elections during President Clinton's administration.

Your usage of the slang term the TEA party only reinforces your reputation of a complete moron

But like I told Alan douchebag Brooks. You cant fix stupid!

Pro Libertate!

Rowdy Boots| 5.19.10 @ 8:40AM

Hey Purplegay,

What a win! lol. you make me laugh...hang on to your district there, they are all "racists" according to MurthaPerv anyway!

by the way...Obama and your buddies are toast and you know it...just admit it, you socialist dream is over and you will have to get a real job.

ROWDY BOOTS

PS. THIS BEACH IS BEEEEEEUTIIIIFULLL, THE MARGARITA, THE SUN, THE NICE LADIES ALL PROVIDED BY CAPITALISM. HA HA!

JmsA| 5.18.10 @ 10:56PM

Do you happen to know what Clinton's share of the general election vote was relative to Bush, Sr., given that Perot took 19 percent of the republican vote in '92? Let me give you a clue: Clinton not only garnered considerably less of the vote that GWB obtained in 2000, but also less than the vote that McCain garnered in 2008.

By the way, Rasmussen posted the following today: 45% of voters say they at least somewhat approve the president's performance and 53? disapprove (despite a fawning media). Nice going! Try to spin out of that one.

Christopher Holland| 5.18.10 @ 10:10PM

There he goes again

Kbig| 5.18.10 @ 1:26PM

The Wall St. Journal has increased it's customer base .

1FreeMan| 5.18.10 @ 1:47PM

Ignore the purpleguy folks. He distorts facts, is openly insulting and tries to rewrite history to push his liberal politics.

Go back to your basement-lair little purple dude.

loulou| 5.18.10 @ 5:01PM

Perpleguy is a troll, paid for by ACORN/SEIU. He's just doing his job.

Bydand76| 5.18.10 @ 3:03PM

Umm sorry Purple,

The RMN was not Conservative. I am from Colorado. I know the reason it did'nt continue printing was because it lost out to the Denver Post.

Quit making things up and know what you are talking about please.

Pro Libertate

stephie| 5.18.10 @ 3:06PM

Purpleguy, you are sooooooooooo wise. wow.

Chalkdust| 5.18.10 @ 5:27PM

Whisling passed the grave yard are we.

A.M. Mallett| 5.18.10 @ 6:07PM

There is some truth in what you have stated however we can see a very similar trend among the other media outlets. CNN and MSNBC are absolutely tanked when compared to Fox News. Liberalism lacks an audience willing to pay for an unsustainable diet of pablum.

John Navratil| 5.18.10 @ 6:15PM

An how did the Wall Street Journal buck the trend?

I remember the Rocky Mountain News as not particularly conservative. I may remember it more for one hideous headline (apropos of nothing it was "In defence of life and your property... when deadly force?)

The New York Sun knew the risk of a start-up at the time they did. I recall the question being asked how a small newspaper could possibly enter a media saturated city (how many dailies at the time?)

The big jump in circulation at The National Review and The American Spectator occurred when Clinton was elected.

So maybe there to Mr. Lord's article than you can admit.

Janice Flowers| 5.18.10 @ 8:32PM

Hmmm...Newsmax, National Review and Weekly Standard seem to be doing just fine.

JmsA| 5.18.10 @ 10:32PM

Of course losing one-half of one's readership did not hurt. Classical whistling past the graveyard. Keep it up; your self-delusion is most amusing. 11/02/2010

Lady| 5.18.10 @ 10:37PM

People,

As an honest conservative ready to listen, all I have to say is: We want real journalism...real news...not some made up junk that makes certain people look good. We want the truth about both sides!!! If you can't do that, then you deserve to fail.

Nick| 5.18.10 @ 11:47PM

Lady,

You will get the truth only from conservatives.

You will have to discern for yourself which conservatives are more truthful than others.

Nate W.| 5.19.10 @ 1:22AM

Nick,
You make a great point. Think of any opposing political view to our American conservatism, and you will see a relativistic reworking of reality. Marxism, Socialism, Communism, Leninism, Liberalism, Progressivism, and even Islam, (to mention a few) have, at their core, the suppression and "modification" of truths concerning history and current events. This is even further proof that you really cannot separate political discussions from those touching on personal religious belief (And yes, humanism IS a religion. Look it up!).

Nick| 5.20.10 @ 12:05AM

Nate W.,

Thanks!

You, also, make good points.

Secular Humanist Atheistic Materialists - SHAMs.

They are the product of the so-called "Enlightenment."

Paul D| 5.19.10 @ 12:02AM

The print version of the Wall Street Journal is doing quite well. So that kinda blows your argument.

But in your defense, the Internet is having an effect.

Ultimately, what you are missing is that generally, conservative media, of all types, is prospering Whereas nowhere can you see Liberal media thriving.

Rowdy Boots| 5.19.10 @ 8:43AM

DUH.

The sun opened in a SOCIALIST CITY, fool. It deserves to die because CAPITALISM is the best system and we do not like failing businesses (like NYC) to suck our money--not your money, OUR MONEY--YOURS WENT TO OBAMA.
LOL

ROWDY BOOTS

JmsA| 5.20.10 @ 10:39AM

"So, you see, it's not a liberal vs conservative thing." Yes it is, purpleturd. The Nation, that liberal rag, is more than $1 million in debt. I could cite countless moderate right of center and conservative publications which are doing just fine, but I don't want you to know about them and bore their readers to death. People are sick and tired of your nonsensical, leftist dribble. Maybe you can send a contribution to The Nation and her millionair lefty publisher, Katrina Vanden Heuvel. I'm sure she'll appreciate it. As always, 11/02/2010

JmsA| 5.20.10 @ 10:40AM

Typo alert: Meant to write millionaire.

Darin| 5.18.10 @ 7:32AM

As a conservative, I used to subscribe to Newsweek because I wanted to keep up with how the "other" side viewed world events. I don't have to agree with the perspective, but I do want to understand it as it helps me better understand my own. It just became too painful as the magazine constantly insulted my beliefs and stated or implied I was an idiot for not being a liberal. So I cancelled.

Sadly, BusinessWeek may be going down the same path with its recent sale. I've noticed several articles taking potshots at conservatives or conservative ideas while liberals or liberal ideas get a pass.

Blackwatch| 5.18.10 @ 5:50PM

bingo well said.

Janice Flowers| 5.18.10 @ 8:34PM

Amen!!

