Newsweek's "War Whiplash" Injury

Alter's "Conventional Wisdom" Box Exposed as Very Unwise

Published: 4/9/2003 1:00 AM ET

Often the most free-wheeling, sassy, and downright liberal and partisan property within Newsweek magazine is the "Conventional Wisdom" box, generally credited to Senior Editor Jonathan Alter. In this week's "War Whiplash Edition," the magazine confessed: "The CW charts the manic movements of media/Beltway blowhards, whether right or wrong. Occupational hazard: Arrows can spin overnight." But over the years the "wisdom" of the so-called "media/Beltway blowhards" has tilted very sharply to the left. Last week, they gave Vice President Cheney a down arrow: "Tells Meet the Press just before war, 'We will be greeted as liberators.' An arrogant blunder for the ages." Look at just who made the arrogant historical blunders last week:

George W. Bush Last Week		vs. This Week
	"Steadfast, but his war cluelessly flings open the gates of hell, making any sort of victory Pyrrhic."		"Looks like he was right about ex-generals' hand-wringing being 'silly.' But it's not over yet."
Donald Rumsfeld Last Week		vs. This Week
	"Taking fire from TV retired generals for flawed war plan. And how did you miss the fedayeen?"		"Old CW: Orders too few troops to do the job. New CW: Brilliant architect of flexible war plan. But it's not over yet."
Peter Arnett Two Weeks Ago		vs. This Week
	"Old CW: Gulf War I has-been. New: Once more, unto the Baghdad breach. 'Shock and awe, indeed, Tom!'"		"Old CW: Old warhorse rehabs career in Baghdad. New CW: Stupidly blows career by going on Saddam TV. D'oh!"