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Barry Diller, the chairman of Newsweek parent company IAC, stated Monday that he didn’t have “great expectations” for the future of the Daily Beast and Newsweek in their new digital-only format. … (Diller) is far from optimistic about the future of the fledgling operation. “I don’t have great expectations”, (he) revealed. “I wish I hadn’t bought Newsweek. It was a mistake.” …

She’s baaaack. Sarah Palin attempted to relaunch her political career and her political action committee, SarahPAC, on Thursday with a Web video called “Loaded for Bear,” which presented the former Alaska governor as the new kingmaker for conservative populists in the GOP. The video riffed off her speech at CPAC, in which Palin railed against “the big consultants, the big money men, and the big bad media.” But there’s an irony alert ahead: the current stated purpose of SarahPAC is to raise money ahead of the 2014 election—most of which will be spent on conservative consultants. Don't believe me? Well,...

Matters look bleak indeed when 50 senators vote for a measure requiring that any bill changing gun laws get a two-thirds majority. Nothing else, not taxes, not anything (except some internal Senate rules), requires a two-thirds vote. That 50 senators voted this way—including six Democrats—shows what a collection of cowards and lickspittles these people are on the issue. If the NRA said gun bills should only be passed after sundown on Tuesdays between Columbus Day and the Ascension of Abdul Baha, they’d rush in with amendments stipulating that it also had to be raining. And yet, there is still a...

Newsweek stopped its print edition at the end of 2012, but they still tried to scandalize the country by producing a fake cover honoring Obama's second inauguration as "The Second Coming." This absurd attempt at myth making is a natural progression. The "cover" story was written by Evan Thomas, who proclaimed on MSNBC a few years ago that Obama was "sort of like God" in being above the gritty political fray. It was just as absurd when Newsweek writer David Frum, the formerly conservative Bush speechwriter, tweeted this piece of media-elite nonsense: "First term Obama: punchee, 2nd term Obama,...

How did the rest of the media miss this? According to the new issue of Newsweek online, President Obama, who this weekend begins his second term--the third president in a row to do so--is "The Second Coming." With flattering photographs, the magazine edited by Obama fan Tina Brown holds out hope that in his second Inaugural Address, Obama can inspire and show that he can also lead. The conservative media watch dog, Media Research Center, first noticed the God-like cover. "Conservatives have long joked that the national press corps see Barack Obama as the second coming of Jesus Christ. Today,...

Although it is now digital, Newsweek celebrated President Obama's upcoming inauguration with a "cover" that calls the event "the second coming," an apparent reference to the return of Jesus Christ, The Blaze reported Friday. A post at Twitchy called the cover "creepy," while The Blaze described it as "controversial" and “questionable.” The cover highlights an article by former editor Evan Thomas, who once compared Obama to God. “Well, we were the good guys in 1984, it felt that way. It hasn't felt that way in recent years. So Obama’s had, really, a different task We're seen too often as the...

BLOCKBUSTER REPORT: 23-YEAR OLD, FORMER WHITE HOUSE INTERN, SEX RELATIONSHIP WITH PRESIDENT **World Exclusive** **Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT** At the last minute, at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening, NEWSWEEK magazine killed a story that was destined to shake official Washington to its foundation: A White House intern carried on a sexual affair with the President of the United States! The DRUDGE REPORT has learned that reporter Michael Isikoff developed the story of his career, only to have it spiked by top NEWSWEEK suits hours before publication. A young woman, 23, sexually involved with the love of her life, the...

In Newsweek's final print edition, Michael Isikoff writes about when the magazine decided to hold the story of Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. "The decision was final: Newsweek would hold the story," Isikoff writes, saying that "the brass wanted more work" done on the story before going to print with it. A few days later, the story of the decade would be broken by the Drudge Report. "It didn’t take long, of course, for it to explode," writes the former Newsweek writer. "Early Sunday morning, Internet scribe Matt Drudge popped his screaming 'World Exclusive': 'NEWSWEEK KILLS STORY ON WHITE...

For its Dec. 10, 2012 edition, Newsweek featured a story, "What Do We Really Know About Jesus?" A better title might have been, "What does Newsweek know about Jesus?" The gist of the article is that the gospels are full of historical errors; yet nevertheless, "for those with a broader vision, a more generous appreciation of literature, and a fuller sense of theological meaning, the story of the Christ-child and his appearance in the world can be founded not on what really did happen, but on what really does happen, in the lives of those who believe that stories such...

