The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Oh, the Irony of It All

Text Size

Oh, the Irony of It All

By Robert Stacy McCain on 11.17.08 @ 11:52AM

The New York Times -- which might well be bankrupt in six months, perhaps due to the manpower drain of publishing massive numbers of corrections -- writes an obit for National Review:

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.

Evidence? The departures of Christopher Buckley and David Frum. They apparently took all the erudition and good manners with them when they left.

View all comments (5) | Leave a comment

Mary| 11.17.08 @ 1:27PM

If you read Frum's Dead Right, which is only 14 years old, you will read that there really is no such thing as the "Religious Right," and that while a soc liberal can begin as a fiscal conservative -he used Weld as an example- he cannot remain as a FC. Citing, as he does, Irving Berlin who invites us to admit that justice can and sometimes must reduce liberty.

According to Frum, Berlin does not bemoan the constriction of liberty, but dislikes the manner in which this advancing of "justice" must always be cloaked as an expansion of liberty. It seems that Berlin preferred honesty to spin.

Frum uses the example of Weld (pro-choice, even more pro-homosexual rights) who he says started out admitting to being a "filthy supply-sider," and wound up referring to himself just a few years later as "not only a Keynesian, but a leveler."

I do think Brooks and Frum are right in that small government has been rejected by the electorate.

According to Dan Henninger, and his pre-election piece on the Historic Vote:

"Obama's refundable tax credits are direct cash transfers from the federal government. This would place some 48% of Americans, nearly half, out of the income tax system. More than a tax proposal, this is a deep philosophical shift, an American version of being on the dole.'"

What little effort it would take to increase that 48% to 51% is pretty easy to imagine.

Taking another page from the "Reformers" and the notions they advance; the NYT has a piece on a potential first pound of flesh moment for Obama:

"...Hispanic leaders said they provided the margin of victory in Florida, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada.

“We feel like we had a big stake in the election and that’s what prompted this historic turnout,” said Janet Murguía, president of the National Council of La Raza. The advocacy group did wait long to begin publicly pushing the new president-elect to recognize this support with key White House and Cabinet positions.

“At some point in the first term we would definitely expect to see an effort to move responsible immigration reform,” Ms. Murguía said. 'It would be a big mistake not to act on this important priority.'"

NYT link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/weekinreview/16baker.html?_r=1&ref=weekinreview&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

Also, it's been out there for a few days, but apparently, Emanuel has stated that immigration reform cannot happen until the last two years of the Obama admin. He said something to the effect that recent Republican efforts, having poisoned the prospect of passing the reform, have made it impossible to forge ahead in the here and now.

One group pitted against another is inevitable.

This isn't a situation of Irish vs. Italians -being equally Irish/Italian and equally American- quite rapidly taking their fight from the street straight into the conjugal bedchamber.

Don't know how long the unraveling will take, but a little Elvis Costello wouldn't be amiss here:

And as I walked on
Through troubled times
My spirit gets so downhearted sometimes
So where are the strong
And who are the trusted?
And where is the harmony?
Sweet harmony.

'Cause each time I feel it slippin'
away, just makes me wanna cry.
What's so funny 'bout peace love
& understanding? Ohhhh
What's so funny 'bout peace
love & understanding?

Captain American| 11.17.08 @ 2:10PM

Chris Buckley is the Ron Reagan Jr. Award winner.

David Frum is just plain lame brained. I remember him going on the Rachel Maddox show on DNC/MSNBC. He came on about mid-program and was astonished that Rachel and her prior guests were just so, well, partisan.

He then went into full Rodney King mode saying "can't we all just get along?"

What is it about former scribes for former Republican presidents?