Nate W.| 5.19.10 @ 1:37AM

Yeah, I guess it would be kinda strange if someone came up to me claiming to want an honest, intellectual discussion, and proceeded to sneer at Christian beliefs, family values, patriotism, work ethic, decision to own firearms, and my desire to abide by the Constitution.

Nate W.| 5.19.10 @ 1:37AM

gearjammer| 5.18.10 @ 7:55AM

If, 20million American families cancel their cable we deliver a death blow to the media conglomerates and thus the news media, Hollywo d, tv land in general, and if course liberalism and the democrats. At the very least we must be able to pick and choose the items we want to pay for-the hell with their " packages". We need to cripple these monsters financially. All their socialist bleating aside, they love money.

Teflon93| 5.18.10 @ 7:58AM

The jig is up for the Left Wing Media. The Silent Majority has its own information outlets now and no longer need to put in the effort Russians had to put into extracting reality from Pravda and Izvestia.

Fox News, which has far more liberals in prominent positions on staff than ABCNBCCBSCNBCMSNBCPBS does throughout, gets it. As Krauthammer noted, Roger Ailes is a media genius for discovering the 50% of Americans which are still terra incognita for the Left Wing Media.

Contra Frum and the Fauxcons, it is the Left which is withdrawing into an ever-shrinking echo chamber. As evidence, I offer the terrible market performance of the Left Wing Media, which even now seeks government bailouts (!) to survive. Talk radio is booming. Fox News is booming.

What do they know that the liberals who dominate the media today don't?

Grzmlyk| 5.18.10 @ 11:51AM

I believe reports of liberal media's demise are greatly exaggerated. Yes, their subscription numbers are declining. Yes, ratings for CBS, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, etc. are falling.

But try this: Google "warrantless wiretaps." Approximately 495 out of the top 500 hits are liberal screeds against Bush.

Liberalism is alive and well, and we pop the corks of conservativism's ultimate victory at our peril. For once, let's look more than one move ahead in the chess game!

The GOP will make tremendous gains in the upcoming elections. And then the mainstream media smear machine, quiescent since St. Barack announced his candidacy for the presidency, will come to life once again and rediscover the evils of government - when it's run from the right. It will sing its tune all over the new media, and conservatism's victory will be short lived even as the Republican pols we elect turn out to look a whole lot like the GOP we so recently rejected.

Even if conservatism is in ascendance now, there will be a backlash, and the mainstream media will once again try to lead us towad Utopia.

Yes we have talk radio and Fox News. But that's not enough to avoid the peril. We must take back popular culture and commandeer great swaths of the mainstream media even as it sheds its obsolete skin and reconstitutes in digital form.

Liberalism is a vampire. You can never kill the evil entirely. You must fight it at every turn, every day, for all of eternity.

By the way, the last time I picked up Newsweek was in my dentist's office; they're not very current. I was shocked to learn Nixon had resigned. :-)

Toolbag| 5.18.10 @ 6:29PM

What you are taalking about when you say, "But try this: Google "warrantless wiretaps." Approximately 495 out of the top 500 hits are liberal screeds against Bush. " is that Liberals are talking about Liberal issues. This does not accurately reflect what the majority of Americans are interested in. It wiuld be like looking up Pro-Life and learning that the majority of links led to conservative screeds. However if you look up just search trends you'll find that most of the searches are sports related with a peppering Kagen and Blumenthal searches. My point by this that Google search trends are not indicative of either Liberal or Conservative dominance or success.

Failures of major Liberal outlets is indicative of a decline. The New York Times has seen falling sales for years. To respond to the list of failed conservative lists I would point out that major conservative outlets like, The Wall Street Journal, are are still doing well and may even be on the rise.

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 10:37PM

Then don't use Google...

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 12:54PM

Good Grief - Anyone one of NBC/CBS/ABC all garner more audience for their news programs than Fox any day. With that crazy, weepy, "Commie behind every door" Glenn Beck, they are dropping like a rock.

1FreeMan| 5.18.10 @ 1:59PM

Purple,

there you go again: lying and distorting facts.
Fox News dominated the cable news competition. Network news shows (one hour of liberal lies) has a higher hour rating when their show is on but over the span of the day Fox news is on top. They are continuing to garner larger viewer shares.
Don't 'cha just wonder why CBS is trying to team up with investors to shore up their falling market share: they SUCK!

Purple, please grow up.

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 6:30PM

I thought your point was that the conservative media is oh so great and growing, while the liberal media is falling apart. From that perspective you are wrong, as usual.

With a few more moderators like Beck and Palin, you won't be crowing for long. And Rush has about 10 years left, if that.... so enjoy what u got now, their getting long in the tooth kids, and the young'uns don't hold a candle...

Glenn Beck's ratings are lower this year than last.

If Rupert Murdoch with all his billions didn't prop up all these rags and boob tube journalists (The Weekly Standard, Fox News, dozens of newspapers and radio stations) they wouldn't even exist. And, he ain't no spring chicken either.

Bydand76| 5.18.10 @ 7:39PM

Purple,
You have a fine career as a comedian should you choose to go that route.

Please tell me you don't truly believe this because you just made me snort my New Belgium Brewing Company Fat Tire Ale out my nose.

That was a waste of some damn fine ale thank you very much!

Pro Libertate!

Janice Flowers| 5.18.10 @ 8:39PM

Rupert Murdoch is a capitalist and therefore would never "prop up" failing business models. And that is the way it should be.

Rowdy Boots| 5.19.10 @ 8:33AM

Boooo, hoooo...my liberal perverts socialists are losing money! Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

crying and saying silly things will not help you PurpleGay, you are obviously on the DOLE!

lolololololololololololol--I am vacationing with my CAPITALIST MONEY--HA HA! BYE

ROWDY BOOTS

Grzmlyk| 5.18.10 @ 2:14PM

And here I assumed your average liberal could synthesize a ratings chart with a demographics chart.

Never underestimate the ability of a fool to ignore reality.

Yet another callow, generic liberal, folks, running in the middle of the herd, bleating about what a thinker it is.

You're probably too stupid to survive (evolution has its upside), but in case you last another couple of years, reality will smack you upside the head; and then you won't have time to cultivate your preening moral vanity.

And the silence that will then emanate from your keyboard will be the most cogent argument you'll ever make.

William R| 5.18.10 @ 2:35PM

To quote Big Dan Teague: You don't say much my friend, but when you do it's to the point, and I salute you for it.