The Des Moines Register shocked many political observers Saturday by endorsing Mitt Romney for president. Clearly not accepting such a thing, Michael Tomasky, the Obama-loving correspondent for the Daily Beast, came out Sunday claiming the Register's endorsement "is little more than a practical joke": This Romney endorsement editorial, if you actually bother to read it, is little more than a practical joke. First of all, it has all the hallmarks of having been ordered by the publisher over the objections of the editorial board. Normally, a sentence like "the RegisterÂ’s editorial board, as it should, had a vigorous debate over...

Newsweek magazine announced today that it will cease publication at the end of the year. The magazine, published since 1933, has experienced a sharp decline in readership - roughly proportionate to its increasingly hard left editorial bent. There is no word how this move will affect Newsweek's roughly 225 subscribers. One positive aspect of the move is that President Obama and first lady Michelle will now have more free time, thanks to not having to pose for monthly Newsweek cover story photos.

As I discussed with Rubin last night, the Obama campaign resembles nothing so much as John McCain's did at this point in 2008 --aware of its pending defeat, but struggling on and hoping for some enormous "game changer" to arrive. The discipline and professionalism of Team Romney minimizes that possibility, and the experience of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will prevent unforced errors. Even if the Gallup tracking tightens a bit, the edge is so great --and the early voting during these weeks of Romney ascenbdency so significant-- that the president knows and his inner circle knows there is defeat...

Newsweek, a US magazine that has been running since 1933, will be going digital-only at the start of next year. After running for nearly 80 years, the magazine will print its last paper-based edition on December 31, 2012, and will instead be using apps and a website to pass news and articles to its readers. The publication will rebranded to Newsweek Global, and will be a single, worldwide edition that is optimized for tablets and paid for by a subscription. The Daily Beast, a companion publication, will continue to host some of Newsweek's content. Despite only being four years old,...

We are announcing this morning an important development at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Newsweek will transition to an all-digital format in early 2013. As part of this transition, the last print edition in the United States will be our Dec. 31 issue. Meanwhile, Newsweek will expand its rapidly growing tablet and online presence, as well as its successful global partnerships and events business. Newsweek Global, as the all-digital publication will be named, will be a single, worldwide edition targeted for a highly mobile, opinion-leading audience who want to learn about world events in a sophisticated context. Newsweek Global will...

Minutes after Newsweek published a story on the threat of illegal foreign and fraudulent online campaign donations late Monday afternoon, the Obama campaign struck back hard with a response smearing one of the article’s authors and offered an anemic defense of its online fundraising operations.

Obama at No.10 – really? Despite having failed to stop let alone reverse the rising of the seas, Barack Obama has made Newsweek’s newest ten best presidents list, which gives readers a top ten of the chief executives since 1900. Newsweek, whose list unsurprisingly is dominated by liberal Democrats, gave this justification for selecting Obama in a caption in a photo slide: "Picking a sitting president in a tally of the best is tricky – history hasn’t had time to put things in a more sober context. But the historic election of America’s first black president cannot be ignored. That...

Anyone try to buy a copy of the Newsweek with the "Hit the Road Obama" cover? I stopped in my local B&N to try to get one. They didn't have any on the shelf and the clerk said they sold out within a few hours of getting them in. Same with a a local CVS and Walgreens. This is probably the most they have sold in years.

NewsBusters reported Sunday that Newsweek is out with a truly shocking edition featuring a cover story entitled "Hit the Road, Barack: Why We Need a New President." New York Times columnist Paul Krugman took to his blog Sunday excoriating the article in a piece he called "Unethical Commentary, Newsweek Edition": There are multiple errors and misrepresentations in Niall Ferguson’s cover story in Newsweek — I guess they don’t do fact-checking — but this is the one that jumped out at me. Ferguson says: The president pledged that health-care reform would not add a cent to the deficit. But the CBO...

NEW YORK — Karl Fleming, a former Newsweek reporter who dodged bullets and choked on tear gas while covering some momentous events of the civil rights era, died last Saturday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 84. The cause was respiratory illness, his son Charles said.

