If he played bad cop (or reasonable critic), then his co-host Mika Brzezinski played the role of good cop, politely asking Brown why the cover line “Queen of Rage” did not seem to connect with anything reported in the feature length article. Brown explained the choice of verbiage, “She is right now the face of the Tea Party,” adding “we came off a week where rage was all the rage and let’s face it…Michele Bachmann is the face of the Tea Party right now.”

A reasonable defense, to be sure, but regardless of one’s political bent, it’s not unreasonable to have noticed that Bachmann cuts an attractive and photogenic visage, and that the photo used on the Newsweek cover seems to many notable media critics to be nothing but a ham-fisted attempt to make “the face of the Tea Party” seem slightly unhinged, and by extension, make the Tea Party seem unhinged as well.