The American Spectator : Interregnum -- and a Transition

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Interregnum -- and a Transition

By Tom Bethell from the December 2010 - January 2011 issue

RIP, Joe Sobran, who died on September 30, age 64.

As this is written at the end of October you know more than I do -- about the elections, I mean. So I turn to my old friend Joe Sobran, who died on September 30, age 64. He was the best man at my wedding. He worked for 20 years for William F. Buckley at National Review, wrote a syndicated column for years, and authored a lesser known but sometimes outstanding column for the Wanderer, a Catholic weekly.

His death caused a stir in conservative circles because in 1993 he wrote a Wanderer column attacking Buckley and was fired. There has been a lot of comment on Sobran's hostility to Israel, discussions of his alleged anti-Semitism ("contextual" anti-Semitism, as Buckley put it), and Joe's countercharge that Buckley kowtowed to the "Israeli lobby." I don't want to enter that war zone right now, although I plan to write something about it later. Meanwhile I will confine myself to recommending Matthew Scully's article in National Review, "Bard of the Right." It is surely the best thing ever written about Joe. Among opinion journalists, Joe was "the greatest of his time," Scully wrote. I agree.

I first met Joe Sobran in 1980. For most of that decade his literary ability, his originality, his learning, eloquence, and the sheer speed with which he could produce articles reached the level of what I can only call genius. That was the way it struck me. I never saw anything like it. I once tested him on his claim to know the whole of Shakespeare by heart. He had a volume of the collected works in his junk-filled car, the backseat crammed full of newspapers and God knows what covering the rear window. I flipped through the volume, taking care not to let him see the particular play. I would read a line at random, and his task was to say the next line. I did it five or six times and he got it right every time.

Sometimes, in his rented house in Arlington, I would see him produce a newspaper column in half an hour on an electric typewriter perched on a wobbly Formica-topped table. The entire ground floor of the house would be ankle-deep in what an admirer once called "landfill." His column would materialize with no corrections needed. "Order from chaos," as Matthew Scully said.

He did learn to use a computer -- with Bill Buckley's encouragement and assistance -- and the new machine was helpful enough to give Joe the burst of energy he needed to complete Alias Shakespeare, his one book-length work. Otherwise I believe all his columns and articles were written in a single sitting. If he had to return to something, he would inevitably have lost the first draft somewhere in the landfill, so he would start over from the beginning.

I'm told he joined NR on 9/11/71. Some old hands at the magazine have good stories to tell about Joe in those years. I believe that in learning his Shakespeare he never had to work very hard at it. It just stayed with him once he read it. We tend to call such rare people geniuses. But the updated and more realistic definition of genius is "an infinite capacity to take pains." That was not Joe!

Well, we can see where this is going. His great gift began to fade. At that point he had to make big efforts to do what he once did effortlessly. He was the intellectual equivalent of a natural athlete who can reach Olympic standards with no training. Then later, as he puts on a few years and a few pounds, he loses it. Then he has no discipline or good habits to fall back on. And that is what happened to Joe, more or less.

I also think that more convincingly accounts for his sad decline than any explanation that invokes the withdrawal of Bill Buckley's support or the enmity of the neoconservatives.

Quite a number of people recognized Joe's exceptional talent. Instinctively, they also knew that rare people like that are incapable of prudence and even of self-preservation. So friends were happy to give Joe money and they did so. I believe Bill Buckley (even after the breakup) was among them. No one could accuse WFB of a lack of generosity. But Joe's financial irresponsibility beggared belief.

If you thought to yourself, "Poor Joe," and gave him a thousand dollars, the money would be gone in a couple of days. He would go straight to Borders or Barnes & Noble, buy great sacks of books and CDs, cart them home in plastic bags, throw them down in a corner of his house, and forget about them. He treated the dollar as though he lived in Weimar Germany. (I'm glad to say that most of his books, including an outstanding Shakespeare collection, ended up at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia.)

It was the same with his health and personal welfare generally. He had diabetes (adult onset), a controllable condition. But as his son Kent told me: "He was the worst person in the world to have diabetes." He disregarded advice from doctors, no matter how often repeated, and over the last years of his life he was gradually defeated by inertia and depression. He became at first unwilling and then unable to do anything for himself.

