I still can’t figure out why Meacham is still the editor of Newsweek. One would think the top guy would be interested in actually selling magazines, but Meacham is apparently blissfully unconcerned about that. He basically sucks at his job.
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WarEagle01 on November 17, 2009 at 7:11 PM

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The funny thing is that more people will see this on websites discussing it than will ever read Snoozeweak.
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RegularJoe on November 18, 2009 at 6:07 PM

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Heck, after 15 years of Meacham calling many or most of the shots, circulation and revenue had declined so pitifully that Meacham changed the mag’s goal – no longer would they attempt to be a mass-appeal national news magazine, but they would cater to a smaller, higher-income (leftist) audience. Voila! Declining numbers suddenly become not a bug, but a feature!
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Newsweak lowered their ad guarantees (the amount of paid circulation they would guarantee to advertisers – any less and they begin rebating) from 3.1 million in early 2008 to 1.5 million now. And they claim it’s working! After losing an average of over $4 million per month for the first half of 2009, 3rd quarter losses are down to “only” $1.3 million per month – PLUS they foresee making a profit, perhaps as early as 2011!
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There is little doubt of Joe’s point: surely many times as many people have seen this cover by the controversy on the internet than will ever see it by actually buying the magazine. Considering that only drooling leftist Palin-haters would even be slightly interested in the magazine as it currently publishes, and that many of them have been exposed to it through this whole brouhaha, it may turn out to be good marketing for Newsweak after all.

…the subtext seems to be that she’s not worth taking seriously — and that her good looks symbolize that.

I think this is correct. I don’t see it as sexist. I think that if Newsweek wanted to portray a politician as a pretty face with little behind it, they’d do the same whether it was a man or a woman. I mean Time Magazine used a jawline-jutting cover photo of Mitt Romney to say that he “looked like a President”, but there might not be much behind it.

So I don’t see it as sexist, but I think Palin-defenders do have a case to make that it was a photo designed to paint her in a particular way – a way they would surely consider to be unfair.

You’d be amazed the mental blocks lib males get past after midnight.

Liam on November 17, 2009 at 6:02 PM

I’m sure they’re busy giving themselves their nighlty estrogen shots during that time.
Which must be why we have so many beta males in this country.

a. Because men like to watch
and
b. Because many women have hella low self esteem and running another woman into the dirt makes them feel better. You think two women at Newsweek didn’t have a sexist agenda when they picked that photo? Dude. Come on. We frick’n OWN the art of insult.

hawkdriver on November 18, 2009 at 4:34 AM

I’m pretty sure Palin intentionally leaned on a flag tossed over a bar stool. And wrapped herself in one.

You’re really trying too hard. There is no breach of flag etiquette in either photo.

hawkdriver on November 18, 2009 at 3:59 AM

I’m sure you’d say the same thing if it was a Democrat posing.

And gosh darn it if someone who works on a Farm, who doesn’t give a crap about the media.. needing to get the work done… goes and takes the turkey to flip and flop around! LMFAO…

upinak on November 17, 2009 at 6:02 PM

HA HA! Don’t bring a filming crew to my place around spring or branding time.
Bad spring calving = lots of dead stuff.
Branding time= bloody castration activities
Hee Hee! I’m such a savage. LOL!

(b) she really needs to think ahead when doing photo ops/shoots about her enemies might use the pics against her.

Sure, but that’s all because of the double standard. Obama has pictures without his shirt on, but what national magazine picked those up as their cover before dumping on him? It was the exact opposite in fact. People used those pictures, but only to give their readers something to drool on while reading about how dreamy the man is.

We can forgive Palin for forgetting the double standard for a moment.

There are a lot of legitimate reasons to criticize Sarah Palin, her new book, and her policies, but you don’t have to stoop to sexism to do it. Newsweek’s November 23 issue, however, does just that by publishing on its cover a photo of Palin in short running shorts and a fitted top, leaning against the American flag. Making matters worse is the equally offensive headline Newsweek editors chose to run alongside the photo — “How Do You Solve a Problem like Sarah?” — presumably a reference to the Sound of Music song, “Maria,” in which nuns fret about “how” to “solve a problem like Maria,” a “girl” who “climbs trees” and whose “dress has a tear.”

It’s a runner’s thing.

It was completely appropriate, nay [i]expected[/i] in the contect of Runner’s World.

In WeakNews…not so much.

Translation, for all the “Spinal Tap” fans out there: What’s wrong with being sexy?

Newsweek Editor: You think this is sexist? You should have seen the cover they wanted to go with.

I assure you, they weren’t running shorts she was wearing.