Newsweek goes negative on Obama: 'Hit The Road, Barack'

[TroyD]

Niall Ferguson's piece is on the Newsweek cover

He is one of only a handful of politicians in Washington who is truly sincere about addressing this country’s fiscal crisis....But one thing is clear. Ryan psychs Obama out. This has been apparent ever since the White House went on the offensive against Ryan in the spring of last year. And the reason he psychs him out is that, unlike Obama, Ryan has a plan—as opposed to a narrative—for this country.

The voters now face a stark choice. They can let Barack Obama’s rambling, solipsistic narrative continue until they find themselves living in some American version of Europe, with low growth, high unemployment, even higher debt—and real geopolitical decline.

Or they can opt for real change: the kind of change that will end four years of economic underperformance, stop the terrifying accumulation of debt, and reestablish a secure fiscal foundation for American national security.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/08/19/niall-ferguson-on-why-barack-obama-needs-to-go.html

[demgrrrll]

1. One week then bird cage liner just like the negative Romney covers.

[liberalmuse]

2. Fucking disrespectful!

Who is this piece of shit writing this pile of garbage?

Arrrrrgh! I think I've had my fill of outrage for the next month - and that was just from crap I've read in the past hour. Fuck Akins and fuck Ferguson.

[TroyD]

3. Niall Ferguson

He admits at the beginning of his piece that he is a Republican and worked for McCain in 2008, but what surprises me is that Newsweek would put this on their cover. It really should just be an opinion piece inside. Putting it on the cover makes it look like the magazine is endorsing his views.

It's also somewhat disrespectful to refer to the President by his first name on the cover.

[One of the 99]

9. Ferguson is a total hack

As is Tina Brown.

[JDPriestly]

28. Newsweek will no doubt lose a lot of readers over this one.

Unless it has already lost all the liberal subscribers.

[Fla Dem]

40. Lost me after being a 30 year subscriber during the 2008 election.

They weren't as bad as TIME but they sure weren't giving the liberals any breaks.

[Andrew08]

34. I'm confused...

How is it disrespectful to refer to the president by his first name? He's just a man, a public servant actually. I'm pretty sure we've all been calling the former president "W," "George," and "Junior" for the past decade. They're not kings or the Pope, they're elected officials, nothing to revere.

[dennis4868]

4. The GOP...

who planned total obstruction to any progress on the night of the Inauguraton in 2009 must be laughing at this cover story...their plan worked better than thety could ever have imagined that it would work. This article is the most fact free and utter nonsense I have ever read.

[Scootaloo]

5. So Newsweek is a porno rag now?

'Cause that's the only place for a pro-Republican puff piece like that.

[TroyD]

6. Newsweek is acting like it endorses the article

They are really promoting it on their Twitter feed :

https://twitter.com/Newsweek

[FightingIrish]

7. I mostly read Newsweek while taking a dump.

I'll find something else. This is beyond bad journalism. It's a rag in distress.

[TroyD]

8. Negative reactions

It's getting some negative backlash on Twitter. Quite a few people are objecting to the cover and saying they will not be supporting Newsweek anymore.

It's also disrespectful to call the President by his first name like that.

[msongs]

10. Ryan does have a plan, dos obama OR the democrats have an actual plan of action?

The democrats want 4 more years, so what do they intend to do if they get them? It can't be all about attacking romney/ryan

as in "If I am elected here is what I want to accomplish in the next 4 years"?

[fasttense]

17. Ryan has a bogus, fake plan

whose numbers don't add up and who wants to steal from the middle class and poor to give to the uber rich. He wants to put woman back into the year 1800 and make sure everyone but the uber rich suffer austerity.

You want to know what Obama's plan is? Pay attention. If you don't know what his plan is it's because you have not been paying attention. Here's a link.

http://www.democrats.org/about/party_platform

Merely repeating a RepubliCON talking point does not convince anyone of anything.

[NYC Liberal]

33. Yes. Have you not been paying attention the last 3.5 years?

[TroyD]

11. Disrespectful

What I think is most disrespectful is that it says 'Hit the Road, Barack'.

You shouldn't call the President (or anyone else for that matter) by his first name unless you know him personally.

If you want to write something like this you should at least say 'Hit the Road, Obama'.

[Zoeisright]

12. Fuck Newsweek

[mikekohr]

13. Niall Ferguson has been and is always the tool, Pay no mind to the fool. nt

[craigmatic]

14. Obama has a plan and agenda but the repigs blocks the jobs bill.

[Warren DeMontague]

15. People still read Newsweek???

Wow.

I mean, if I need to get the fresh pop on Pippa, or the dish on Kate's new Posh trouser ensemble, sure. But for actual, real News pertinent to politically-minded citizens of the USA?

Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffft. That thing is a fucking JOKE.