In the end the medics told him that he needed kidney dialysis to survive. But he refused it, and meant it. His long-suffering helper Fran Griffin made persistent attempts to resist Joe's self-destructive impulses and to revive his own pro-life principles. Ann Coulter, a great admirer of Joe's writings, said she guessed Joe "never took to heart the admonition that your body is a temple." Howard Phillips, head of the Conservative Caucus, lived nearby and went to see Joe in Vienna, Virginia, two or three times in the last week of his life. Howie recommended to Joe that he take the dialysis. But he refused. "My time is past," he said.

In his last days Joe, by now on a diet of morphine, sank into unconsciousness. At the end his daughter Vanessa was at his bedside along with Fran Griffin's assistant. They noticed first that his color had changed, then that he had stopped breathing. Joe sometimes told me that the liberal goal in life is a painless death. And that is what the hospice people arranged for Joe -- with his cooperation.

IT'S NO MERE CLICHÉ to say that Joe was his own worst enemy. He was. When the Human Life Review's Jim McFadden reprinted Joe's essays as a book, Single Issues, Joe was furious. Jim was "exploiting" him, he decided. He had planned to "rewrite" those essays. Jim knew that would never happen. National Review was on the verge of reprinting Joe's best pieces as a book to entice new subscribers. Just before that happened, Joe wrote his column attacking Buckley. It really did seem that he wanted to prevent his own articles from appearing between hard covers. Sometimes he seemed to have little understanding of the quality of his writing at its best. It's as though he was a mere conduit through which it passed and he quickly forgot about it.

An old friend of Joe's, a sweet guy from Michigan called Bob Mayday, who since died, used to come to Washington and go book-hunting with Joe. He once said that Joe "won't be appreciated until he's been dead for a while." That was perceptive. At its best, Joe's writing was I think superior to G. K. Chesterton's because it was better organized. Meanwhile Fran Griffin has the rights to reprint those pieces by Joe. Let's encourage her to do so. I'm sure they won't seem out of date when they reappear. And the good news is that Joe won't be able to object to their publication.

R.I.P., Joe. We miss you.

About the Author

Tom Bethell is a senior editor of The American Spectator and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Science, The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages, and most recently Questioning Einstein: Is Relativity Necessary? (2009).

Letter to the Editor View all comments (61) | Leave a comment

LarryK| 12.3.10 @ 9:37AM

Great piece. I've only seen bits and pieces of Sobran's columns from the 70s and 80s, but from what I've glimpsed they are one of a kind and brilliant. The only actual columns of his that I've read, though, are from the period of long decline. There should be books of his collected columns from his peak years, so that a new generation can become acquainted with his work.

S.L. Toddard| 12.3.10 @ 2:05PM

Mr. K, here is an online collection of many of Mr. Sobran's more recent pieces:

http://www.fgfbooks.com/Sobran-Joe/Sobran-bio.html

Alan Brooks| 12.3.10 @ 10:51PM

One doesn't have to be a futurist to predict Toddard would provide a link to Sobran's collection at the slightest whiff of anti-Israel blood;
like a shark, Toddard is on guard 24/7.

LarryK| 12.5.10 @ 3:23PM

Thank you Toddard, let me check this before Brookenstein shows up with the filthy mess his sorry excuse for a brain is.

LarryK| 12.5.10 @ 9:27PM

This is the real LarryK, checking back in to discover my cyber identity was robbed at 3:23 PM yesterday. And I appreciate SL Toddard's comment, but it's not relevant - I clearly said I'd like to see a compilation of Sobran's 70s and 80s stuff, not the more recent pieces, which I'm familiar with and find completely underwhelming, at best. It's because I've seen some evidence of what a great writer he once was that I'd like to see a collection of his earlier work.

Brian B| 12.3.10 @ 10:17AM

Thank you, Tom.
There are few things more pleasant than watching a genius at work and few things sadder than watching one in decline realizing that within the limits of his genius does not reside the power to arrest or alter his decline.

Alan Brooks| 12.4.10 @ 12:56AM

The mere mention of Pat Buchanan, Russell Kirk and Joe Sobran fills Toddard with the Holiday spirit.
And think of this: if Israel is destroyed someday, wont Toddard feel validated?

John Farrell| 12.3.10 @ 10:30AM

A beautiful tribute, Tom. Not long before he passed away, J.P. McFadden sent me a long letter recounting Joe's years working for him and NR. A lot of what he said is born out by your thoughtful reflection as well. RIP.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.10 @ 1:53PM

"A beautiful tribute,"

Were the tributes to Ted Kennedy in the New Republic touching? Sobran and Kennedy were irresponsible personally and politically.

