Posted on 11/16/2008 8:51:55 PM PST by reaganaut1
In a span of 252 days, the National Review lost two Buckleys — one to death, another to resignation — and an election.
Now, thanks to the coarsening effect of the Internet on political discourse, the magazine may have lost something else: its reputation as the cradle for conservative intellectuals and home for erudite and well-mannered debate prized by its founder, the late William F. Buckley Jr.
In the general conservative blogosphere and in The Corner, National Review’s popular blog, the tenor of debate — particularly as it related to the fitness of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to be vice president — devolved into open nastiness during the campaign season, laying bare debates among conservatives that in a pre-Internet age may have been kept behind closed doors.
National Review, as the most pedigreed voice of conservatives, has often been tainted — unfairly and by association, some argue — by the tone of blogs, reader comments and e-mail messages. “Bill was always very concerned about having a high-minded and thoughtful discourse,” Rich Lowry, the magazine’s editor, said. “If you read the magazine, that’s what it was and that’s what it is.”
In October came the resignation of Mr. Buckley’s son, the writer and satirist Christopher Buckley, after he endorsed Barack Obama for president. He did so on Tina Brown’s blog, The Daily Beast, to avoid any backlash on The Corner.
Now David Frum, a prominent conservative writer who enmeshed himself in a minor dustup during the campaign by turning negative on Governor Palin, is leaving, too. In an interview, he said he planned to leave the magazine, where he writes a popular blog, to strike out on his own on the Web.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
National Review will still have the titans of Jonah Goldberg, Mark Steyn, and Victor Davis Hanson.
Christopher who? Somebody Frum? You won't be missed.
“Now, thanks to the coarsening effect of the Internet on political discourse, the magazine may have lost something else: its reputation as the cradle for conservative intellectuals and home for erudite and well-mannered debate prized by its founder, the late William F. Buckley Jr.”
Considering that NR ceased being worth reading about 18 years ago this is hardly a newsflash.
If Bill Buckley was alive he could explain it to me.
So could his son Christopher.
But he's a dick.
Fair-weather Republicans moving on to “greener pastures”...
David Frum can leave and not pass go....
Sad, as it appears as though the Right has lost its intellectual bearings, now represented by the tabloid idiocy of Fox News and the low-IQ pablum of Sean "Joe Lieberman is my friend" Hannity.
With any living thing dead cells slough off and begin anew elsewhere. Enough said. I look forward to new skin :-)
“National Review will still have the titans of Jonah Goldberg, Mark Steyn, and Victor Davis Hanson.”
Pygmies, maybe, titans, not a chance. The titans were James Burnham, Jeffrey Hart, Russell Kirk, Erik Von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, among others.
Once Rich Lowry and the pygmies took over NR should have been printed on a roll.
The Times on the other hand doesn’t have to worry about a reputation for erudition. If it ever had one it left a long, long time ago.
They mistakenly looked at the Democrats “as the friends across the Isle”.....without realizing it convert or be destroyed.....just as with radical Islam in alot more ways than one thinks...
Maybe its time to support M.Steyn, Goldberg et all at Natl Review more than ever....
They are in restucture at the same time as GOP...lets see if they end up parrallel to each other.....
Next stop, the Huffington Post.
I’m buying you a beer. Make that two beers.
Oh, my...what a wonderful jab. Hope you don't mind if I appropriate that for my own use.
Hopefully, Ponnuru is next - another elitist RINO.
Yes, and Katty Kathleen Parker wrote for them this week.
No. George Washington, Black Jack Pershing, and Ronald Reagan were great Americans. I am but a humble citizen upset at the flatulence currently being peddled as “right wing” opinion by an Australian.
Sometimes you flush the toilet even if there’s only two little turds in there.
Hey National Review, don’t forget to light a match.
The NY Times is crap. But National Review could go on less cruises— more helping to depose Boehner.
The NYTimes should consider its own reputation before impugning others. How’s that stock doing NYT??
I’ve never turned down a beer in my life, which is the only thing I have in common with Christopher Hitchens.
This article is a crock. Chris Buckley was never a regular writer/editor for NR. He was filling in for Steyn on a temp basis while Steyn was too busy with taking the Canadian Human Rights commission down a peg to write the back page column for short span of time.
Chris Buckley took the opportunity to “resign” in order to create media buzz for the Daily Beast.
Writers have come and gone at NR for 40 plus years. NYT is the one facing extinction.
Well, if this isn’t a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Amazing. The NYTimes is everything they badmouthed the NR about and worse. Only on the leftist, commie side of issues. Amazing gall and hutzpah on the part of the Times to publishing this article, and actually it is an embarrassment to them as their reputation is in the toilet.
Gosh, to read this article one would think that the NYT propagandists really missed all the lively and thoughtful give and take they never had all those years with the “old” National Review.
Frum the Vichy Republican is hitting the road, it’s hard to say he will be missed because other then writing mediocre speeches and attacking Governor Palin, I’m unsure what exactly he contributed.
I agree... and add Kathleen Parker to your list.
Me thinks the Times doth protest too much.
“..particularly as it related to the fitness of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska to be vice president..”
The Left continues to be petrified by the prospect of a Palin run at the Presidency in 2012. They SHOULD be petrified, she’d kick butt and take names and the Left knows it!
