Kos lands gig at Newsweek.
Evidently, belching out “screw ’em” when American contractors are torched, torn limb from limb, and strung up from a bridge, doesn’t carry quite the same stigma as it used to.
Nor, evidently, does organizing a top down, orchestrated talking points campaign (codeword: “Townhouse”) designed to “unify the narrative” on left-leaning blogs (while simultaneously starving negative stories of oxygen, and demonizing those who stray from the reservation as apostates and “right wingers”) count against one’s credibility — or, in the minds of those who hired him, against the credibility of the magazine.
All of which is one of the final signs that political discourse in this country — at least, as it is delivered us through the ostensibly objective mainstream press — is as dead as any fetal witness channeled by John Edwards.
I weep for this country. And I despair for the state of our press. Kos gets rich fiddling while America burns — but what the hell? Newsweek scores market share! And it doesn’t even matter to them that the guy is a self-interested campaign donor who writes like an average college junior, because, well, Newsweek readers aren’t particularly discerning, anyway.
Hence, Eleanor Clift.
I think I’ll give up writing about politics and concentrate solely on short stories about an ornery bunny named Ernie. Because when Kos is now a Newsweek writer, there’s something to be said for the dignity of penning tales in which Ernie the ornery bunny tricks old man Withers into leaving open the pantry, steals some cooking sherry, then gets a couple of bunny chicks sauced before pulling a three way on a bed of lettuce.
(h/t Mo Lane at Redstate)
Newsweek already read like a college newspaper anyway, so I wouldn’t expect a large shift in the stylesheet.
This has got to be a fucking joke.
Is it a pookah?
I can see his column title now: “Just Kos.” Puke.
Oh well, I’m willing to wager Kos’ vagina is not any bigger than Ellen Goodman’s. Wait a minute, does she even write for that rag (ahem) any longer? I’m sure I haven’t read it for 20 years at least.
Newsweak stopped being relevant many years ago. The only time I glance at it is when I’m on the bike at the gym and there is ZERO other reading material available. Both it and Time are pretty worthless at this point. While they had a respectable following up through the ’90s, they are now just more of the NYT, LAT, and Wapo slanted news reports that we all know so well.
kelly – Kos is one of the biggest vaginas around, except for Rosie’s.
This is Newsweek after all. It is just DK on glossy paper. Think of it as the National Enquirer with fewer standards.
Eh. The state of our press toppled off its axis when Ana Marie Cox got that Time Washington Editor gig. That was the first (and still worst) precedent. So this, who reads Newsweek anyway? And maybe a silver lining: if anyone is a candidate for the Peter Principle, it’s Kos.
At least they’re balancing him out. Rumor has it the counterpoint will be the JUMBLE.
A. Ken hit the nail on the head. Dead mag writing.
B. I’m putting my prediction out there so that it will be official and I can bask in the glory of being right. Again. Follow: How many pro-American pols have to be elected among the ranks of our allies for it to constitute a trend that flies in the face of the whole “Bush has alienated everyone except ornery bunnies? With the French and Danish elections in the can, we are already there. Next, the lefties can see that they are overreaching. Kos echo chamber and all that. Finally, Giuliani or whoever slam dunks next November. And I GUARANTEE a Newsweek cover in the aftermath along the lines of “Wha’ Happened?”
Stay tuned.
“can’t see”
Dammit.
I’m so glad I didn’t have to learn about this on the streets. Bunnies make things better almost always also, which would be different than Kos.
This would be the Washington Post Company by the way. They also own Slate, so now Markos and Dahlia Lithwick can be like super best-friends and crash gates and stuff together. Which makes me wonder what Mickey Kaus thinks.
Kos could actually be considered somewhat to the right of the typical Newspeak propagandist.
Yeah, there’s a lot of heads exploding in wingnutlandia today over this bit of news. But Newsweek is “balancing” me out with someone that should make heads on our side explode.
Uhm, it would have to be a real righty. Perhaps John Cole?
Andrew Sullivan or Gren Gleenwald, 2 true conservatives if there ever were any.
Wait, Kos and Lithwick are in the same company? If there’s a God in Heaven we will see a joint effort by those two clownboats. The only question when that happens will be “greatest (unintentionally hilarious) article in the universe, or greatest article in all possible universes”?
Could you change the name from Ernie to Clyde? If, so I can send you some photos for illustration references.
P.S.
