Atlantic

Anonymous Obama Staffer Trashes Netanyahu; ABC and NBC Fail to Cover
By Curtis Houck | October 30, 2014 | 5:49 PM EDT

As of Thursday morning, both ABC and NBC have ignored the latest rift in the relationship between the United States and Israel as “a senior Obama administration official” told Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was nothing more than a “coward” and "chickens***." 

Both the Wednesday evening and Thursday morning newscasts on ABC and NBC made no mention of this story, which further cements the chilly reception Netanyahu and President Obama have had for each other throughout Obama’s presidency. 

Salon: Hillary, Like Reagan, Thinks ‘Conquering “Evil” Is the Special Job of the Exceptional USA’
By Tom Johnson | August 18, 2014 | 1:55 PM EDT

It’s widely known that when Hillary Clinton was in high school, she was a big fan of Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential campaign. But would Hillary, if elected POTUS, take after the 20th century’s uber-conservative, Ronald Reagan, at least in terms of a hawkish foreign policy? Elias Isquith made that case in a Saturday article in Salon.

Isquith scrutinized the ideas Hillary expressed in her foreign-policy-themed interview with the Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg and found them wanting next to the modesty of the current president: “Obama, unlike Clinton, doesn’t talk about the world as if it were the stage for a great struggle between slavery and freedom. He knows that kind of talk was discredited by the results of our foreign policy from 2002 to 2008.”

NBC’s Today, Nightly News Ignore Clinton's Criticism of Obama's Foreign Policy
By Curtis Houck | August 11, 2014 | 4:25 PM EDT

Any intraparty criticism of President Obama’s recent foreign policy moves regarding Iraq was nowhere to be found on NBC’s morning or evening news programs as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leveled some criticism at Obama on the subject in an interview with The Atlantic that was published over the weekend.

Both Sunday and Monday mornings’ installments of Today and Sunday night’s NBC Nightly News ignored this angle of disagreement among arguably the two most well-known and influential figures in Democratic politics as Obama authorized U.S. air strikes against ISIS militants in northern Iraq late last Thursday and throughout over the weekend. [MP3 audio here; Video below]

Atlantic Writer Tries to Convince Readers That Adult Male 'Bronies' Are OK
By P.J. Gladnick | August 9, 2014 | 8:39 AM EDT

Did you know that it is perfectly normal for a man to appear in public wearing pink pony ears and tail? No, really.  There is nothing at all unusual about that. And if you don't believe me then I will write an overlong article trying to convince you of its complete normalcy.

Such is the attitude of Jennifer Goforth Gregory of The Atlantic who tries a bit too hard to convince the readers that men wearing flashy pony costumes is absolutely normal. The funniest thing about Gregory plugging such men aka "Bronies" is how much obvious effort she puts into this endeavor.  Over and over again she reminds us that men "coming out of the stable" as they call it is perfectly acceptable male behavior. You might remember Ronan Farrow earlier this year telling us how normal the Brony lifestyle is and now Gregory continues this theme but with a lot more effort:

The Atlantic: Conservatives Might Miss Next Tech Wave Due to Dislike of Cities
By P.J. Gladnick | June 17, 2014 | 10:39 AM EDT

I have a question for Alexis C. Madrigal of The Atlantic. Were you watching AMC's Halt and Catch Fire last Sunday? I have to ask because your humble correspondent has the suspicion that you watched and took note of the spaced out  character of Cameron Howe, a genius computer programmer who enjoys playing video games and having her ears perpetually plugged in to a Walkman playing loud Hard Rock music. On Sunday's episode, Cameron was walking around downtown Dallas while spending the money from her first tech company paycheck when she met some homeless drug addicts in an alley. So with her "urban sensibility" she then rents them a hotel room where they all party down and they show their appreciation by giving Cameron a really ugly amateur tattoo on her arm.

It is with this in mind that I suspect that Mr. Madrigal, trying to dream up a magazine storyline, conceived the the idea that most computer programmers have the same tastes as Cameron Howe and prefer city living in contrast to those "yahoo" conservatives who would rather live in more quiet areas. The result was the appearance of a stunningly ridiculous Atlantic article, Why Conservatives Might Be Left Out of the Next Wave of Tech:

Peter Beinart: ‘Fearful’ Republicans Hoping to ‘Reverse History’s Course’ Make a 2016 GOP Loss More Likely
By Tom Johnson | June 15, 2014 | 6:29 PM EDT

Democrats traditionally enjoy playing up their internal disorganization (often using some sort of analogy to “herding cats”) while tweaking Republicans for that party's top-down style. Now, however, as Peter Beinart pointed out in a Thursday post on the Atlantic’s website, there’s an “unprecedented crisis of authority in today’s GOP,” whereas among Dems “party hierarchies are clear and largely unchallenged.”

