Cronies Here and There

www.nationalreview.com ^ | October 12, 2005 | Jonah Goldberg

[ez]

"When they lose me, THEY HAVE LOST THEIR BASE. What the boys and girls at NRO do not seem to understand is this works the other way around. The BASE made the Conservative Pundits. Still waiting to hear why I should trust THEM over Bush."

You and me both.

The reduction in stature of previously trusted individuals (Coulter, Will, Krauthammer) saddens me, but not as much as their shoddy treatment of the President's choice.

[ez]

Excuse me, how can a video of Mrs. Bush saying the critics are sexist,

That's not what she said. She said it was POSSIBLE that sexism had SOMETHING to do with it. Your characterization of her comments is false.

[meema]

I believe a Conservative would never call anyone a sexist, or any of the PC terms, much less a Conservative President and his wife, refering to their fellow Republicans.
The only time we would use such a term is in a joke. This is why it is so shocking. Bad enough when Gillespie, and then others did it. It looks to me as though it was deliberate spin.

[ekwd]

I have been a National Review subscriber since 1968 (before most of the clowns at NRO were born), but no longer. When they panicked and joined the "blame Brownie" crowd during Katrina, I stopped reading "The Corner" and tore up my renewal form. From what I hear, they are having an even bigger temper tantrum over Miers. No thanks. I prefer to get my political instruction from adults. I will miss Michael Ledeen, Jay Nordlinger and a few others, but Goldberg, Lowry, Lopez and the rest of the adolescents will not get any more of my money.

[scratcher]

"Shocking? "

Maybe if your statement was true....but it isn't

[rvoitier]

Lie is a strong word. Be sure and be careful when you use it.

[Billthedrill]

There are limits to credulity, and anyone in politics shocked by "cronyism" is either a liar or too stupid to live. Shall we step back and look at Clinton cronies, such as the entire Arkansas Mafia? Bush I cronies such as a fellow named Cheney? Reagan cronies? Carter cronies? (that's almost cruel - sorry, Billy...) Nixon? LBJ? Kennedy - what was Camelot but a gaggle of well-heeled cronies? Eisenhower? Truman? Roosevelt? (Oh, God, let's not even go there.)

This shocked D.C. during the Andrew Jackson administration and was prevalent even before that. Any pundit who pretends to be surprised by it in 2005 is telling the world he or she is stupendously ignorant.