Grzmlyk| 5.18.10 @ 2:49PM

Thank you very much.

If I had one wish, it would be to be an eyewitness when the light of reality dawns on these idiots.

Of course, most of them can never bear to part with the idealized image they see in the warped ideological mirror; they'd much rather lose themselves down the rabbit hole of ignorance, where terra firma yields to cotton-candy bromides and gossamer feel-goodism.

Or else they DO figure it out, embrace liberalism's inherent corruption and start monetizing Other People's Vanity.

Nevertheless, they dare not ask for whom the bell of reality tolls.

Tim*| 5.18.10 @ 3:53PM

Uh Oh Mr. Purplepuss !

" The penultimate full week of the 2009-10 broadcast season again had Fox winning the adult 18-49 ratings . "

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 6:18PM

Your point is?

Bydand76| 5.18.10 @ 7:44PM

Tim* 's point is that your earlier moronic statement was par for the course with you.

You know? The one you made about CNN, MSNBC et al beating FOX in the ratings. Which is a total fabrication on your part Purple.

See you can't even remember your own arguments Purple. How's Liberal Reader by the way?

Hey, why did you choose the Purple moniker?

Are you from Minnesota? A Vikings fan perhaps?
That would explain why you are such a liberal goon too!

MUD-DUCK!!

Pro Libertate!

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 10:30PM

"You know? The one you made about CNN, MSNBC et al beating FOX in the ratings. Which is a total fabrication on your part Purple." .... HA! I never said any such thing ... once again a Conservative is caught lying ... with his pants down... Oh, I mean Rep Mark Souder who shtupped his staffer at the same time he lied about the beauty of abstitence... you're just lying or stupid... you pick!

Bydand76| 5.19.10 @ 2:21AM

On 5.18.10 @ 12:54PM Purple-douche said:

"Anyone one of NBC/CBS/ABC all garner more audience for their news programs than Fox any day"

And now on 5.18.10 @ 10:30PM Purple-douche said this: "HA! I never said any such thing"

Fox destroys CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC, ABC
COMBINED!

Why cant you admit that?

WTH does Rep. Stouder have to do with this?

Moron!

Pro Libertate!

William in AZ| 5.18.10 @ 7:53PM

Whew ... thick as a brick.

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 10:31PM

Useful bumper sticker... Is it on your bumper? A self description? Otherwise, what a fantastic commentary....

JmsA| 5.20.10 @ 6:50PM

That you're clueless or simply a liar, purpleturd. Now, that's no so difficult to grasp, is it? 11/02/2010

JmsA| 5.18.10 @ 10:34PM

PYSCHOSIS ALERT!!!: Purpleturd is off his meds again and hallucinating. 11/02/2010

Rowdy Boots| 5.19.10 @ 8:36AM

Hey Purp,

You are so lying. Fox at least has commie libs on regularly to advance their stupidity--maybe you should watch at least once so you can make believe you actually know what you are talking about.

nbcreeep, cbshi*** and abcrud are losers with one point of view: yours, that is why you watch them.

ROWDY BOOTS

martin j smith| 5.18.10 @ 7:58AM

i have never subscribed to any News magazine, at best looked at them in doctor's offices. However, since the media and its slant has become a big issue I have become aware that as in other media ( aka the MSM ) most of left leaning propaganda sheets.
So, I say this: if the losses reflect the market meaning buyers have had enough the demise of these magazines or newspapers is a welcome event.
Putting it bluntly: If say Newsweek choses to become a tool of the Left ( which it did ) and support policies that are against my interests, my life and my health and well being then I say: To hell with them and theirs. When a media entity deomnstrates that it is doing its job--probing all politicians and not dishonestly presenting oppinion as news the I can have more sympathy somewhat more anyway. But in the case of these characters: none at all.

cuban pete| 5.18.10 @ 9:00AM

Good Morning martin:
You took the words out of my mouth. I skim Time and Newsweek twice a year while waiting for my session with the dentist. Once finished I know the most unpleasant part of my visit is over.

Tony in Central PA| 5.18.10 @ 9:47AM

Well I'm one dentist who cancelled my Newsweek subscription several months ago. I made the mistake of having one of my staff pick our subscriptions. I started looking through issues about a year ago and soon discovered they had little news but a lot of indoctrination.

cuban pete| 5.18.10 @ 11:06AM

Dr.Tony:
I'm sorry I don't live in Central PA. If I did I could switch dentists.

Tony in Central PA| 5.18.10 @ 11:15AM

Pete, did I mention our office provides a 10% discount for patients traveling over 250 miles one way for an appointment ?

cuban pete| 5.18.10 @ 11:29AM

Very tempting. I could schedule my appointments during my trips east to DC to visit my grandchildren.

Peter Voisin| 5.18.10 @ 7:59AM

Liberalism is also for sale.

1FreeMan| 5.18.10 @ 2:00PM

... and it can be had for cheap. Not worth much, really.

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 6:33PM

The far right wing is free... and worth about as much ... it's easy to be against everything your Founders provided for you ..

William in AZ| 5.18.10 @ 7:55PM

'... it's easy to be against everything your Founders provided for you ...' That puts your own approach into context - thanks.

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 10:34PM

If you actually knew what the Founders believed, instead of what you've been told they believed in your right-wing indoctrination, you would understand the reference.... Let me guess, you will not now go look up anything any of them said or read anything they wrote, right? Just keep listening to Rush Loudmouth and Glenn "Insane" Beck - they have no point of view and ALWAYS speak the truth...

JmsA| 5.18.10 @ 10:37PM

Stop trying to hide behind the Founders; you're clueless about them, Purpleturd. 11/02/2010

1FreeMan| 5.19.10 @ 1:54PM

Just like a rat will squeel when the light is turned on you, Purple, are squeeling as Beck provides evidence, documents, history and fact proving that your ObamaMessiah is lying, destroying and setaling from hard working Americans.

Watch Purple squeel, squeel purple, squeel.
The truth is still the truth no matter how much you try and distort it purple-jerk.

Oh... and on topic: the founders invisioned a nation where we could worship freely, live in freedom from opression from a government and be self direction in our persuit of happiness. Go back and re-read. I think you got a "F" in American History from your state-sponsored-highschool.... you did graduate, right?

Kitty| 5.18.10 @ 8:00AM

My local newsstand is a sad testament to liberalism. For decades it used to be a thriving family business with several employees, selling newspapers, magazines, tobacco, candy and soda.

