Karl Rove’s Newsweek Gig

It’s really only a matter of time, after a member of the current administration steps down, before he or she re-emerges on the political and/or cultural scene.  Take Karl Rove, for example, who, not to be relegated to some contrived yet lucrative “consulting” position (not yet, at any rate), will write about the upcoming elections for Newsweek.

The Washington Post:

Less than three months after leaving the Bush White House, Karl Rove is becoming a member of a community not all that popular with administration officials: the media.

Newsweek has signed the president’s former deputy chief of staff as a commentator who will turn out several columns on the 2008 campaign through inauguration day. The move is not likely to prove popular among liberals who believe the mainstream media have been too soft on the Bush administration.

“We want to give readers a feel for what it’s like to be on the inside,” says Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham. “Our readers are sophisticated enough to know that what they get from Karl has to be judged in the context of who Karl is.... Readers will have to decide if he’s simply an apologist.”

Read more

AP photo / Ron Edmonds, File

Agent provocateur:  Is this the sound of thousands of Newsweek subscriptions being canceled?  Or, as Editor Jon Meacham reckons, will readers consider the source?