Screw kos w/Hillary’s cock.
…except they’ll have to edit out the profanity. Oh, and no comments section.
Could have been worse, though. They could have given the microphone to Atrios.
Hmmm.
Bah! Markos is emotionally incapable of not fucking up.
He’ll make certain that Newsweek will regret this decision.
Let me guess, Andrew Sullivan will be his “balance”?
But, imagine if they did give something like that to Malkin. Heads probably would explode.
Newsweek will rue the day they hired kos!!!
Tee-hee, I’ve always wanted to use “rue the day” in a comment.
My father gets all of his news from the WSJ, Economist and Newsweek. It makes for some uncomfortable family discussions.
I’m thinking Nixon’s mole made for uncomfortable family conversations. (thinking of my own Aunt Agnes’s mole, of course)
BJ – I thought your father was a capitalist pig, exploiter of the brown people. ;-)
Kos, Atrios, etal. really do not bother me. To me, they are just figureheads for the Left, and particularly, the type of Left that the media fails to show for who they actually are, and what they believe.
My problem with this is that Markos will not write in any way, shape, or manner, like he does at his site, and will likely take on a much more moderate voice (not too difficult) to try to show that his special type of crazy is really not all that crazy.
Meh. I picked up a Newsweek at my kid’s orthodontist’s office a few weeks back and was revolted at how chatty and shallow it was, not to mention how the assumptions are (with the exception of George Will’s back-page column) uniformly left-liberal. Kos will fit right in there…they’re already preaching to the choir.
JD: the older Dad got (he’s 87) and the more AARP literature he gets the further to the left he tilts. He once told me that 85% of the corporations in this country are corrupt or dishonest. that started a hullabaloo. I just don’t talk about politics with him anymore.
His exploiting days are way, way behind him.
BJ – I feel for you. My father, and his wife, are Edwards supporters, and to them, an Edwards/Obama ticket would be just this side of nirvana. We only talk about sports and Kaitlin until after the elections.
I’ve heard they’ll be balancing out Kos’s hard hitting lefty journalism with the conservative humor of Jon Stewart.
In all seriousness, they’ll never pick somebody the right would actually want to read b/c the left would stop reading Newsweek and then nobody will be reading it. I think Andrew Sullivan’s a good pick. Nothing says conservative like an anti-war gay man.
Since Kos is the “New Center”, why would they need to balance him out?
“My problem with this is that Markos will not write in any way, shape, or manner, like he does at his site, and will likely take on a much more moderate voice (not too difficult) to try to show that his special type of crazy is really not all that crazy.”
Yannow, this has me thinking. You just know that kosy (or Newsweek) is going to mention the fact that he has a blog. If the sane readers of Newsweek visit the kos site they will be appalled at the level of invective tossed around there. This will be bad for Newsweek. So, will kos, in an effort to not screw up his gig at Newsweek, clean up the worst of his blog? You can’t have sane/level-headed discussions on one pub, and batshit crazy on another — there will be too much tension between the two for it to not harm the brand.
That dissonance will pose no problem for the Left, Ken, as it is a result of servicing Teh Narrative, which is a goal to be placed above all others.
When Marcotte gets hired to write a column at the Weekly Standard, I’ll start begging my Lord and Savior for his forgiveness and his grace. Newsweek hiring Kos is equivalent to the National Enquirer hiring KFed.
He says our heads will “explode”. Boy does this dick not know his a## from his h###! I personally love the idea that newsweek, the rag, will have puke for it editions.
Kos, my head will not explode. I shake my head in wonderment and sadness, at the depths that the media will sink to.
Yea, I’m just APOPLECTIC! over Markos getting a Newsweek gig. This guy’s ego could overwhelm Extreme Makeover.
This while writers of Jeff’s depth and skill shill for pennies. TRhat’s right, I said SHILL!!
Having kos writing at Newsweek will be entertaining.
Who gives a rat’s ass about Kos anyway, we’re going to get hot bunny porn!!! Cool!
Why is Kos breaking the writer’s strike?
SCAB!!!
Kos lands gig at Newsweek.
How long before the other animals notice he is walking around in the big house on his hind legs, do you think?
So Jeff, this Ernie, he’s a go-er I take it? wink wink, nudge nudge youknowwhatimean.