These days the place is more like an echo chamber. Of the newspapers and magazines still in publication, the sales are way down. They stopped selling tobacco at the end of last year when NYS cigarette vendors got hit with a huge increase in their state licensing fee; the standard $100 application fee jumped to $1,000. Sales of everything are down. The newsstand is now a one-man operation, and he hopes to make it to retirement.

WRTolkas| 5.18.10 @ 8:15AM

Dear Miss Kitty,

You have painted a telling portrait of the ultimate effects of liberalism in the news, in lives and livelihoods.

This is most depressing; but don't give up the fight. Remember This November.

Best Regards,
WRTolkas

Janice Flowers| 5.18.10 @ 8:59PM

Too bad. Small businesses get crushed by liberalism...they are too small to buy politicians like the "fat cats" do.

Motown Mike| 5.18.10 @ 8:32AM

Pain used to be a problem at the dentist's office. But modern dentistry has taken care of most of it. But two painful things remain: paying the bill and reading Newsweek in the waiting room.

Neo-libertarian| 5.18.10 @ 8:35AM

While Lord’s canary metaphor is within context, Mecham’s leftist rag is not portrayed best as an innocent fettered avian, heroically warbling its last breath. I prefer to symbolize its demise as the Statue of Liberty setting down her torch, taking up a shovel, with Newsweek being the first scoop from the Aegean Stables.

loulou| 5.18.10 @ 5:04PM

It's Augean stables but I get your point.

John Navratil| 5.18.10 @ 6:22PM

And it involved diverting a river, not shovels. But your point still stands. The pages of Newsweek would surely form a great bulk of the effluent.

Ret. Marine| 5.18.10 @ 8:42AM

Used to subcribe to this piece of work, back then sold as news. Problem was I wanted straight up front news, not someone's opinion of news in the making. I see many different publications going out of business and I think the main reason is, We the People are simply not this stupid to equate opinion as news. It's too bad to because they once had a very wide audiance but they chose to throw us under the bus for no apparent reason other than their slanted opinion. I guess the gig known as liberalism is on it's dying bed and newsweek being one of the longest running pubs out there whoraahing for the cause did not realize or want to realize the We the People customers wanted something other than an opinion, we wanted to be informed not slanted into believing it.

Tom Osterman| 5.18.10 @ 9:16AM

I'm not so sure that liberalism as a political force is dying, but publications like Newsweek, that threw away credibility for the sake of liberal advocacy, are. I just wonder what made them think that they could get away with it?

Teflon93| 5.18.10 @ 10:14AM

The rest of the left wing echo chamber.

It's the same echo chamber David Frum, David Brooks, Ross Douthat et al subsist within.

It leads to a very distorted view of reality and great discomfort when the world turns out very differently than one has conceptualized.

Ned | 5.18.10 @ 2:55PM

they got away with it for 50 years... Newsweek was crap in the '60s, and it's crap today... they just pushed it too long...

Ret. Marine| 5.18.10 @ 8:56PM

I believe in the next few years we are going to see many with the gnashing of the teeth effects of their precieved reality, hopefully some suicides but generally agree they are not o the floor yet. The idea of this rot is catching on to many corners of these United States and a lot of otherwise non-lookers are finding out this disease is of moral deadlyness. We can always dream and hope for the ultimate death of a sinful ideology can't we?

Curly Smith| 5.18.10 @ 8:46AM

I think the blame really lies with the geriatric set who keep dying. Newsweek offers nothing new or interesting. It's just another hate America publication in a crowded field of hate America publications -- and broadcasts. If you read the rag during the glorious Carter years and then during the reign of the despicable dunce Reagan then you know Newsweek's worldview. If you agree with that view, then why wait a week to read the articles when you can get the same disinformation from the daily MSM, and get the bonus of spewing spittle on MSNBC? The only people who subscribe do so from inertia, they've always subscribed. Now they're dying off, I blame George W. Bush.

Neil| 5.18.10 @ 8:47AM

People - please - get the name right.

It is "Newsweak". And has been for quite some time.

Mattled| 5.18.10 @ 9:10AM

Mr. Lord,
Please have AmSpec start a billboard campaign with Williams, Courics, and Sawyers face (throw in Matthews) and YOU LIE! across their faces.

Matthews would explode.

They attack US every day with nothing but lies. Time for us to counter-attack.

Imagine some independent doesn't pay attention to politics TV viewer sitting in traffic seeing that.

It will be a wave and they will go down.

Ken (Old Texican)| 5.18.10 @ 9:23AM

I'm not sure of the year I cancelled Newsweek. I think it was 1978.

Folks, let's begin to use the correct words. Newsweek was unveiled as a PURPOSEFUL LIER in my mind somewhere along there.

I was stationed in Saudi Arabia in those days, and a Newsweek came in with one of my couriers. It had a story abut the mid-east that was so outrageously false that I actually threw the magazine across my office in disgust.
Folks,
At least since then the magazine has not "leaned" Left...or "slanted Left".......It has laid down on its back with an inviting smile...Left.

I have often thought that it was in those critical years...mid 70s through the early 80s when one simply could not GET clean balanced MSM news...when America went awry.

I was fortunate. In my position I got to hear the other side of the stories...primarily from books, and a couple of Reagan supporters, and my uncle in the Army.
I thank God every day, for Reagan, Rush, Hannity, George W. and the colonels and below in our armed forces. I also thank God for Am Spec and brothers on the internet and in print.

I hope Newsweek goes unsold. I watch for the "Regime" to actually buy the MSM news media that is left. (no pun intended).

Anthony| 5.18.10 @ 9:25AM

So the scion of the famed socialist Norman Thomas, Evan Thomas, he himself a socialist and a pathetic loser if there ever was one, will soon lose his job, how fitting.
Now Evan won't have to worry about the American military taking out members of the media, as Evan claimed during one of his more hysterical moments in journalism. (If only it were true)
Well Evan, you can look forward to 99 weeks of unemloyment, thanks to Obama's new and improved worker's paradise. I'd stay away from the New York Times, that ship is leaking pretty bad as well. Come to think of it, so is the whole damn leftist media establishment, and not a moment to soon!!!
Oh well, maybe you and Frank Rich can share an apartment and enjoy New York's bohemian life style on $200 p/w. Finally, you get to live like the great unwashed you claim to champion.
How's that Hope and Change working out for you Evan?

Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 5.18.10 @ 9:48AM

Couldn't happen to better pile of lies sold under the misleading term "news". Actually "Newsweek" could perform a useful function in the not too distant future, even if it goes out of print. Instead of recycling old copies they should be stored up & saved. It's just a matter of time before B.O. (he stinks!) decides tp needs to be banned to save us from "man-made glo-bull warming". Using old lib publications like "Newsweek" in stead of tp would help reduce America's "carbon footprint" & would be a fitting use of lib printed propaganda. Just a thought.

Heatpacker| 5.18.10 @ 1:06PM

Wasn't it Newsweek that broke the story of the Haditha 'Massacre'? The Newsweek reporter was spoon-fed a fictional account of the event by Insurgency Scum and Newsweek ran with it without questioning the source. Innocent Marines had their lives and careers turned upside down so that the editors of Newsweek could get their jollies, tearing down the military and the Bush Administration. The Marines were acquited. Did the editors of Newsweek apologize for their outrageous libel? I don't think so. I am glad that the staff at Newsweek will be losing their jobs. It is what they deserve for journalistic malpractice.

Steve C| 5.18.10 @ 9:59AM

From the Meacham/O'really exchange:
Meacham defended his assertion: "We're not. We try to be provocative. We try to break news. We try to contribute to the conversation. You can decide whether we do or not."

Is he saying, "We report, you decide." ?
Well, I've decided.

Peter McGrath| 5.18.10 @ 10:06AM

It certainly warms the cockles of one's heart to see Newsweak go down, hard. The panty-waist liberal wankers left behind in its wake, particularly the spaghetti-wristed Meacham and Thomas, can't be expected to learn anything from its demise. And, surely, their ilk will emerge with or in the form of some other, dinkier, organ. Mayhaps the butchy Maddow, or her even-more butch sister, Olberman, could use a co-anchor.

The Left's utopian fantasists will become an object of diminishing curiousity, sort of like staring at mannequins of proto-humans at a natural history museum. Neanderthalic in their thinking, yet supremely assured of its correctness, smarmy toads like Thomas will soon start choking on the uniquely chalky air one finds only in the dustbin of history.

Ned| 5.18.10 @ 10:21AM

"Outstanding work by Newsweek's people has significantly narrowed the losses in the last year and particularly in the last few months. But we do not see a path to continuing profitability under our management."

Isn't this the “jobs saved formula” which was used to justify the stimulus package? Hopefully Newsweek's solution is contagious and will spread to folks managing our country's path to continuing profitability. The question is who will buy us? Hopefully the American people will make an overwhelming bid next fall and once again become the owners.

Tony in Central PA| 5.18.10 @ 10:26AM

I wouldn't attribute Newsweek's failure solely to its ideological bias. Newsweek was usually lousy journalism because of its bias, but print media has generally been suffering because of the internet.

Brian| 5.18.10 @ 10:41AM

Newscorp. should buy Newsweek and turn it into the Fox News Channel of weekly news mags.

Blackwatch| 5.18.10 @ 7:10PM

I hear you but "weekly" and "news" are not compatible in this day and age.

It can't pretend to be relevant now that we have the 24 hour cable news cycle and the internet. A "weekly news" magazine is so--- 1930's??

This is 2010. Let the old rag die with a whimper and go into bankruptcy.

JmsA| 5.18.10 @ 11:01AM

I guess there weren't enough Purpleguys, Alan Brooks, or other One-loving fools to keep that rag alive. I believe that any other leftist/liberal rags will think twice before claiming "We're all socialists now."

Ken (Old Texican)| 5.18.10 @ 11:02AM

Brian,
I would not want to design the business model for a Newsweek. I would rather read NRO and Am Spec.

Majito Querido| 5.18.10 @ 11:10AM

"On a human level, one can take no delight here. The men and women who produce this magazine, in existence since 1933, doubtless have families to feed, kids to educate, lives to live. We wish them well."

Hogwash...all these folks are enablers and they undoubtedly agree with their bosses' political bent...that's like excusing Nazis for being just doing their jobs...i have no heart for these blokes, they have been affecting my family for years with their lunatic propaganda...but i do agree with Brian that perhaps FNC turn this publication into an actual news magazine without the left loons or at least have some right loons to balance them

Matt| 5.18.10 @ 11:25AM

ha, ha, ha. Jeffrey Lord is more graceful than I am, I hope the Newsweek journalists find jobs that represent the quality of their work, at McDonald's.

MIKE GILES| 5.19.10 @ 8:32AM

Fast food restaurants - one of the most successful business models of all time - would never put up with incompetent customer service on the level of a Newsweek. Imagine always getting the same order no matter what you actually ordered?

loulou| 5.18.10 @ 11:27AM

"The men and women who produce this magazine, in existence since 1933, doubtless have families to feed, kids to educate, lives to live. We wish them well. "

Lord is a better person than I--I can't worry about former Newsweek employees. They knew what kind of organization they were involved in.

Neo| 5.18.10 @ 11:28AM

I believe that is "reporter" Eleanor Clift. She was a minion of the Clinton White House.
Frnkly, I never liked Newsweek that much, a format thing, I guess, at least a few decades ago. But I did buy 5-year subscriptions to Time, until I could stand it no more. The turning point was an issue with the two headlines .. "Boris' Buffo Trip" and "The $5.3 Billion Gizmo". I was left to believe that this magazine had been overrun by 4th graders who expressed a form of non-intellectual intellectualism. They were now so smart that they knew nothing.
Newsweek has the same problem.

Sheryl| 5.18.10 @ 11:44AM

Reading this article and these comments makes me think of the torture that is reading my local city newspaper. I wonder sometimes why I continue to do so. The extremely and consistently far-left editorial stance, no matter what the issue being discussed, is one thing. What I object to even more though, as one of your readers wrote of reading Newsweek, is the constant insult to the intelligence of anyone who might be slightly off the leftist reservation. Paying good money to be constantly reminded that one's beliefs are racist, homophobic, moronic, anti-progress, anti-everything good and decent, etc. is an exercise in masochism. I just haven't been able to stop cold turkey. Of course, their days of spouting the liberal line are most likely numbered, too. A small consolation.

John Navratil| 5.18.10 @ 6:28PM

There is help. You are just a few steps away from enjoying that morning cup of copy again...
(1) Stop reading the obits.
(2) Stop reading the editorials.

The first are depressing and the second are infuriating which agitate the soul. Everything else is pablum and ads.

