I've not been much of a fan of Time magazine for years, though I am again, if only briefly.
Fresh off Rachel Maddow's ludicrous claim that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was "not all that well known" until he was killed by the US military in 2006 and allegedly elevated in death beyond what he was in life, Time magazine published a special issue titled "The End of bin Laden."
The cover of the magazine, which can be seen here, shows an illustration of bin Laden crossed out with a prominent red "X" -- as in, buh bye.
Turns out this is only the fourth time in Time's history that the magazine has gone with the "X" cover. Prior to bin Laden's rude awakening by Navy SEALs, Time did this for only three other globally reviled figures: Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein -- and Zarqawi. (video after page break)
Here's how Time managing editor Richard Stengel described "The Story of X" in the magazine's May 20 issue --
For the fourth time in our history, we've put a red X over a face on our cover. The first time marked the death of Adolf Hitler in 1945. in 2003 we revived the X for Saddam Hussein on the occasion of the U.S.-led coalition's takeover of Baghdad. Three years later, we put it on the face of Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the scourge of Iraq. Now we use it to signal the death of the world's most-infamous terrorist, Osama bin Laden.
Make that the virtually unknown "scourge of Iraq," at least according to Maddow.
As I wrote in a previous post, (with video from the post also embedded here) Maddow claimed that the Bush administration's decision to publicly display a photo of the deceased Zarqawi made him into "a much more well-known figure in death than he had been in life."
That being the case, count Time among Bush's conspirators in this fiendish plot, along with an equally reactionary right-wing publication -- the New York Times. The Gray Lady devoted swaths of newsprint to the death of Zarqawi for its June 9, 2006 edition -- lead story, three stories out front, three full pages inside, lead editorial and two op-ed columns, including one by the not all that well known Tom Friedman.
On her MSNBC show Thursday, Maddow condemned what she sees as revisionism from Mike Huckabee in marketing online history lessons for children, a blatant violation of liberals' monopoly on public education. In doing this, Maddow claimed Joseph McCarthy served on the House Un-American Activities Committee. As those remotely familiar with Tailgunner Joe are aware, McCarthy served in the Senate, in a separate part of the Capitol, its own wing and all.
Not so long ago when she was toiling at the now-defunct Air America Radio, Maddow was not all that well known herself. Since coming to MSNBC, her shabby indifference to these stubborn things known as facts is helping change that.