John Farrell| 12.5.10 @ 10:06PM

Because someone's case is tragic, does not mean their friends, aware of their better qualities, can't pay tribute to them.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.10 @ 11:54PM

So why weren't there any tributes to Ted Kennedy at AS when he died? because he was no role model.
And IMO neither was Sobran- save forToddard..

Occam's Tool| 12.6.10 @ 8:46PM

A Bullsye on Sobran and Kennedy, Mr. Brooks. (You get slammed so much, and take it with good grace, that even though I don't always agree with you,, you should get some praise here. I despise Joe Sobran. Yechh.)

Alan Brooks| 12.11.10 @ 2:24AM

Occam,
Toddard probably calls Moses an "Israel Firster"

Occam's Tool| 12.11.10 @ 11:34PM

Dear Alan:

I'm sure Toddard's just sore because he dropped a couple K betting on Goliath.

Christopher| 12.3.10 @ 11:27AM

I have a copy of Single Issues. It is outstanding writing, would like to see his articles published.

james wilson| 12.3.10 @ 12:54PM

I suspect that Sobran's decline was connected to his realization or belief that America and the West were in inexorable decline and there was nothing to be done for it. Being a successful curmudgeon means learning to be be right all alone and to be good with that. I don't think he was good with that. Garrett learned it, Sobran didn't.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.10 @ 1:57PM

"I suspect that Sobran's decline was connected to his realization or belief that America and the West were in inexorable decline and there was nothing to be done for it."

Yes, if capitalism were to end, America would end-there would be no reason for America to exist anymore. Not in its present form. If Islam ended, would Saudi Arabia be the same? no.

steve| 12.3.10 @ 1:48PM

Or, maybe Sobran's decline was connected to a realization, or a sense, that he was, in fact, wrong about many things--and that he couldn't cope with being wrong. Because he was wrong about many, many things. Yes, he was an excellent writer. Yes, he was very smart. But, still--he was wrong about many, many things.

Vern Crisler| 12.3.10 @ 8:54PM

Yes, I agree. One's technical skill at writing does not excuse one for adopting anarchism in politics, crank obsessions such as who "really" wrote Shakespeare's works, and worst of all, anti-semitic attitudes, even "contextualized" versions, in this day and age of the Holocaust and Islamo-fascist terror directed against Israel. Good riddance.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.10 @ 1:41PM

"Good riddance."

He is in a better place now. No more diabetes more for him, no more Israel for him.
No more ZOG for Joe Sobran-- he is FREE!

Jeremiah| 12.5.10 @ 4:10PM

Good Riddance? Dumb liberal jerks! A double pleonasm.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.10 @ 5:30PM

Some pleonasms are necessary; some aren't.
"Hot fire" is redundant;
yet "riddance" without "good" preceding it makes for poorly expressed vernacular.

You are more educated than I, Jeremiah,
however it isn't always apparent.

Occam's Tool| 12.6.10 @ 8:48PM

This Conservative Jew says good riddance. Sobran was a Holocaust denier apologist. Look up his articles on the Institute for Historical Review in Sobran's. Yeah, I read his stuff before I slammed him. That's not an Israel issue, that's a human decency issue. He was a Nazi.

Alan Brooks| 12.11.10 @ 2:28AM

If he were still alive, Sobran would say the crematoria in the Nazi death camps were merely ovens used for cooking Viennershnitzel.

S.L. Toddard| 12.3.10 @ 2:01PM

Sobran was the American Chesterton. A brilliant and moving tribute for the most part, but why the inclusion of this:

I also think that more convincingly accounts for his sad decline than any explanation that invokes the withdrawal of Bill Buckley's support or the enmity of the neoconservatives.

I definitely saw where that was going. What I failed to see - and fail to see still - is why it had to go there. I don't recall many WFB obits including mention of his decline into dotage and irrelevancy, or his capitulation to the enemies of conservatism. I suppose this was because, unlike WFB, Sobran wasn't a celebrity. What Joe Sobran was - also unlike WFB, I might add - was a truly great writer for the ages; a conservative who never let his conservatism slip an inch, never compromised with the Republican Left, and never valued his fame above his principles.

RIP, Joe Sobran.

Alan Brooks| 12.4.10 @ 1:03AM

"I might add - was a truly great writer for the ages; a conservative who never let his conservatism slip an inch, never compromised with the Republican Left, and never valued his fame above his principles."

Translation: Sobran never let his anti-Israel bias be exposed to an excessive degree; he kept it carefully hidden. Or say when Buchanan writes on the Third Reich, he is careful not to write: "Hitler was correct to reduce the population of Europe by millions of Russians, Poles, Jews, queers, and those no-account Roma/Sinti."

