EVAN THOMAS CRITICIZES OBAMACARE

Quite something, considering that Evans's past comment likening Obama to a god:

IN NEWSWEEK?

From this article:

In the Middle East, myths have a way of stubbornly clinging to life. A new book by two experts, Dennis Ross (back in government after an eight-year hiatus) and David Makovsky, lays out the region's most tenacious falsehoods—and explains how the United States has been misled by them.

Two of the four points listed:

The notion that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will cure the entire area's dysfunction is wrong. Most Arab problems have nothing to do with Israelis and Palestinians, and will fester long after any peace agreement between the two sides.

[...]

Engaging extremist groups such as Hamas and Hizbullah is counterproductive because it undermines moderate Arab forces and discredits U.S. peace efforts.

Read it all. The article even mentions that the GWB administration had a valid point with his idea of promoting democracy in the Middle East. Heh.

Wonder what BHO thinks of that little Newsweek item?

THIS WEEK'S COVER OF NEWSWEEK

Note the following text: RADICAL ISLAM IS A FACT OF LIFE. HOW TO LIVE WITH IT.

Article HERE.

Take your Pepto Bismol before reading the article.

NEWSWEEK MAKES YET ANOTHER STAB AT LIBERAL CREDIBILITY, REGURGITATES MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD REFORM MEME

This is how overeager faux sophistication filters downward through self-consciously bourgie cocktail parties, until it hardens into conventional wisdom. Allahpundit calls it "disgraceful from beginning to end", which are strong words coming from the center-right's most measured blogger.

This began with that absurd Foreign Affairs article that tried to outweigh the MB's overwhelming and fundamental commitment to sharia with half-uttered suggestions that maybe some time in the future the MB might be less genocidal (also: they love kids!) The fact that it's appearing in a popular news magazine instead of an elite foreign policy journal doesn't make the argument any less stupid. Or any less execrable.

Bonus question: Is the reapproachment between the MB and the American realist-Democratic camp being driven by media coverage of MB reform? Or are partisans in think tanks and newsrooms making excuses for policies that are being informally floated by realists and Democrats?

[Cross-posted to Mere Rhetoric]