“Nor, evidently, does organizing a top down, orchestrated talking points campaign (codeword: “Townhouseâ€Â) designed to “unify the narrative†on left-leaning blogs (while simultaneously starving negative stories of oxygen, and demonizing those who stray from the reservation as apostates and “right wingersâ€Â) count against one’s credibility”
Scandalous! his writing!
I think i prefer reading reactions to the guy than the guy himself.
andy – Pray tell what is wrong about this reaction. It is all a well documented fact. Just not really convenient for you, when confronted with how your side likes to operate. Jerome, Markos, Gleens, just all above board, forthright, honest, hard working folks, right?
Please. Newsweak is where liberals go to write to each other. It’s a newsmagazine by and for liberals. We should actually be surprised that it took this long for Kos to show up there.
andy: what is the difference between “unifying the narrative” and “drinking the kool-aid”?
Well, I nominates Jeff as counter-point to Kos at the Newsweek rag. Only if and also he makes the dillo dance in one of his columns.
“It is all a well documented fact. Just not really convenient for you, when confronted with how your side likes to operate”
I’m scandalized by how the man operates. Thats why i prefer to read reactions to him than the man himself. DailyKos? Boooring
“andy: what is the difference between “unifying the narrative†and “drinking the kool-aidâ€Â?”
Is there a difference between the Pope and Jim Jones?
“Is there a difference between the Pope and Jim Jones?”
Ask Amanda Marcotte.
Kos was only saying what a lot the left wingers were (and still are) thinking. In a way I give him credit for honesty. That makes the rest of your argument no less true, however.
Well, except about the part where he “writes like an average college junior”. Have you graded any undergrad essays lately? … Well, yes, I suppose you have. They must have gotten a lot better since my TAing days. ‘Course the invention of spell check could account for most of that.
Or the Weekly World News with fewer facts.
Well you certainly couldn’t screw Hillary with Kos’ cock. I’m pretty sure those are just coins he’s jiggling in his pocket.
You know how, when you catch a fish and throw it in the bottom of the boat, it flops around for awhile before it dies? Newsweek is just one more little media fish flopping around while it dries up. Only thing any of the legacy media had going for them was the hard news reporting and they’ve largely given that up in favor of “making a difference in the world”.
We’ll see how this goes. Screeching louder and hurling shit farther than any other monkey in the house has made the Kos what he is. I’m sure Newsweek will expect him to clean up his act, but the kossacks will expect him to turn it up to 11. He can’t do both so it’s likely he’ll please neither group in the attempt. Got to wonder what he’s thinking, but then thinking was never a strong suit far as I could see.
Swen – I agree with one thing, we cannot be too critical when the Left slips and reveals their true feelings. We should encourage statements like the one Kos made. We should let as many people as possible be aware of exactly who they are.
Is ‘Newsweek’ still being printed? I haven’t seen one for sale in ages. Is it kept near the ‘National Enquirer’?
If doctors and dentists stopped ordering Newsweek for their waiting rooms, Newsweek would have to go out of business.
One observation; The copies of Newsweek in waiting rooms are hardly even read as opposed to entertainment mags. That is a good thing and a bad thing.
What that means is shocking to me. It means America is certainly falling or failing in their choices of reading and their knowledge of current events outside of inane and nasty entertainers.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
It’s designed as a waiting-room magazine. It has an entire distribution program targeting waiting rooms. Time too. That and its subscription model is why the newsweeklies are incredibly stable in terms of their audience delivery. In other words, when you picked it up, you validated everything the Newsweek people set out to do when they clock in every day. Worse, you remembered doing it.
Oh. Papa Ray got there first looks like. Well put.
See? You’re making my point. If Jeff were to take a gig at Newsweak we’d expect his column to be The Weekly Slap! and include the occasional mention of red pills and cheatin’ on his wife with the bath sponge. And ‘dillo.
No way he could entirely please us and write anything that would make sense to your average Newsweek subscriber (They do still have subscribers? At least a few?). The difference is, I’d hope we’d understand why he started writing in one and two syllable words.
No, no, it’s a bitter pill but I think it best that Jeff stay right here, laboring in obscurity. Until the revolution that is. That’s when he sets his pack of ravening ‘dillos to gnawing with their little peg teeth on the bloody entrails of the wingnuts. It’ll take awhile but Im sure they’re up to it. And, being served cold, the revenge will be delicious!
