The Editor’s Desk

By Jon Meacham | NEWSWEEK
July 7-14, 2008 issue

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  • Posted By: AndyO @ 07/07/2008 12:34:54 PM

    I'm concerned about "What Newsweek Thinks You DON'T Need to Know" based upon this quote from Mr. Jon Meacham in this morning's New York Times:
    ???I think there???s a kind of Bush-bashing fatigue out there.??? -

    Ugh. This is how Jon Meacham explains his decision not to cover a popular best-selling book ???The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder,??? by best-selling author Vincent Bugliosi. There is a news media blackout on this book.

    Jon Meacham should be very emabrassed by this.

    First off, Mr Meacham, criticism of the President is not "bashing." Frankly, I expect that formulation from Republican partisans, not news executives at major outlets. (How PRAVDA of you).

    And, Mr Meacham, YOU might be tired of reporting criticism of the President and you obviously seek to supress such news (despite it being, you know, YOUR JOB!). However, for a well-functioning American system, we need our press to tell us of popular criticisms of the King, er, President.

    It's also remarkable that Newsweek did not suffer such fatigue when Clinton was President. Here's what I find when I search on Vincent Bugliosi on your web site:

    "The first of these volumes, scheduled to appear at the rate of one a month, is already out: Vincent Bugliosi on the Paula Jones case--which, unluckily, has just become a nonstory."

    Newsweek: Criticism of a Republican President? Oh, we're too fatigued to report that. Criticism of a Democratic President? Oh, we can't get enough!

    NYT link:
    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/07/business/media/07bugliosi.html

    • Posted By: AndyO @ 07/07/2008 12:41:15 PM

      Ok, all those multiple question marks should be quotation marks.

      I also meant to add:
      - The fact that Bugliosi's books is a Number One Best Selling belies the Meacham claim that there is fatigue at hearing Bush criticized.
      - Bush is the most unpopular President in the annals of popularity polling. How does Mr Meacham square his claim of fatigue with this very basic empirical fact? Or does he have no use for facts?

  • Posted By: killiondm@aol.com @ 07/02/2008 10:34:33 PM

    Please have your fact checker look up Presidnt Andrew "Stonewall" Jackson. I think you'll find that he is one of FOUR presidents who held the rank of general - Battle 1812 against the British - New orleans.

  • Posted By: dougl@lindal.com @ 07/02/2008 1:35:38 AM

    Mr. Meacham:
    You are quite proud of your editorial staff, as this article indicates. Too bad they made such a glaring error in the following page - in the Take Your Brain For A Spin quiz. Your first question asks "How many presidents achieved the rank of general" and answers three. WRONG by a long shot - there were twelve. I lost track after nine from memory and a quick Google search on "Presidents who were generals" yielded the full list.
    Time to take 'Newsweek's Finest' out to the woodshed!
    Doug Lindal
    Seattle, WA
    1. George Washington, Revolutionary War
    2. Andrew Jackson, War of 1812
    3. William Henry Harrison, War of 1812
    4. Zachary Taylor, Mexican War
    5. Franklin Pierce, Mexican War
    6. Andrew Johnson, Civil War
    7. Ulysses Simpson Grant, Civil War
    8. Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Civil War
    9. James Abram Garfield, Civil War
    10. Chester Allan Arthur, Civil War
    11. Benjamin Harrison, Civil War
    12. Dwight David Eisenhower, World War II

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