What caused the reversal? Beinart argues that it starts with Democrats’ optimism and Republicans’ pessimism about the prospects for what they want America to become. Dems looking to the future “see a growing constituency for tolerance and social justice,” while GOPers “see a growing constituency of takers, who want to turn America away from its exceptional nature.”

David Frum: GOP Needs a Tony Blair-Like Figure Who’ll Reform Party ‘By Standing Up to Its Most Extreme Elements’
By Tom Johnson | June 13, 2014 | 7:57 AM EDT

In a brief Thursday post on the Atlantic’s website, "reform conservative" pundit David Frum cited Eric Cantor’s primary loss to Dave Brat as further evidence that “Republican leaders” need to emerge to confront the “the destructive leadership of fanatics (and the cynics who make their living by duping fanatics)."

He cited Tony Blair as a model, someone " who revived his party by standing up to its most extreme elements," and asserted that if such leaders fail to appear, the GOP “might just as well already rename our dysfunctional party the Committee to Elect Hillary Clinton.” Frum’s entire post (emphasis added):

Comedy Gold: Senior Editor at The Atlantic Calls Melissa Harris-Perry 'America's Foremost Public Intellectual'
By Tom Blumer | January 8, 2014 | 12:35 AM EST

I kept looking for any sign that Ta-Nehisi Coates, described as "a senior editor at The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues," was kidding in his Monday afternoon column about Melissa Harris-Perry when he called her "The Smartest Nerd in the Room." He wasn't.

When last seen here at NewsBusters, Coates was pretending that the wealth gap between blacks and whites has consistently widened during the past 20 years, when the reality is that almost all of the widening has occurred during the past five years for which data is available. That delusion is nothing compared to his assessment of Harris-Perry, excerpted after the jump (bold is mine):

Atlantic Writer 'Tuned Out' Benghazi; Now Wants Investigation
By P.J. Gladnick | August 2, 2013 | 6:34 PM EDT

What happens when a writer with a left of center periodical such as The Atlantic honestly confronts the unfolding and inconvenient facts of what the Obama administration labels as the "phony scandal" of Benghazi? A reality check.  Such was the case with Conor Friedersdorf who although he has enough of a libertarian streak in him to have opposed Obama's re-election, still has enough leftwing bonafides to absurdly slam Rush Limbaugh for "race baiting."

Therefore it must have come as something of a shock to the liberal bubble readers of The Atlantic to read Friedersdorf admit that he had "tuned out" Benghazi as most of the MSM reporters had done but has now changed his mind as you can see in the self-explanatory title of his article: The Attack in Benghazi: Worth Investigating After All. Here is Friedersdorf's explanation for his change of mind:

The Atlantic: Look! Pro-Life Women Exist
By Matt Vespa | July 19, 2013 | 1:00 PM EDT

We shouldn’t be surprised that the liberal media is frustrated over the fact that pro-life conservatives won a monumental battle in Texas on July 13.  HB-2, which was signed into law by Gov. Perry yesterday bans abortions after 20-weeks into a pregnancy.  It also mandates that abortion clinics upgrade their medical equipment – and be reclassified as surgical medical centers. 

Particularly annoyed with the new law was one Philip Bump of the Atlantic.  In his July 18 piece, Bump groused that Perry passed political optics 101 by having plenty of women with him at HB-2's signing ceremony.

Hyperbole Much? CBS Legal Analyst Compares Voting Rights Act Ruling to Dred Scott, Plessy Cases
By Ken Shepherd | June 25, 2013 | 6:52 PM EDT

Writing for the liberal Atlantic magazine today, CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen jumped off the proverbial deep end by comparing today's Supreme Court ruling invalidating section 4 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965 to two infamous Supreme Court decisions from the 19th century.

"[T]he Supreme Court's decision in Shelby County is one of the worst in the history of the institution. As a matter of fact, and of law, it is indefensible. It will be viewed by future scholars on a par with the Court's odious Dred Scott and Plessy decisions and other utterly lamentable expressions of judicial indifference to the ugly realities of racial life in America," Cohen righteously thundered deep with his 18-paragraph screed. 

Atlantic's Garance Franke-Ruta Steps in It on Twitter: Boston Marathon Bombers Were 'Bumblers'
By Ken Shepherd | April 23, 2013 | 10:30 AM EDT

"The more we learn of Boston bombers the more they seem like bumblers. And there's the rub: any idiot can terrorize, doesn't require genius."

Thus tweeted The Atlantic's Garance Franke-Ruta earlier this morning. While some followers agreed, others shot back that it was a woefully inaccurate take, to say the least.