Doesn't look good in the newspapers.

Clint| 12.4.10 @ 3:01AM

Since when do American Freemen have to worship the foreign nation of Israel.
This Israel Firster Agenda is no more required of Americans than An Iraq Firster Agenda.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.10 @ 1:05PM

Or, say, a Dixie Firster Agenda.
Burn A Confederate Flag, Not A Koran.

The South Shall Not Rise Again!

Alan Brooks| 12.5.10 @ 1:46PM

...Clint, I don't know where you are, but if you live in Dixie, stay there. A great region if one is born there, if one doesn't know any different or any better.
What you don't know wont hurt you; correct?

Clint| 12.5.10 @ 1:56PM

Let's see, from what you've incessantly posted on AS, You're An Agnostic, An Obama Apologist & An Israel Firster Fanatic, As Well As Totally Insane.

You've Got No Credibility Screwball.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.10 @ 5:34PM

In other words you think Israel is fair game,
but not the South? you can say whatever you want about Israel, yet anyone who would diss Dixie is intolerant?
Ye Pharisee, ye hypocrite.

Clint| 12.5.10 @ 6:24PM

In other words, I think you are fair game, Obama Apologist, Israel Firster Fanatic, and Totally Insane.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.10 @ 11:58PM

I wasn't pro-Israel until I realized it was a universal scapegoat.
The clincher is if Israel were to disappear, its enemies would dissolve their coalition and attack each other.

Alan Brooks| 12.6.10 @ 12:01AM

"I wasn't pro-Israel until I realized it was a universal scapegoat."

IS a universal scapegoat, not was. BTW, if you were to give a convincing reason to dislike Israel, I would; but you can provide none. I don't like Israel's conscription of soldiers, though- however that isn't enough. Israel's enemies are far worse than Israel.

Occam's Tool| 12.6.10 @ 8:58PM

Clint, I voted for the war hero; I believe in America First (which is why I don't throw allies away); and you're not clinically qualified to declare someone insane.

Occam's Tool| 12.6.10 @ 9:01PM

Now Alan, be nice to the deep South, Old Texican is from there, and I spent 8 years in TX and 7 in AL and 5 in KY. Birmingham is a college town, and a damn fine one. We're nice to you, even when we disagree with you.

I believe that Clint lives in Cicero, outside of Chi,which is the headquarters of the American Nazi Party.

Occam's Tool| 12.6.10 @ 9:03PM

They don't have to "worship Israel", Clint. But only an idiot throws away an invincible ally when faced with a warrior faith of over 1400 years of terror. Of course, you support child rape, right Clint?

Alan Brooks| 12.11.10 @ 2:35AM

Israel's enemies will be defeated someday, as Prussia was defeated in 1945. Prussia wasn't even a nation, it was a military with a state apparatus.
Prussia no longer exists: Israel's enemies ought to take that as a warning.

steve| 12.3.10 @ 2:06PM

Sorry, but Sobran was an anti-Semite. Podhoretz was right. And Sobran lied about what Bulkley said to him in that regard. Also, Sobran wasn't a very good Catholic either. Married and divorced twice, and yet he apparently didn't think that it was therefore inappropriate to write for The Wanderer.

Quartermaster| 12.3.10 @ 5:54PM

The Pods are rarely right about that. The Pods think any criticism of Israel, or "Jews" is anti-semitism, and it isn't. ADL, OToH, is quite anti-semitic. I wouldn't quite that far with the Pods, but they aren't too far off because so much of what they do generally accrues negatively towards Jews instead of aiding them.

Occam's Tool| 12.3.10 @ 6:09PM

Let's not discuss Joe's idiotic comments regarding Israel, Quartermaster. Instead, let's discuss his idiotic comments on the Holocaust, which you can read at Sobran's. He was pals with the Institute for Historical Review.

He was an antisemite according to my definition, which is this: anybody who advocates actions or ideas intentionally likely to kill or harass Jews. He did it, that's it.

Alan Brooks| 12.4.10 @ 1:05AM

By Jove, sounds like SL Toddard!

carolinem| 12.3.10 @ 3:35PM

Many thanks for the tribute to Mr. Sobran, an under-appreciated and uder-rated writer who deserved far more accolades than he got. His downfall seemed to date from his firing from National Review, after which one could detect increasingly bitter and frustrated expressions in his columns. No doubt cowed by his Catholic admonishment to forgive one's enemies, he must must have found it difficult to reconcile the conflict between anger and letting go of the past. He became like a discarded spouse, publicly expressing that he has "moved on" but inwardly still angry and lost for what happened to him.