Still my wife kept a subscription going for about 10 years after I quit reading. She's free now. The only problem is that we have to search for paper with which to light the charcoal chimney and to put under our boiled crawfish.

Jack Olson| 5.18.10 @ 11:49AM

Matt, at McDonalds' they don't tell you what to eat, much less what to think. Ronald McDonald knows he's a clown, Evan Thomas doesn't. You owe an apology to every McD cook and drive-through attendant if you claim their products are no better than Newsweek's.

Make 'em pay postage| 5.18.10 @ 11:51AM

The only use I have for Time and Newsweek is that they provide me with business reply envelopes that I send back, complete with conservative/Republican/pro-life, etc. literature inside. That way, they have to pay the return postage, and they might learn something at the same time.

Bill Carson| 5.18.10 @ 11:53AM

I'd desperately like to believe every word of this piece. One problem though: the American people gave virtually dictatorial power to Democrats in 2008. If the American people hate Newsweek so much, then please explain why they kiss the you-know-what of so many Dems.

Maddox| 5.18.10 @ 11:55AM

What a wonderfully written piece. You left me with a smile and a feeling of hope for our country.

Oldefarte| 5.18.10 @ 11:58AM

TRUTH.........beautifully written. Thank you!!!!

Kevin| 5.18.10 @ 12:08PM

Print media in general is dying, because its time has come. It has nothing to do with Newsweek's liberal slant, it that actually exists. Magazines and newspapers....they belong to the past, just like traditional conservative thinking.

Tim*| 5.18.10 @ 12:41PM

Like Air America And MSNBC ?

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 1:42PM

Conservative rags have disappeared in the past, but you wouldn't hear about them on this site, that's all. Live in your bliss, the polls are changing and despite today's elections, November is turning blue...

1FreeMan | 5.18.10 @ 2:08PM

Keep telling yourself the lies, purple.
Like the Newsweak magazine (on topic here), you will hold to your lies and fantasies until the bitter end. That is the part of you liberals that confuses everyone: caught with your pants down, hand in the cookie jar, cocaine still on your upper lip you scream "I'm innocent and it's Bush's fault" No integrity or honor.

Purple, ever think of moving to Kenya?

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 6:12PM

I'll move to Kenya if you will move to Somalia ...

Tim*| 5.18.10 @ 11:51PM

You already live in Kenya ,Mr.Purpleypuss.

Tim*| 5.18.10 @ 3:29PM

You're confused again ,Mr.Purpley .
The Democrat congressmen are talking about how many seats they 're gonna " Blow " in November.

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 6:14PM

Nothing unusual for the Party in Power, which happens to be the Democrats after the Bush disaster... I know it hurts, and you can hope for change ...

Nick| 5.18.10 @ 7:08PM

Change is coming, PurpleJackass.

Thanks to President Dither, all the spineless liberal Republicans are being swept from the party.

O'Bama will be dealing with a much more conservative congress than Bubba the pervert did.

Tim*| 5.18.10 @ 11:56PM

We,Tea Party Rebels will see ya on November 2nd, Obamatron.
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates .

Remember In November !

Oldefarte| 5.18.10 @ 3:42PM

Oh yes, TAS, Limbaugh, Fox, etc are all '''dying''''', while the NYT, WP,Newsweek, Time, MSNBC are all thriving, right? What a pompous ass and stupid fool you must be!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Purpleguy| 5.18.10 @ 6:16PM

Except for MSNBC, which is doing fine, the rest are print media, which I have already explained, for the past 5 years at least. are in trouble, but nothing to do with liberal or conservative, no matter how good it feels to rub it all over yourself.

Nick| 5.18.10 @ 7:05PM

PurpleJackass,

We finally agree on something!

I, too, wish that all the liberal media suffers the same "success" as P-MSNBC!

1freeMan| 5.19.10 @ 1:58PM

Don't be fooled by the purple-jerk folks. He has only been posting on this site for two weeks now. Not the "past 5 years". He is a new comer, a liberal mouth piece, nothing more.

Kevin| 5.18.10 @ 12:08PM

Bydand76| 5.18.10 @ 12:40PM

Yes Kevin,

I am sure the editors of FHM, Maxim, Stuff, Cosmo, Popular Mechanics, Consumer Reports, Playboy, Hustler and Guitar/Drummer, and Musicians Friend, all agree with you. They are a thing of the past and their subscriptions keep rising. So out dated!

Newspapers have been dying a long slow painful death for some years now because people are tired of their lib-garbarge content. Look at the NY Times dude!

I remember when I was a kid when Newsweek came out with the article saying that we were all going to die because of climate change. ( A new ice age was imminent according to the egg-heads at Newsweek)

Pro Libertate!

stephie| 5.18.10 @ 3:35PM

Have you been to Walmart or Barnes and Nobel lately and checked out the magazine area?
It's PACKED with the rags! You are sorely misinformed Kevin!

J.P. Travis | 5.18.10 @ 12:22PM

Nicely written piece. The poisonous gases have spread to the science magazines, too. I can hardly stand Discover and Scientific American anymore, because they piddle a constant stream of Global Warming and enviro-whacko nonsense across their pages. Last year Discover included Obama on its annual list of top scientists, because he has "put science at the center of policy making." Seriously. Meanwhile, here in Reno, Nevada, where the people are mostly conservative and the newspaper is mostly liberal, they decided to fix their financial problems by increasing the price of the paper and reducing the size, rather than by trying to better satisfy their customers. Typical liberal irrationality. The paper is so thin now on some days that you feel like a sucker for buying it.

Doorgunner| 5.18.10 @ 12:41PM

I'm trying; I'm really trying.

Tony in Central PA| 5.18.10 @ 12:54PM

Despite the fact that we are an " Information Society " its often surprising how little real information there is to be found on the internet, in television or print media. There's plenty of opinion. I would think that more print media would try to distinguish themselves by providing the sort of in - depth reporting and research no longer available on television or found much on the internet. This is what journalists used to do, or at least aspired to do.
Newsweek reacted to the challenge of the immediacy of electronic news by providing more opinion, the one thing in large supply these days on TV and the internet. Maybe they can get a bailout from their guy in Washington.

DW| 5.18.10 @ 1:00PM

Liberalism is like a "vampire". Beleive it is dead at your own peril. They occupy the executive branch and the congress as of now and are far from death. We can put them in their coffins but must never look the other way come night fall.
Good riddance Newsweek and I hope the NY Times is not far behind.