You know that Hart lined up on Obama's side, right? (As well as Kerry's in '04)
I kind of liked O'Sullivan. As I recall, he got forced out by the open borders crowd in the mid to late '90's.
I agree with the opinion expressed above that National Review was a creature of the Cold War. Since the Wall came down the mag has gradually lost focus. Maybe that's the tale of post-War conservatism since 1989 as a whole? (With a brief resurgence after '94).
I do have a sentimental spot for the mag though. As I first became self-consciously conservative in the early '90's, NR helped me clarify my views. I bet a lot of us on this forum became conservatives through reading National Review. When I recall how deeply it effected my outlook, it makes me sad to see what it has become.
Kirk and Von Kuehnelt-Leddihn are two of my all-time favorites. Ditto the former Trot, Burnham.
I read NR religiously back in those days. But I gave it up in the early 90's and haven't really missed it...
“I read NR religiously back in those days. But I gave it up in the early 90’s and haven’t really missed it...”
You and me both.
Well, we’ll just have to leave ol’ Jeff Hart to his new eccentricities in choosing whom to vote for. Even Goldwater got squirrelly in his dotage. But Hart was still one of the great ones at NR, unlike the monkeys throwing poo who now inhabit the place.
Ha, feel free to appropriate it, I know that I stole that bit of cleverness myself.
Hysterical Frum is starting his own web effort!
Conservatives won’t read Frum because he’s a moderate.
Moderates won’t read Frum because they don’t care that much.
Liberals won’t read Frum because they worship at the NYT.
Leftists won’t read Frum because they’re too busy astro-turfing DailyKos.
Looks like Frum will be the only one reading Frum...
” which is the only thing I have in common with Christopher Hitchens.”
A fact for which we are both thankful.
“Looks like Frum will be the only one reading Frum...”
Proof that at least one person lacks both sense and good taste. He ought to bury his productions in kitty litter.
Terrific comment. Unless of course you’re really Kathleen Parker. If you are, stick it.
As it said in the article. the cruise was a fund raiser. 700 readers paid $2000 each to go, I figure that they made a good part of a million dollars. Of course if you sent them a million, they could have avoided it. As far as Boehner vs. Lungren is concerned, they both have about 95% ACU ratings, I don't see a big difference. Not to mention the fact that outside pressure on internal Congressional elections usually is counterproductive.
Reading Steyn and Goldberg is time well spent IMHO.
On Parker, she is an utter waste of time who obviously relishes writing about her “feelings” than anything related to thought, policy, or political strategy and news. If I wanted to “feelings,” I’d watch Lifetime.
Rich Lowry will soon be the recipient of a letter from me inquiring about his plans for Parker. Christmas is coming and I’ve got gifts to buy. If Parker is part of NR, my gifts will be purchased elsewhere.
I carry a Y chromosome and two marbles. Not a chance in hell I am Kathleen Parker.
Sad to say, the whole culture has. The right was once the last bastion of sanity, but it too has been swamped by the cultural changes that have been sweeping the field for the last 45 years.
It's the culture wars that we have lost. While we were electing Republican legislators and Presidents, Bill Ayers was teaching teachers to propagandize our children. Those children have come of age and they solidly support Obama. I guess we will see in the coming years if this rejection had deep ideological underpinnings. Maybe they just rejected Bush in particular. BTW, I don't think that the election of people such as Reagan, et al was futile. Only that waters of revolution were rising from our knees to our torsos the whole time they were in office. The age of Reagan was also the age of MTV. There wasn't much the politicians could do about it. Reagan is gone, MTV remains (albeit in much altered form).
The mass media as a whole have created an environment wherein we are awash daily with sordidness and depravity. There's almost no escaping it. The revolution has even effected the way right wing ideas have to be presented. For example, although I admire Ann Coulter's writing, the ethos she projects on TV is pure sexual revolution. In that regard, she's no Phylis Schlafly. Successful woman, yes,but no husband, no kids--I'm sorry if that sounds mean, I'm not trying to be mean. I think Ann Coulter and Marc Steyn are the best two politcal essayists out there now. I only want to point out how even the most rock-ribbed conservatives have had to adopt the style and ethos of the "revolution" in cultural sensibilities.
The Culture Wars go beyond politics. Culture comes from "cultus," which is related to religious practice. I believe the real action in our society will now take place on the religious front. Our problems have gone way beyond the power of mere politics to solve. No, I'm not saying that we abandon political struggles, but the root of our problems is now way beyond simply finding another Reagan. That strategy comes from another time and place. What we need now are Saints.
Good, in that case, carry on...
Well one big difference is one of those guys led the GOP into historic defeat after historic defeat. But hey whats an historic defeat among friends.
I agree with you about Hart. I would not, however, lump Mark Steyn in with the other "poo" throwers. I consider Steyn to be a great essayist. A kind of latter-day Menken. In general, however, the right has been dragged into the gutter with the rest of the culture.
The mass media as a whole have created an environment wherein we are awash daily with sordidness and depravity. There’s almost no escaping it. The revolution has even effected the way right wing ideas have to be presented.”
The medium is the massage- Marshall McCluhan.
Actually the leader of House Republicans in the elections is the Chairman of the House Republican Congressional Campaign Committee. Neither one of these guys held that position.
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