Hey, what do you know, another Beltway media beast deciding that the crazy right-wing claims last week that Obama's bow in Japan was somehow the sign of worldwide submission and that that, of course, represented breaking news.

From Newsweek [emphasis added; no link found]:

The president was pilloried last week for his deep bow to Japan's Emperor Akihito during a visit to Tokyo. Was he groveling before a foreign leader--or just being polite?

And who did the all-important pillorying? Newsweek was mum on that front. I wonder if that's because the unhinged cries about the bow were shouted out by the same crazies who claim Obama is a racist and a communist and a fascist and, yes, not an American citizen. Maybe Newsweek played dumb about who had “pilloried” Obama because it's the same people who cane him every day of the year regardless of what he says or does.

As I note in my column this week:

The sad truth is that the press is still way too impressed with the right-wing shouts and still capitulates to them, and then dutifully translates those shouts into “news” with coverage that seems purposefully dumbed down in order to avoid bringing news consumers to the obvious conclusion that the Obama-hating allegation being “debated” that day is absurd. Or, to avoid bringing news consumers to the equally obvious conclusion that the allegation being “debated” raised more questions about critics making it (i.e. what is wrong with these people?), than it did their target.

But never mind any of that. Newsweek decided to play the bow up as news. And oh yeah, Newsweek forgot to mention that, according to a Fox News poll last week, a overwhelming majority of Americans approved of Obama bowing in Japan, and even a majority of Republicans approved. So much for that “controversy.” But for some reason that didn't stop Newsweek from pushing the bowing nonsense as a big deal.

UPDATED: And yes, it was Newsweek's own Katie Connolly who last week wrote that the phony 'debate' over Obama's bow was both “contrived and unhelpful.”

Too bad her editors didn't heed her words.