After some of the recent Obama-loving/Romney-bashing Newsweek covers, the one hitting newsstands Monday is guaranteed to turn some heads. Under the picture of our dear leader are the words, "Hit the Road, Barack: Why We Need a New Leader." The article is written by Niall Ferguson, a British historian and economist that backed John McCain in 2008. After an introduction, Ferguson made his case: In his inaugural address, Obama promised “not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth.” He promised to “build the roads and bridges, the electric grids, and digital lines that feed...

Let's reward good behavior. Newsweek is apparently desperate to survive. We plan on buying this issue off the shelf. Might they get the message????

<p>The other day, Newsweek had a cover story about Mitt Romney's "Wimp Factor."</p>

Sen. John McCain today called a Newsweek article alleging tensions with Mitt Romney's presidential campaign "liberal left-wing trash." In the exclusive article, Newsweek Washington bureau chief and media critic Howard Kurtz reports that McCain has failed in his efforts to counsel Romney and is frustrated with his behind-the-scenes role on the campaign (Kurtz calls him a "caged lion"). "Four years after his own presidential bid, McCain’s luster as a Republican Party spokesman appears to have dimmed: a number of proposed campaign trips on Romney’s behalf have quietly evaporated, and there has been no offer of a speaking slot at the...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: And now I'm in a controversy with Romney. Newsweek magazine, Tina Brown's magazine, now owned Barry Diller. Newsweek: "The Wimp Factor -- Is Romney just too insecure to be president?" There's the Newsweek cover. I want to take you back, October 1987, Newsweek, same magazine, "George H. W. Bush: Fighting the Wimp Factor." They're just recycling. Tina Brown is simply recycling a 1987 cover, George Bush running for president the first time taking over for Ronaldus Magnus, fighting the wimp factor, and now here Romney, Romney, the wimp factor. Is he just at a insecure? Now, what's...

25 years ago, Newsweek published a controversial cover story titled "Bush Battles the 'Wimp Factor.'" On Monday, newsstands will carry an equally controversial albeit derivative Newsweek cover story titled "Mitt Romney: A Candidate With a Serious Wimp Problem": In 1987, this magazine created a famous hubbub by labeling George H.W. Bush a “wimp” on its cover. “The Wimp Factor.” Huge stir. And not entirely fair—the guy had been an aviator in the war, the big war, the good war, and he was even shot down out over the Pacific, cockpit drenched in smoke and fumes, at an age (20) when...

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Mitt Romney says that if he worried about what reporters thought of him, he wouldn't get much sleep. He says he's sleeping just fine.

Barry Diller, the chairman of IAC/InterActiveCorp which recently acquired sole control of Newsweek, said that a plan to end its print edition is coming as soon as this fall. His comments came in IAC's quarterly earnings call and were first reported in a two-sentence story by Bloomberg News's Sarah Frier ("Newsweek, the 79-year-old magazine, will eventually transition to an online-only publication") and then in a tweet from her colleague Edmund Lee ("Barry Diller says by September-October, plan for digital only Newsweek will be announced"). The first actual quote from Diller came later in a post by Politico's Dylan Byers: "The...

Newsweek may cease its print publication by the end of this year, according to IAC chief Barry Diller, who as of this week owns the majority stake in the company. During a conference call with analysts this morning, Diller suggested that the magazine would eventually transition to an online-only publication, and that changes would begin to take place as early as this Fall. "The transition will happen,” Diller said. "The transition to online from hard print will take place. We’re examining all of our options." UPDATE: IAC spokesperson Justine Sacco emails to clarify: [Diller] was speaking about the weekly print...

Chick-Fil-A came under criticism this month after a report by the organization Equality Matters revealed that the company donated around $2 million to antigay Christian organizations in 2010. “Guilty as charged,” the fast-food chain’s president Dan Cathy said over allegations that his company is antigay (“We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit.”). So. Here we are. Tumblr, listen up. We’re hoping to find a current or former employee of Chick-Fil-A who might want to spill the beans on life inside the alleged antigay company. If that’s you, or you know someone who might...

Tweets, texts, emails, posts. New research says the Internet can make us lonely and depressed—and may even create more extreme forms of mental illness, Tony Dokoupil reports. (snip) Questions about the Internet’s deleterious effects on the mind are at least as old as hyperlinks. But even among Web skeptics, the idea that a new technology might influence how we think and feel—let alone contribute to a great American crack-up—was considered silly and naive, like waving a cane at electric light or blaming the television for kids these days. Instead, the Internet was seen as just another medium, a delivery system,...

