Megyn Kelly Blasts 'Newsweek' & Author Andrew Sullivan Over Cover: He's Not an 'Actual Journalist

The "Newsweek" magazine cover from the latest issue has done its job -- it's created quite the controversy and gotten plenty of people talking. If you haven't seen it, it's below, along with the cover story headline of "Why are Obama's critics so dumb?"

The cover was the focus of a Megyn Kelly segment on Fox Tuesday. And now that segment, like the magazine, is ruffling some feathers -- including those of the Newsweek author, Andrew Sullivan. During it, Kelly asked some hard questions, and even seemed to take a few shots at Sullivan. HuffPo explains:

Kelly seemed intent on targeting Sullivan himself, though. Speaking to contributors Leslie Marshall and National Review editor Rich Lowry, Kelly mocked Newsweek, saying that the article might make "more than four people" read the magazine.

She then zeroed in on Sullivan. She wondered why Newsweek had not put what she called an "actual journalist" on the cover, instead of Sullivan. She also accused Sullivan of denying that Sarah Palin had actually given birth to her youngest son.

[...]

"Don't you think most people, when they go to the store and they see Newsweek there, they assume that it's a real journalist who will report the news in an objective way?" she asked.

 

 

Clip provided by Fox News Insider:

The "actual journalist" quip is a shot at Sullivan's history as an opinion blogger, best known for his popular "The Dish" blog.

It didn't take long for Sullivan to respond. On his blog Tuesday afternoon, he claims he never said Sarah Palin didn't give birth to her son, Trig, but rather questioned her story and wanted an explanation. He also challenged Fox to have him on to debate his article:

What I want to know is why they cannot invite the author of an essay to debate it, rather than two random individuals (including Rich "Starbursts" Lowry) to discuss. Surely that's only fair - unless, of course, I am on a blacklist.

So this is an open challenge to Fox News. If you want to trash my work, have me on to defend it. Any time, Megyn. Any time. What are you afraid of?

Given Kelly's reputation for fireworks-infused interviews, a Sullivan appearance could be TV gold.