Jimbeaux| 5.18.10 @ 1:16PM

Newsweek stinks, but I imagine they at least have a proofreader or two on hand, unlike AmSpec. (Read the article again, and you will find NUMEROUS grammatical errors.)

chris| 5.18.10 @ 1:17PM

Very nice article, Mr. Lord, and a great summation of how Newsweek has come to find itself on the verge of being shuddered.

I would add the "Not Your Daddy's Democrat" edition (with Harold Ford, Jr. on the cover) that Newsweek rolled out the week before the 2006 Congressional elections to your summary of ill-founded and ill-fated efforts.

Ironically, Ford was the only Democrat out of 12 or 13 who failed to win his bid for an open seat.

And didn't Evan Thomas say in 2004 that the media's left slant should be good for about 15 points in the Presidential race?

I would also add the inestimable Howard Fineman to the list of liberal writers for this leftist agitprop.

Louis Jenkins| 5.18.10 @ 1:27PM

We're all hoping that the demise of Newsweek will hold promise for us. However, the Pretender n Chief and Co. are lining up for a "fair and balanced" electronic newsmedia. Yes, we've won one battle, but the fight continues. Good luck America!!

Paul from SA| 5.18.10 @ 2:10PM

I was pleased that the last time I got my haircut, they did not have any liberal political magazines like Newsweek in the waiting area. Isn't that where all these liberal mags make their money, in waiting rooms? Individual people don't actually subscribe do they?

It's a real drag so many periodicals I used to read are so anti-conservative and anti-Republican.

1FreeMan| 5.18.10 @ 2:12PM

Unlike the opening lines of this article I DO NOT have sympathy for the people who will loose their jobs. These Newsweek employees supported the lies and propaganda against American Freedom and should pay a price for their lies and distortions.
They will get the fruit of their labor: lousy healthcare, higher taxes, a bankrupt nation and no job. Self imposed battle wound.
Buh bye Newsweek.

Mattled| 5.18.10 @ 3:03PM

I'm sure Jorge Soros will hire Thomas. He swooped in for Van Jones, didn't he?

bob alou| 5.18.10 @ 3:32PM

Any magazine that employs liberal screed Eleanor Cliff deserves to be out of business.

Nick| 5.18.10 @ 5:07PM

Bob Alou,

You beat me to it!
Although, I was going to call her "that old sea hag, Eleanor Clift."

Also, to those who wrote that "liberalism is like a vampire", you are partly correct.

Liberals ARE vampires.
They can't stand the sight of a crucifix and they suck the blood out of society.

Desert Viking| 5.18.10 @ 4:12PM

I subscribe to all of the most liberal magazines -- Newsweek, The New Yorker, Nation, even Time. Why? To do my small part to hasten their financial demise.

Here's how it works: All of these rags run ridiculous special deals like 80% off plus extra editions AND a free gift. In other words, I pay 20 bucks for 56 issues of Newsweek. Each issue comes with 5 to 6 business reply cards, known as BRCs, which cost the magazine or advertiser about 50 cents each when returned. I take the rag, pull out the BRCs and drop them in the mailbox. Blank. They are automatically deducted from the magazine's prepaid account by the USPS. They can't be refused. So for every issue that costs me just pennies, I return to them 4 or 5 bucks worth of blank BRCs. So my $20 subscription costs them about $250. I've been doing this for years and would like to think that, in some small way, I've had a hand in their failure.

As for the free gift, I recommend the versatile tote. It's handy when out walking the dog.

Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 5.18.10 @ 6:08PM

"As for the free gift, I recommend the versatile tote. It's handy when out walking the dog."
So is Newsweak. Got pick up those piles of doggie dung with something strong & thoroughly absorbent! Thanks for the lead- in Desert Viking. Love your idea too.

Nick| 5.18.10 @ 6:00PM

Pay no attention to PurpleJackass, folks.

He has stupidly claimed that John Marshall was the FIRST chief justice of the Supreme Court. His knowledge of history, and the Constitution, stinks.

He also used the word "precedence", when he meant "precedents", like a twit.

He has claimed, falsely, that President Bush was in office for TEN months when the attacks of September 11th, 2001, occured.

He also didn't know that Virginia governors cannot run for a second consecutive term. Nor, did he check his own misspelling of "hypocrite", as he berated someone else for misspelling "hypocrisy", thus making him, in fact, a hypocrite.

He is an ignorant fool.
He is not worthy of debate with grown-ups.

Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 5.18.10 @ 6:16PM

Nick, Purple Jackass isn't worth raising your blood pressure over. Just laugh at the clown. He's brain dead & lovin' it. Just laugh, pass over his lunacy & thank The Almighty GOD above you don't suffer from the mental disorder known as liberalism. Take care & GOD bless!

Nick| 5.18.10 @ 7:02PM

Mr. MacAlister,

Thanks!

I never let liberals get to me. That would be a waste of energy. They are worth only ridicule.

God Bless you, too, sir!

Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 5.18.10 @ 7:07PM

Nick, next time one of Purple Jackass's posts of lefty lunacy pop up keep this anonymous statement in mind, "You Can Lead A Leftist To Knowledge, But You Can't Make It Think!" Again, take care & GOD bless!

Nick| 5.18.10 @ 7:36PM

Mr. MacAlister,

Excellent quote, sir!

Remember, I post these PSAs for those unwitting souls who come here, and might think twits like PurpleJackass want to debate honestly.

They need to be warned of the stupidity with which they are about to engage. I am happy to sound the alarm.

Plus, I like embarrassing bleeding heart liberals, soooooo much.

Marc Jeric| 5.18.10 @ 6:20PM

After 5 years of waiting I finally got my immigrant visa for US in 1962. My first subscription to an American weekly was the Newsweek. After 8 years finally I cancelled it since I found too many similarities to the communist propaganda from which I escaped in 1957.

PCP Smoker| 5.18.10 @ 6:47PM

Nice piece. Newsweek can come back by publishing (1) expose on Trig Palin's "real mama", (2) A Frump and WhoDat? article trashing Limbaugh and laying the foundation for a "new conservatism" (Wall Mart, Comeback, New Deal, etc.), and (3) an expose on how Ronald Reagan, Buckley, and Goldwater had a lot in common with Nancy Pelosi.
They can close out the issue with an Anna Quindlen article on how women are discriminated in the workplace and in their relationships.

Bottom line, it's not really the liberalism, as much as the fact that the liberal template is re-used so often it just gets old and boring.

