Newsweek promised us that its new series of essays penned by Markos Moulitsas and Karl Rove would be enlightening. The magazine has delivered on its promise with stunning efficiency. In his debut essay, Rove posits that–you better sit down for this–Hillary Clinton is beatable. Meanwhile, on the other side of the political divide, Kos spends roughly a thousand words documenting how George W. Bush has been a very, very, very, very, very, very bad president. Safe to say that both of Newsweek’s new pundits have broken new ground! To give credit where it’s due, Rove’s essay displays considerable style and elan. He begins with an anecdote about how he inherited the former First Lady’s White House office, and promptly joked about how having the only full-length vanity mirror in the West Wing might improve his chronically rumpled appearance. The then newly elected Senator Clinton icily informed Rove that she found the mirror there, and didn’t install it herself. Twice. Moulitsas eschews story telling in favor of his trademark sledgehammer subtlety and hyperbolic ranting. “Democrats should and will use Bush and his destructive policies on the campaign trail as the primary example of what happens when people who hate government are elected to run it,” Moulitsas informs us. “The message will be that Bush isn’t a historical anomaly: he’s the embodiment of modern conservatism. If Americans want willfully ineffective government, they’ll have a Republican Party desperate for their votes.” Showing the angry left’s laser-like focus on the future, Kos reminds Newsweek‘s audience that the Bush administration installed “an incompetent horse lawyer” to run FEMA. See? Personally, I’m already being enlightened. I didn’t even know horses were allowed to practice law. Must be a Texas thing. Whatever the case, I think we can all agree that Kos makes a salient point–horses, especially incompetent ones, should not be running major government agencies. Stay tuned to Newsweek. God only knows what enlightenment lies in store next week.
