I See Your Markos Moulitsas, And I Raise You a...KARL ROVE?

Sometimes, news releases really don't need any comment:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, November 15, 2007

KARL ROVE TO BECOME NEWSWEEK CONTRIBUTOR

New York--Karl Rove, the former White House deputy chief of staff, will become a Newsweek contributor, offering occasional opinion pieces to the pages of the magazine and to Newsweek.com.

"Newsweek has a long tradition of asking practitioners and opinion-makers to offer our readers the benefits of their experience in occasional opinion essays," said Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham. "Whether one agrees or disagrees with Karl, there is no arguing that he has been a critical player in the political world with insights and experiences that we think will give our readers something unique. A great recent example is George Stephanopoulos, who did terrific work for us after he left the Clinton White House in the second term."

# # #

Meacham is getting very good at writing pre-emptively defensive press release copy. Though we think Bill O'Reilly will be okay with this one.

Related:
Newsweek Taps Kos As '08 Kontributor [ETP]

Update from Howie Kurtz:
Karl Rove's New Gig [WaPo]

(NB: For better or for worse, this is the image I now associate with Karl Rove, thanks to one of the most inexplicably popular posts I ever did at FishbowlNY. Come on, people, I had to spice up Plamegate somehow. Yes, if only Valerie Plame Wilson had looked good in photos.)

Related:
Rove dances the dance of a thousand hippos, or something [FishbowlNY]

Comments

[GlennHar]

George Will was bad enough, but Karl Rove?? No, that crosses the line. I've been a Newsweek subscriber for more than 40 years but I'll not be renewing my subscription.

[urthsong]

The only thing I don't understand is why Karl Rove wasn't prosecuted for treason, the plot to expose a covert CIA operative (Valerie Plame Wilson) and an entire successful CIA operation to track WMD in the Middle East. The method of putting out information so that it became a guessing game as to who said it first is classic Rove as he has gone about ruining honorable candidates lives. As reporters say,"It has Karl's fingerprints all over it." Newsweek's choice of an all but outed sociopathic traitor whose favorite sport is wielding power to destroy people does not speak well of the magazine. Ergo, I intend to shun it from now on.

[blackjack]

WHY? is ROVE not in PRISON ORANGE, this man with HIS SOCK-PUPPET BUSH has brought MY COUNTRY to the BRINK OF DESTRUCTION, I will not read ANOTHER NEWSWEEK.

[pj98rider]

Canceled this morning...fuck Newsweek and fuck Rove!

[Zentomato]

For Newsweek to actually come to the supposed rational decision to involve such a deeply polarizing individual as Mr Rove only speaks volumns to thier managerial bad judgment. My advice is: "do not buy stock in this company."

[amamomofsons]

B allowing this guy to have an even bigger voice we are playing into the propaganda of this administration. I too will never read this rag again.

[Nyla785]

Ahh! Karl Rove finally surfaced! So Newsweek will be getting the occasional 'twisted Machiavellian view' of the days events--just in time for the election!

[jcorrington]

i will never ever read another Newsweek


dell 8300
IE 7.0

[supergranny]

Well, they can't put the bloated pighole on TV, too smarmy, too evil, not photogenic, not manly in the least. So luckily KKK Rove's Newsweek assignment will have some seperation anxiety by not being mainlined into the veins of the FOX bobblehead flagwaivers. The lame turds might have to read, big mistake for the GOP and their agenda.

[TyroneTanic]

Sad that so many can't tolerate reading an opposing viewpoint.

[beekeeper]

Great this OXYGEN PIRATE gets yet one more forum.

[Forest]

Rove must have something on Newsweek's editor, Jon Meacham, that he'll provide another undercover assignment for this svengali of fiction and revenge.

[shengirl]

Well, I guess that's it for me, too. Time to cancel my Newsweek subscription. If they think I am going to PAY to read that vile looney-tune, they have another think coming. Who needs to know his "reality"? Look at the mess his "reality" has gotten the entire country into. He's an arrogant twit. I was so relieved when he left the White House and I'd never have to hear his prattle again. Now he'll be in my mail box every week? Who made this boneheaded decision? Appalling. Bye bye Newsweek.

[LittleGreenGreaseBalls]

Newsweek? Newsweek? Wasn't that some kind of magazine once upon a time?

[kardwell]

Saudi gang-rape victim is jailed
By Frances Harrison
BBC News

An appeal court in Saudi Arabia has doubled the number of lashes and added a jail sentence as punishment for a woman who was gang-raped.

The victim was initially punished for violating laws on segregation of the sexes - she was in an unrelated man's car at the time of the attack.

When she appealed, the judges said she had been attempting to use the media to influence them.

The attackers' sentences - originally of up to five years - were doubled.

Extra penalties

According to the Arab News newspaper, the 19-year-old woman, who is from Saudi Arabia's Shia minority, was gang-raped 14 times in an attack in the eastern province a year-and-a-half ago.

Seven men from the majority Sunni community were found guilty of the rape and sentenced to prison terms ranging from just under a year to five years.

But the victim was also punished for violating Saudi Arabia's laws on segregation that forbid unrelated men and women from associating with each other. She was initially sentenced to 90 lashes for being in the car of a strange man.

On appeal, the Arab News reported that the punishment was not reduced but increased to 200 lashes and a six-month prison sentence.

The rapists also had their prison terms doubled. But the sentences are still low considering they could have faced the death penalty.

The Arab News quoted an official as saying the judges had decided to punish the girl for trying to aggravate and influence the judiciary through the media.

The victim's lawyer was suspended from the case, has had his licence to work confiscated, and faces a disciplinary session.