PCC| 5.18.10 @ 7:31PM

Dear Mr. Lord,

You write, "In the Reagan-Bush era, he notes loftily, the Bushes went out of their way to get along with the Reagans. Clearly, he preferred the latter over the former."

Did you mean that? Or the opposite?

Trump| 5.18.10 @ 8:27PM

Actually, I don't. They deserve to suffer and serve as an example.

Howard| 5.18.10 @ 8:59PM

When I was in High School in the late 1960's we were given free subscriptions to Newsweek. At that time the reporting was fairly straight. They did have liberal columnists, but the magazine was by and large non polemic. I've read it a few times in the last year or so. It is a left wing publication, nowhere as bad as The Nation, but still a very liberal, West Side NYC, Ivy League, type of magazine. The folks writing it have probably never been west of the Hudson. Sort of like Kagan.

brandon| 5.18.10 @ 10:15PM

@Desert Viking| 5.18.10 @ 4:12PM

this is an awesome idea to cost them money and hasten their demise. i hope your great idea multiples several times. i hope they fail and reap what they have sown.

OllyNorth| 5.18.10 @ 11:05PM

After reading all these posts I have determined that the purple turd is that former SEIU and most frequentWhite House visitor A. Stern, doing battle with the evil Tea Partiers on the front lines of the Spectator.

voted against carter| 5.18.10 @ 11:38PM

That would be the "LAME-STREAM media"

davz| 5.19.10 @ 3:24AM

About the Newsweek comments...having been a reader the one person published that I absolutely loathed was Anna Quinlend. Yecch! See ya!

scottzzzdale| 5.19.10 @ 5:29AM

Let the libtards believe what they want. Check out the extreme left's websites and you'll be thankful for a whackjob like purpleguy. Their belief system is our greatest ally right now, as they even deceive themselves...

Rowdy Boots| 5.19.10 @ 8:30AM

Yep,

Even the lousy writing can't help these Stalinist propagandist tools.

GOOD RIDDANCE--MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE WRITTEN SOMETHING THAT ACTUALLY REFLECTED REALITY ONCE IN A WHILE...I HATED PICKING UP YOUR MAG IN A DOCTOR'S OFFICE, FOOLS!

ROWDY BOOTS

John3| 5.19.10 @ 9:29AM

The invention of the printing press catalyzed many anti-status quo movements which included the French Revolution, which, by all measurements, is a barbaric failure--more like a regression of human culture. Newsweek, when I was reading it in the 1970s was fascinating: well written and informative. I am sure my style of writing was influenced by the great articles they had then. The other thing is that they were witty and intelligently funny. Now, I could not even see a semblance of the "old" Newsweek. When they end up selling it, I would recommend they change the name. Just like the French Revolutionists, Newsweek has become a weapon of the liberal barbaric left. What happened to Logic 101? I guess it's not required in all the Ivy and State Universities nowadays.

Ted Marks| 5.19.10 @ 2:31PM

Here is a submission I made to Newsweek last fall for its "My Turn" Column:

MY TURN

By Ted Marks

I have been a faithful reader of Newsweek for nearly 40 years – a loyal subscriber for several decades. But all good times must end, and alas, when my current subscription expires, I will absent myself from Newsweek’s circulation base.

The reason? Newsweek has degenerated into a highly opinionated collection of biased columns by a group of columnists who reside either inside the Washington beltway or amongst the media elites of New York City -- the so-called “establishment.”

Worse, it appears that the “new” Newsweek doesn’t even want me as a subscriber. It seems that some MBA has suggested that by reducing its readership to a smaller number of like thinking progressives, it can cut distribution costs, while jacking up advertising rates because of a more “selective” readership. Good luck with that.

Newsweek’s cover stories have become exotic and at time bizarre. Recently, the magazine featured a title that said: Why we want to Kill Grandma! The magazine pointed out that the elderly require more health care, and that was the primary reason for the steep rise in health care costs. Well, I’m a 67-year-old senior with some health problems and when a magazine suggests that I am not worth the health care I require to keep me alive, well, I think it’s time to move on. I find reading that sort of claptrap just too depressing.

But beyond the subject, I find the move from reporting to opinion just too strong to bear. The original concept of a weekly news magazine was to summarize the week’s events, adding some valuable context, and move on. Context is one thing; advocacy, of the sort that is prevalent in Newsweek, is another.

I am a reasonable American, a registered Independent voter. I view Barack Obama as an honorable man who harbors some misguided policies. I am astonished, and concerned, at how far Obama and the Democrats have moved the country towards socialism in the nine short moths they took over the government. The mainstream media ignores this move to the left, but the fact remains that the government now controls a large part of the auto, insurance, finance and health industries. Forty years ago, the British government made a similar move and all but destroyed their economy.

Moreover, I don’t think the Obama Presidency is being well served by the strident reports in the media that call Obama critics racist and/or vitriolic because we disagree with the Obama policies of expanding the reach of government into our private lives and our economy.

So I am now a subscriber to “The Week,” a relatively new newsweekly that is following the tradition of Time Magazine in its earliest years, and Newsweek in the latter part of the 20th century – summarize the news and analyst of the previous week. I want my news straight up, without all the qualification that editors of Times and Newsweek think is necessary to guide their readership into their vision of right-thinking perspective of current events.

And, I should point out, I know whereof I speak. I spent 40 years as a journalist and know the news industry very, very well. In the old days there was a name we applied to verbose commentary that we see all too frequently now in Newsweek. In my day we referred to such commentary as “thumb suckers” because they were quite simply a self-indulgent exercise by the writers who wanted to wear their opinions on their sleeves. In its current format, the entire front of the book is taken up by thumb suckers in an orgy of self-indulgence.

So farewell, Newsweek. I leave with some genuine regret, because I’ve always admired the magazine’s spunk against its larger competitor, Time Magazine. But times change and Newsweek has evolved into something with which I am neither familiar nor comfortable.

DemocraT| 5.19.10 @ 4:17PM

Great cancellation letter. Too bad there is no one at Newsweek with the ability to comprehend what it means. I cancelled my US News and World Report subscription a few years back for the same reasons.

Charles Stevens| 5.25.10 @ 11:31AM

corrupt Old Left Media corrupt Old Left Media corrupt Old Left Media corrupt Old Left Media corrupt Old Left Media corrupt Old Left Media corrupt Old Left Media corrupt Old Left Media

fkd| 7.1.10 @ 3:43AM

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