[blkmusclmachine]

16. We ended our Newsweek subscription a couple of years ago:

We saw the kind of worthless Rag Newsweek was becoming way back then.

[DonCoquixote]

18. And if Mitt wins

Watch these same bastards call for a new respect for the president, which is a nice way of saying "ya'll know Barack was never legit."

[thecentristword]

19. Newsweek? I thought they went out of business years ago

Desperate attempt to be relavent? If anybody read it, it might be a problem

[center rising]

20. I line my birdcage with the pages of Newsweek!!

[Maeve]

21. Spell it right--it's been NewsWEAK for a long time! eom

[Proud Liberal Dem]

22. Nasty article (from what I skimmed over)

This is clearly just a trash piece with no apparent sense of objectivity about Barack Obama's Presidency to date nor willingness to place responsibility on other factors beyond President Obama's control- i.e. global economic problems, "job creators" not really creating jobs (even after President Obama reluctantly agreeing to a two-year extension of Bush's 2001 & 2003 tax cuts in order to get additional unemployment), the totally unnecessary and destructive "debt ceiling debacle" initiated by House Republicans 2011, as well as their failure to pass spending bills in a timely manner and attempts to shut down the government, GOP obstructionism, particularly in the Senate, making Congress- the necessary mechanism in passing legislation to potentially solve our problems and ensuring that government agencies have the necessary personnel to function- almost as useful as a paperweight (though a paperweight is what it is- Congress has more power and responsibility). I refuse to trust any analysis that does not take these kinds of things into account and assign appropriate responsibility. We can look back over the last 3-4 years and maybe find a few things that President Obama might have done different/better that might have potentially changed things for the better but until/unless he really has willing partners to work with in Congress- Democrats AND Republicans- I'm willing to cut him a little slack. He has done some impressive things with little or no cooperation from the opposition and there is no doubt in my mind that, whatever his shortcomings/flaws might be, I want HIM- not Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan- calling the shots from the big seat in the Oval Office for the next 4 years!

[outsideworld]

23. boycott

boycott

[Jennicut]

24. Blame it on Tina Brown.

She is the editor in chief. She has always been sleazy.

[WI_DEM]

25. they had a 'Mitt the Wimp" cover a couple of weeks ago, too, so they are going negative on both of

them, but this conservative writer does have a man crush on Ryan.

[dennis4868]

26. Krugman and Andrew Sullivan (on his blog)

are spending the day debunking all the lies in that Newsweek cover story...there are so many lies it's incredible.

[1StrongBlackMan]

27. Why does the media ...

constantly refer to ryan as "serious"? Because he put some numbers (that don't work and haven't a shot in hell of passing) on paper?

I always thought being serious about governing would be putting forward something that is internally consistent (i.e., the numbers work out) and possible.

[Flatpicker]

29. The MSM wants the horse race.

And will stop at nothing to make it so.

[Ruby the Liberal]

31. 3 and out.

Have a nice day.

[pintobean]

35. Expect more.

Newsbusters did a story on this and linked to this and another thread on the subject. I suspect that some wingnuts won't be able to resist the urge.

[Ruby the Liberal]

36. They did?

Thanks for the heads up. Will put this thread in the mental 'flypaper' file.

[Sheepshank]

37. Timing is everything...given the Akin uproar, Newsweek just rendered itself irrelevant n/t

[leftynyc]

38. Tina Brown strikes again

She can't help but go for the "shock" effect. I'm guessing years of the British tabloids are infecting her brain. I always thought she was an overrated hack and one of the fastest ways to get me to change a channel is to see her face on any panel.

[Flatpicker]

41. He knows what he is doing.

Last edited Tue Aug 21, 2012, 04:22 PM - Edit history (1)

[link:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/20/the-worst-case-against-the-obama-administration/|

[Douglas Carpenter]

42. A Full Fact-Check of Niall Ferguson's Very Bad Argument Against Obama from the Atlantic

Here is a link to the article in the Atlantic:

A Full Fact-Check of Niall Ferguson's Very Bad Argument Against Obama from the Atlantic

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/a-full-factcheck-of-niall-fergusons-very-bad-argument-against-obama/261306/

[Beacool]

43. Newsweek hasn't been worth the paper it's printed on for a long time.

Having said that, what's the outrage about? Is it because it's about Obama? There's no civility left in politics anyway. I don't recall anyone here complaining about the sexist Palin cover, or using a photo of Michelle Bachmann that made her look deranged (although she doesn't need much help in that department) or their previous issue calling Romney a wimp. Newsweek has never been "fair and balanced". I'm surprised that they went after Obama, that's akin to a right wing publication going after Paul Ryan (not that it'll ever happen).

That's why people are sick of politics, it's not about helping the nation, it's all about acquiring and staying in power.

A pox on all their heads!!!