Newsweek has announced Markos Moulitsas’s dance partner for the hyper-partisan mud slinging that the magazine promises will be both “energetic and enlightening.” Kos will be going toe-to-toe with none other than the Genius, the man hailed/slandered as Bush’s Brain, the one and only Karl Rove. And I didn’t even know Rove was a writer. Can this odd couple truly bring “enlightenment” to Newsweek’s readers who yearn for it? Actually, they probably could if they were of a mind to. If Rove is willing to point out the shortcomings of Republican campaigns and Moulitsas is willing to do the same for the Democrats, readers of all political persuasions will get a certain kick out of the thing much the way Red Sox fans did when a New York Yankee went off the record and declared Alex Rodriguez classless. But, honestly, how likely is that to happen? Neither Rove nor Moulitsas figures to have as his top priority enlightening Newsweek’s purportedly unenlightened audience. Both are likely to be partisans first, commentators second. Does the world really need a written version of CNN’s unlamented shoutfest, “Crossfire?” Newsweek says yes.
