Andrew Sullivan Defends Newsweek Pro-Obama Article: 'You Won’t Find the Word ‘Dumb’ or ‘Stupid’ Anywhere' in the Piece

By now most are familiar with Newsweek's Andrew Sullivan and his latest cover story entitled "Why are Obama's critics so dumb?" The feature story enraged conservatives and was the catalyst for Fox News' Megyn Kelly's latest tirade.

Sullivan, a self-proclaimed conservative defended his column on Wednesday night's "Anderson Cooper 360º," asserting the president has governed well and engaging in a feisty exchange with Republican strategist Bay Buchanan.

Sullivan also added that nowhere in the text of the article itself did the word "dumb" appear and that he was not aware of the cover title until Monday morning.

Mediaite adds:

Anderson Cooper opened the interview with the first order of business: whether the inflammatory cover was his idea. “No, I found out Monday morning,” he clarified, adding that “I make a pretty reasonable, I hope, fact-based argument” and that “you won’t find the word ‘dumb’ or ‘stupid’ in any of the text of the piece.”

Sullivan then explained his argument– that “from the beginning he was planning on 8 years rather than 4, and that is also due to the scale of what he inherited,” he said of the President. He also found it strange that conservatives saw the President as a “radical lefty.” “If 25 million unemployed or underemployed Americans is part of his master plan, then maybe Rush Limbaugh is right,” Buchanan replied, “maybe he is trying to destroy America.” She added that she would rather believe the President was “completely clueless” than that alternative.

“I haven’t seen anything Obama has done that has made that worse,” Sullivan replied. He believes Obama will likely "win handily."

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