Newsweek’s badly named “Conventional Wisdom” box (the one with the cutesy up and down arrows and snarky Jonathan Alter blurbs) shows how unconventional Newsweek is this week. Dan Rather gets a sideways arrow with this mourning note: “As Bush Senior said, Don’t judge him by one episode. We’ miss his passion, his edge and even his corn pone.” I believe Bush Senior said Rather shouldn’t be judging him entirely by Iran-Contra, which was exactly what Rather was doing in that 1988 interview. (You can still watch it online here, BTW.)

Newsweek also gives a sideways arrow to George W. Bush, with this whining aside: “No Baghdad turkey photo-op this year. Too busy giving thanks to unemployed Ohioans who voted for him anyway.”