Hey, I Have an Idea.

Instead of speculating about Newsweek's nefarious, Obama-boosting machinations, why not do some, what's the word... reporting? Like, you know, call the magazine? Then we might all have been spared this:

Why wasn’t Michael Isikoff’s investigative piece outlining the lobbying connections of Barack Obama’s lead strategist, David Axelrod, promoted in Newsweek’s Sunday e-mail to subscribers?

[snip]

What happened? One slim possibility is that the article is online-only and thus not eligible for inclusion in a round-up of magazine stories. But this seems not to be the case, as the screen capture indicates, both types of stories are included.

Another may be that Isikoff’s story was put to bed late, and not yet finalized when the feature-heavy e-mail was compiled. Possible, but if so not an adequate defense. Like last November, when WashingtonPost.com erroneously reported positive developments in the condition of Redskins safety Sean Taylor after he was already deceased, there is no excuse for not making e-mail alerts as timely as possible.

One more reason could be that Isikoff’s article is short, perhaps taken from the front of book section that is also home to Perspectives and the up-down-sideways Periscope arrows (if you can’t guess, this week Obama is up, Hillary is down and McCain is sideways). But that doesn’t make any sense, either. ...

I'm not saying William Beutler is wrong, but why all the tapdancing? The issue could be settled in less time than it takes for Glenn Reynolds to question a war veteran's patriotism! Speaking of, you'd think that Putz, the founder of a big time media outlet, would see the virtue of such legwork, but you would be wrong.

...Please note, Mr. Beutler's headline leaves room for doubt. Putz's, sans question mark, does not.