FWIW – Jeff is not an equivalent counterpoint. For that, we would have to find someone on the Right that appeals to people that live in Mommy and Daddy’s basement into their 40’s, wear black socks with sandals and plaid shorts, and he would have to right in monosyllabic terms that still appeal to people who do not think, but emote. Clearly, Jeff is not the opposite, on the blog left-right continuum, to Kos. That one would consider that is insulting to Jeff, but high praise for Kos.
Perhaps they have stopped ordering it. When you make a print run it’s generally for a nice round number of issues. 10,000, 15,000, etc. When your subscription base drops below the magic number you keep mailing them out to lapsed subscribers in the hope they’ll pick it up again. If nothing else, your advertisers are only looking at circulation figures, not subscription figures. That’s why I’m still getting Reason although I quit paying them for it quite awhile ago (my eyes were getting tired rolling so much). It’s likely they make more money on advertising than they do on subscriptions, so at some point they could be limping along as self-important junk mail.
Well, if gray wool socks & Birkenstocks count I’m sure Raggedy Andy Sullivan would be available..
To the folks at Newsweek, St. Andy of the Perpetually Shrill is a rock-ribbed conservative. So is John Cole. And Gleenwald.
BJ, my mom was Chairman (yes, they used to say “chairman” no matter what gender you were) of the Republican State Central Committee in P.G. County, MD back in the 60’s. She’s now in her eighties, and when I visited her in Newtown Square last weekend, she had a Biden sticker on her car. When I questioned her about it, she said she’d never vote for any Republican. Sigh.
guess that’s why I have a two year old issue of Reader’s Digest in my purse for just such occasions.(it was a gift subscription from RTO’s grandmother, so of course I will read them all eventually) NO VALIDATION FOR YOU NEWSWEEK!
“All of which is one of the final signs that political discourse in this country  at least, as it is delivered us through the ostensibly objective mainstream press  is as dead as any fetal witness channeled by John Edwards.”
Beautiful.
Let me guess, BJ – your dad also listens to Father Coughlin – I mean, Lou Dobbs, also and thinks that there is a war on the middle class with the evil rapacious plutocrats plotting to turn everyone poor.
Swen – Kos was thinking of a paycheck and moving into the world of the ‘players’ (National Press Club, media roasts, etc.)
Newsweek I am not so sure about. They could be thinking that they will boost circulation by tapping the enrgy of all these crazy kids and the zany cool things they do on their blocks or what ever they call them.
The fact that they are bringing feral cats into their house and endangering the dentist office accounts (which must be there largest because it is the only place in the US I see Newsweek) has apparently never crossed their minds.
Think of it as an “I Love Lucy” episode where Lucy and Ethel will pull some whacky stunt!
And I see others got there with the waiting room thing. Oh, well.
Mikey: BINGO, BANGO, BONGO!
CW – Newsweek (DOWN) degenerating with the rapidity of a Zimbabwean harvest. Nice call, dinks.
maggie you’re my hero
A little solace for you poor suckers whose parents have returned to childhood, at least as far as their judgement is concerned: My parents are 73 and while not particularly enthused about the Republicans, they still maintain a bitter hatred for anything labeled democrat. One of my earliest memories is going to a Goldwater rally at the local airport sometime in the fall of ’63.
back at ya, happyfeet! lately when I laugh at something on the laptop RTO asks, “happyfeet?” more often than not, yes.
My father desecrated his S-Class with not only an Obama sticker, but also an Edwards. He also removed his Gore sticker from 2000 and put it on his new car. I must get him help.
BJ at #64.
I thought so – he sounds like my dad who says the same things and (surprise!) listens to Father Dobbs. The old populism of the 1930’s and 1940’s sits a long time with some people.
Well my Dad would never be caught dead listening to “Father” anybody, being completely contemptuous of religion in general. He voted for Goldwater in ’64 and Nixon and Reagan. After that, who knows.
JD: your father is way further down the road than mine. Have you considered an animal tranquilizer dart and intensive therapy consisting of played and replayed audion books of Ann Coulter and Michael Savage?
Yeah, but …..
BJ -you probably know, but Father Coughlin was a demogogue during the 1930’s, pretty much had the job Lou Dobbs has now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Coughlin
@ #62: Last I heard, the Kos was getting rich blogging. If anything, I’d think this will hurt his bottom line. When the kossacks see him trying to be reasonable they’ll see a traitor to their cause.
BTW, early returns have Karl Rove as Kos’ counterpoint. I think that’s just precious.