Under Ingraham's Interrogation, Newsweek's Fineman Pleads 'No Contest' for Newsweek's 'Mesmerized'

NewsBusters ^ | 8/10/10 | Tim Graham

[Nachum]

On Tuesday morning's Laura Ingraham radio show, Newsweek reporter Howard Fineman pleaded "no contest" in Latin to the conservative host's lecture that Newsweek was too busy celebrifying Barack and Michelle Obama to weigh whether Obama would succeed as president. (Audio here.) He insisted the magazine was "mesmerized" by a "brilliantly run campaign," as if it wasn't also about their liberal wishes and dreams:

INGRAHAM: How is it though with all these smart people at Newsweek – I went around the block with Evan Thomas about this as well. How did you all think that a guy who basically went from the Harvard Law Review, to some community leafleting, organizing, whatever you want to call it, to a short stint, a few lectures about constitutional law at [the University of] Chicago, very short stopover in the state Senate, and a very short stopover in the U.S. Senate. How does that add up to experience to run the biggest economy and the biggest military in the world? And why wasn’t Newsweek, instead of doing these celebrified covers of Michelle and Barack as historic, and celebrity culture, and all this love-love-love-love-love, why wasn’t – Why weren’t those questions asked before this election took place? Because to me, those were the questions to ask. . It wasn’t about personality. It was about experience and outlook.

FINEMAN: Well, uh, first, I’ll plead nolo [contendere] on a lot of this.

[samadams2000]

Shake out Newsweak subscription litter cards and drop them in the mail.

[pointsal]

FINEMAN....frog walk to the appropriate venue for punishment....

May I suggest a rope with a stool and a long drop.

[Bernard]

The media was in love with Barack Obama, and they are seldom concerned about things like competence, so it was a natural for them.

And Obama will probably be an inflection point in history as well. Sort of a cross between Caligula and John Lackland.

[truthguy]

Shake out Newsweak subscription litter cards and drop them in the mail.

Not a bad idea. Newsweak is pitiful and Time is nearly as bad. I was waiting to pick up my car from Service the other day and in the waiting room, there were magazines. I picked up a copy of Newsweak and was surprised just how lean it is. I don't see how they could possibly survive with something as sparse as their content. Forget about the rabid liberalism, there isn't much content there.

[woofer]

Shake out Newsweak subscription litter cards and drop them in the mail.

Tape 'em to cinder blocks first.

[okie01]

I don't see how [Newsweek] could possibly survive with something as sparse as their content. Forget about the rabid liberalism, there isn't much content there.

The Washington Post owned Newsweek.

They just sold it. For $1.00. Cold cash.

[rbg81]

Yeah, sure, no contest. Supposedly seasoned, hard-boiled reporters get excited as teenage schoolgirls at a rock concert and forget how to do their jobs. Paying $1 for Newsweak was a ripoff.

[at bay]

Seriously, is there a chance that might work?

[Psycho_Bunny]

"He insisted the magazine was "mesmerized" by a "brilliantly run campaign,""

That right there says Newsweek isn't a professional news organization: actual "professionals" should be the last people "mesmerized" by the political class.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

FINEMAN – It was a brilliantly run campaign. And I have come to despair of the notion of the relationship between the quality and shrewdness of a campaign that someone runs and the kind of presidency that they have.

I've got a bridge I'd like to sell to this gullible jackass.

[twister881]

The lefty fishwrap and birdcage liner is overpriced, even at the $1.00 Sidney Harman paid for the entire organization. Oh, and Jon Meacham, you know-it-all-phony, don't let the door hit you in the @$$ on your way out.

[dynachrome]

$1 ain’t a bad price for the real estate they own. The price included taking on all the debt newsweak has. Makes it a very bad deal.

[digger48]

Newsweak is pitiful and Time is nearly as bad. I was waiting to pick up my car from Service the other day and in the waiting room, there were magazines.

Even my Vegan (although somewhat conservative) Doctor quit putting Time and Newsweak in the Waiting Room.

I used to like footnoting some of the articles with actual facts while I waited..

[Will88]

FINEMAN – It was a brilliantly run campaign. And I have come to despair of the notion of the relationship between the quality and shrewdness of a campaign that someone runs and the kind of presidency that they have.

It was one big exercise in hucksterism. The first times I saw Obama he reminded me of Elmer Gantry, then I started calling his campaign The Cotton Candy Express, because all he did was go around spewing ridiculous, fluffy platitudes that anyone should have seen through.

Fineman is dancing around and trying to avoid admitting the fact that the Obama campaign was just an orgasmic experience for all the self-loathing, self-important white leftists in the MSM. The saw all their twisted, utopian dreams coming true with a black president and they were both unable and unwilling to view Obama objectively no matter how often the gaffes or just plain dumb utterances.

[Thom Pain]

That's the beauty of being a writer/hack. There's usually no "proof in the pudding"

There's always some lame excuse for crappy output, and hordes of compatriots to tell you what a great writer/pundit/seer you are.

Similar to academics trying to "stimulate" the economy; they can pontificate their bizarro ideas until total doom finally exposes them. Sigh.

[JoenTX]

“I picked up a copy of Newsweak and was surprised just how lean it is. I don’t see how they could possibly survive with something as sparse as their content....”

Ditto for Time Magazine. Some issues are embarrassingly thin even with the number of full-size ads and two-page Cialis/Levitra disclaimers in them. I too wonder how they’re justifying their existence sometimes with such sparingly low content.

We started receiving it about 4 years ago and continue to....although nobody in our household ever paid a subscription or wanted one to begin with. We don’t know how or why it started showing up but it’s got the correct name/addy when it does and we’ve never seen a bill for it yet.

[Patrick1]

Funny, these are the exact same questions that Olbermann asked Fineman just last night on Countdown. (sarc on)

[clintonh8r]

Fineman...Thomas...Meacham....aging metrosexuals of Newspeak.....

[leaning conservative]

I wish I had seen the Elmer Gantry then, but, thank God, I see it now, as does my brother and listening to others; so do LOTS of people now......... better late than never.