On Friday's The Ed Show, MSNBC analyst Richard Wolffe - formerly of Newsweek - compared Mitt Romney's economic plan to a "pre-9/11" mentality as he went along with substitute host Michael Eric Dyson's complaint that Republicans are being "clearly obstuctionist" against President Obama's economic agenda. Dyson asked the question: Richard, have Republicans boxed in President Obama by preventing any jobs legislation from passing? They have been clearly obstructionist. After agreeing with Dyson and suggesting that Republicans may not have "tactical success" in the election, and compared the recession to the 9/11 attacks as he posed: And I'd like to draw...

Are you kidding me? I get that Andrew Sullivan is a man with an agenda and I completely support his right to make his opinions heard. I also understand that Newsweek – like any other publication – is in business to make a profit and that frequently involves pushing the envelope in terms of catching the public’s attention. But at what point is too much simply too much? When is the shark definitively jumped and the daily bread burned past any reasonable definition of being toast? Ladies and gentlemen, this would be that point. Politico “explains.” “‘Let the games begin,”...

After reading Andrew Sullivan's Newsweek essay about President Obama, his critics, and his re-election bid, I implore him to ponder just one question. How would you have reacted in 2008 if any Republican ran promising to do the following?

The Republican establishment hopes the GOP base will calm down, sober up, and nominate Mitt Romney. But the party’s new primary system may stand in the way. -------------------------------------------------------- Every time I look at the economy I think President Obama can’t win. And every time I look at the Republican field I think he can’t lose. Let’s face it: this is a weak field. A seemingly endless string of polls and debates have produced a series of frontrunners who, as LBJ said of the Republicans of his day, couldn’t pour pee out of a boot if the instructions were on the...

The Coffee Party Heats Up Tired of all the Tea Party talk, Annabel Park decided to throw a Coffee Party—and 200,000 people showed up. By Steve Tuttle | NEWSWEEK Apr 22, 2010 When Annabel Park imagined what it would be like to head a new national political movement, here is what she had in mind: a coming together of engaged, intelligent citizens who had tired of the angry rhetoric and accusations of the Tea Partiers; Americans of all political persuasions joining in a spirit of equanimity to discuss the nation's problems, and maybe even share a laugh. It was this...

During an appearance on Morning Joe, Tuesday, Newsweek editor Tina Brown made an off-hand remark about Barack Obama, conceding that the politician "wasn't ready" to be President. Brown has previously attacked Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives for daring to oppose the Obama While discussing whether New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will change his mind and run for President, the former New Yorker editor blurted, "Actually, I just hope he doesn't, because in the end, you know, his tremendous misgivings, maybe he is right. I mean, We had this with Obama. He wasn't ready, it turns out, really."

To Protect Obama Donor, White House Pressures General to Alter Testimony Diane Ellis, Ed. In January, the Federal Communications Commission granted a license to a satellite broadband company in Virginia called LightSquared to build tens of thousands of ground stations for a wireless network. However, the Pentagon has since raised concerns that the proposed wireless service could interfere with the military's GPS capabilities, which have not only replaced maps for millions of drivers, but also serve a crucial role in missile targeting and other defense-related tasks. Gen. William Shelton, a four-star Air Force general who oversees U.S. Space Command was...

Progressive Jonathan Alter is outraged that everyone is ready to “fire” Obama. “I want to know,” wrote a snippy Alter on Bloomberg.com, “on a substantive basis, why you think he deserves to be in a dead heat with Mitt Romney and Rick Perry and only a few points ahead of Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann in a new Gallup Poll. Is it just that any president -- regardless of circumstances and party -- who presides over 9 percent unemployment deserves to lose?”I was tempted to treat Alter with the “What? You got to be kidding,” routine. Any Republican should be...

“Tell me again why Barack Obama has been such a bad president?� Jonathan Alter writes in his column.Alter tells us he’s not talking here about Obama as a tactician and communicator, and he’s not interested in hearing ad hominem attacks or about people’s generalized “disappointment.� (Neither am I.) He wants to know on a substantive basis why Obama should be judged to have failed so far.In Alter’s words, “Your mission, Jim [or anyone else for that matter], should you decide to accept it, is to be specific and rational, not vague and visceral.�Consider the mission accepted.In one sense, the answer...