Alan Brooks| 12.4.10 @ 1:09AM

"He became like a discarded spouse, publicly expressing that he has 'moved on' but inwardly still angry and lost for what happened to him."

Hmm, makes one think: perhaps Toddard was married to a Jewish woman (or man) got divorced, and he is attempting to get revenge?
We will never know-- Toddard keeps his cards so close to his chest, you can see a royal flush imprinted on his nipples.

james lee| 12.4.10 @ 1:15PM

Alleging that William F. Buckley was a captive of the "Israeli Lobby" was a sign of substandard mental health. Whenever Jews were the topic, Sobran sacrificed his conservatism at the altar of malice. He was one of those Paulian paleocons who hated Israel more than he loved America.

vtwin| 12.4.10 @ 10:49PM

no problem Skip,you're a decent man ;+) and there's no ugliness in you.keep getting outraged and you'll stay alive forever.the bike ride may have not been such a brilliant idea after all,people were everywhere and were even more reckless than i used to be. but the sight on the Bay was enchanting and worth every joint soreness.
i leave you teabaggers with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxCcr4KkPJc
so beautiful it almost beats sex, booze, kickboxing and riding.not necessarily in that order.i'll read your posts from time to time but i won't post anymore,got some urgent shit to put in order.so should anyone post with my vtwin flag it will be another asshole.
be good, teabaggers.and do no let anybody insult Joe Sobran.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.10 @ 1:29PM

Vtwin belongs to Satan, read his history, he was with the HELL's angels, not the Heaven's angels. And that's the least of it. Vtwin goes from one fad to another, today it might be Christ, yet tomorrow it is something or someone else.
He is a lost young man from Vt who blames his problems on "ZOG".

Alan Brooks| 12.5.10 @ 5:41PM

HOWEVER, it appears the comments on this particular Bethell blog are not vtwins, whomever it is above doesn't use caps, and is markedly different in tone. Also, the anecdotes used above are expectedly wild to say the very least.

It appears more like Daphne Kenward on marijuana (or perhaps ecstacy & PCP).

skip| 12.6.10 @ 2:10PM

Ever heard of 'epiphany', my son?

Maybe you would post an intelligent and/or honest opinion if you have one yourself.

Go and sin no more my son.

Alan Brooks| 12.11.10 @ 2:38AM

"Go and sin no more my son."

You're my father? then invite my wife and I over for Christmas-- and the turkey better be tender.

Lance Elliott Griffin| 12.21.10 @ 10:45PM

A very fine tribute. You get it. You get Joe.

Jeremiah| 12.5.10 @ 2:29PM

Our dying sinner may be right after all, you really are the Spectator's Sid (Vicious) Blumenthal. So you kick your enemies in the head when they're down? I didn't expect much more from a liberal. Didn't I already ask you why you spend so much time with us?

Stephanie| 12.5.10 @ 2:35PM

Sid Brooks doesn't belong to Satan, he IS Satan.
Vtwin, I'm still mad at you but I may forgive you someday. Don't give up, OK?

Jeremiah| 12.5.10 @ 9:03PM

...with the shlong as a valve? LOL!

Alan Brooks| 12.6.10 @ 12:18AM

I did not write the above.

Jeremiah| 12.6.10 @ 5:32AM

"I did nt write the above" "this is a vast right wing consoiracy" "yes we can""someone stole my yber ID" blah blah blah blah blah
It really looks like your usual fart
Know you enemy a little better, lozel?

scythe| 12.6.10 @ 9:49AM

Sobran: one of the most courageous and insightful thinker and writer on the conservative mindset . I was so sorry to hear about his untimely death. From the moment Buckley accused him of "contextual anti-Semitism" I could no longer stand Buckley. I will miss his commentary and hope he has found eternal peace.

Jack in the Midwest| 12.6.10 @ 1:46PM

Mr. Bethel is just another so called friend of Joe knifing him in the back after his death. I subscribed and monitarily supported National Review for 42 years. It sad decline under Buckley and the neocons statted when he caved inot rats like Pohoretz and Kristol. I should have burned my subscription when Buckley fired Joe. Instead I hung around for 10 years. Buckley never wrote a lucid column the last 10 years of his life. Joe still was a great writer almost to his death.

Alan Brooks| 12.11.10 @ 2:40AM

Where in the Midwest do you live? Skokie?

Occam's Tool| 12.11.10 @ 11:39PM