Les Enfants Terrible

SOMETIMES IT IS THE SATIRISTS WHO do the best job of putting things in perspective. Liberal Larry has pinned down the press reaction to Newsweek's lousy fact checking in this piece, entitled "Bush Ruins Newsweek's Credibility With Muslim Fanatics."

But the real victim here is Newsweek. By forcing the magazine's editors to crawl on their knees and apologize for telling the truth or a close fascimile thereof, the Bushies have intentionally and maliciously cast aspersions on Newsweek's credibility. Once the news source of record for both progressive-minded Americans and Muslim fanatics, Newsweek is now drawing skepticism from Muslim fanatics. Many fanatical muslims fear that with the downfall of 60 Minutes last year, the last media outlet they could rely on to give them the straight poop on the Great Satan has sold out to the Bush devil.

Sadly, this sounds more like the editorial position of the NYT, the LA Times, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune than satire.