“Tell me again why Barack Obama has been such a bad president?” Jonathan Alter writes in his column. Alter tells us he’s not talking here about Obama as a tactician and communicator, and he’s not interested in hearing ad hominem attacks or about people’s generalized “disappointment.” (Neither am I.) He wants to know on a substantive basis why Obama should be judged to have failed so far. In Alter’s words, “Your mission, Jim [or anyone else for that matter], should you decide to accept it, is to be specific and rational, not vague and visceral.” Consider the mission accepted. In...

Tell me again why Barack Obama has been such a bad president? I'm not talking here about him as a tactician and communicator. We can agree that he has played some bad poker with Congress. And let’s stipulate that at the moment he’s falling short in the intangibles of leadership. I’m thinking instead of that opening sequence in the show “Mission Impossible,” the one where Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, gets his instructions.

Three days after he decried the lack of civility in American politics, President Obama is quoted in a new book about his presidency referring to the Tea Party movement using a derogatory term with sexual connotations. In Jonathan Alter’s “The Promise: President Obama, Year One,” President Obama is quoted in an interview saying that the unanimous vote of House Republicans vote against the stimulus bills “set the tenor for the whole year ... That helped to create the tea-baggers and empowered that whole wing of the Republican Party to where it now controls the agenda for the Republicans.” Tea Party...

Three days after he decried the lack of civility in American politics, President Obama is quoted in a new book about his presidency referring to the Tea Party movement using a derogatory term with sexual connotations. In Jonathan Alter’s “The Promise: President Obama, Year One,” President Obama is quoted in an November 30, 2009, interview saying that the unanimous vote of House Republicans vote against the stimulus bills “set the tenor for the whole year ... That helped to create the tea-baggers and empowered that whole wing of the Republican Party to where it now controls the agenda for the...

Rep. Michele Bachmann has declined to get into the scrum with Newsweek over its cover story of the presidential candidate called "The Queen of Rage," accompanied by an unflattering photo of the Minnesota Republican, but others are calling the magazine out of bounds in its depiction. The National Organization for Women (NOW) President Terry O'Neill said that the cover of the magazine's latest edition is "sexist" and referred to a simple test by the group's founder Gloria Steinem to explain how they determined that conclusion -- would the magazine do the same to a man.

The president of the National Organization of Women actually rose to Rep. Michele Bachmann’s defense yesterday (didn’t see that coming!), while Newsweek editor Tina Brown tried to justify the “Crazy Eyes� cover that inspired so much conservative commentary yesterday. But one person seem disinclined to talk about the cover one way or another and that was Bachmann herself. As of yesterday afternoon, Bachmann still hadn’t seen the picture and she didn’t seem to care too much to talk about it when she could be talking about her campaign and her ideas for the country: Brown claims the cover is OK...

Rep. Michele Bachmann has declined to get into the scrum with Newsweek over its cover story of the presidential candidate called "The Queen of Rage," accompanied by an unflattering photo of the Minnesota Republican, but others are calling the magazine out-of-bounds in its depiction. The National Organization for Women President Terry O'Neill said that the cover of the magazine's latest edition is "sexist" and referred to a simple test by the group's founder Gloria Steinem to explain how they determined that conclusion -- would the magazine do the same to a man. "Who has ever called a man 'The King...

Just when you thought Sarah Palin was fading from view, boom, she’s back. On the cover of Newsweek. Looking distinctly unpresidential in a gray hoodie that says “Edge Fitness,” hands on hips, hair blown back. In a Newsweek interview, the former governor of Alaska says she believes: that she can win a national election, that the field of GOP hopefuls should be bigger, and that she still has months to decide if she wants to enter. So what will she do? “I’m still thinking about it,” she told Peter J. Boyer. “I’m not so egotistical as to believe that it...

Right now if you go to newsweek.com, you'll see a basic magazine website, updated with content from the print version of the mag and a top navigation bar that directs you to content on its sister site, dailybeast.com. But starting July 19, we hear, newsweek.com will no longer exist. Instead that URL will redirect users to a channel on the Daily Beast site, like its current "politics," "entertainment," and "fashion" verticals. The Newsweek channel will still have all the archived magazine content from before (unlike Time, Newsweek puts all of its print content online), and it will be edited and...

In this week's Newsweek, Sarah Palin tells Peter J. Boyer why she thinks she can win in 2012. See more images from her cover shoot with photographer Emily Shur.