tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post3098704520467318175..comments2023-09-15T04:27:57.129-04:00Comments on Commentarama: What Were The Editors At National Review Thinking?AndrewPricehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-25246431141930934602010-07-06T21:54:37.148-04:002010-07-06T21:54:37.148-04:00Stan: I guess by most standards, McCain was a war...Stan: I guess by most standards, McCain was a war hero. And I honor him for that. But it doesn't train you to be a good public servant outside the military, where the rules of the game are quite different. McCain is not intelligent enough to avoid his personal experiences as absolute rules on how to conduct a war, for that matter. He was tortured, and mostly for the sheer joy of torturing someone, or for the purpose of a false confession. Yet with his limited intelligence, that meant that all harsh interrogation techniques equal torture. Not only is that ridiculous, but it ignores the fact that we don't torture for fun, we make people extremely uncomfortable for the purpose of eliciting information about pending attacks against America. You can debate both the efficacy and necessity of the use of waterboarding from now until doomsday, but it's a walk in the park compared to what the enemy did in Korea and Vietnam. McCain's personal experience has totally clouded his ability to distinguish, and so he joined the lefties on granting civil liberties to terrorists caught in a theater of war who were not wearing an identifying uniform or insignia which would distinguish them from the civilian population.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-55729407771983160362010-07-04T09:59:28.276-04:002010-07-04T09:59:28.276-04:00McCain the worst presidential candidate in memory,...McCain the worst presidential candidate in memory, that’s right on target brother. I watched on the TV News the day that McCain returned from Vietnam, and thought, wow! …what a bunch of studs. Then as a politicians he became such traitorous weenie, go along, get along McCain, reaching across the aisle, with sleazy leftist politicians who hate America. Senator Byrd used to be the poster child for term limits, now that distinction should be McCain’s, come on Arizona, come on JD!StanHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07395708786509590321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-77626511192566470972010-07-03T12:52:37.546-04:002010-07-03T12:52:37.546-04:00Joel: Levin had a couple of other disputes with t...Joel: Levin had a couple of other disputes with the editors that had very little to do with editorial policy. But what he said about "something being wrong there" is exactly what I'm saying. Something's not right, but I can't figure out what. Ditto for Andrew McCarthy, which triggered my whole discussion. <br /><br />Buckley believed in being somewhat above the fray. He wanted the magazine to discuss politics and political philosophy, but not become part of them. It may be that the editors have decided they want to be more directly involved in and influential in the actual hurly-burly of politics. Intellectual rigor in that case has to give in to practical realities and social movements, since unlike political theorizing, real politics is the art of compromise. <br /><br />That's just a wild guess as to what may have motivated them, but it's probably as good a guess as anybody else is making at this point. Perhaps McCarthy's critique will produce an explanation from the editors that makes some kind of sense.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-5075303956024535492010-07-03T12:42:53.133-04:002010-07-03T12:42:53.133-04:00LawHawk,
Mark Levin removed his endorsement of Na...LawHawk,<br /><br />Mark Levin removed his endorsement of National Review a month ago. He said something is wrong there. He can't put his finger on it.<br /><br />I expect more of the regular contributers to bail from National Review.Joel Farnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15856960977033430002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-36122059292283507022010-07-03T12:36:28.408-04:002010-07-03T12:36:28.408-04:00Joel: I'm afraid I can't really agree wit...Joel: I'm afraid I can't really agree with you on that. If you read National Review (preferably the dead tree version, not the online version), you'll see that the magazine, and its editors for that matter, are very traditional conservatives. As an example, they have been consistently critical of Graham's hand-holding with the lefties. <br /><br />More importantly, they have been critical of almost everything McCain has done, and were very weak in their support of him during the presidential election. That, rather than a shift to the left, is what makes their endorsement so incomprehensible.<br /><br />Another thing that separates them from the faux conservatives and liberals is their complete willingness to allow, in their own pages, strong criticism of their editorial policy by their own longtime contributors, such as the one by Andrew McCarthy. As for PC, Jonah Goldberg is about as un-PC as you can possibly get.<br /><br />There's something other than an inadequate left/right dichotomy involved here, and I just haven't figured out yet what it is.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-65333150873483914902010-07-03T12:26:54.274-04:002010-07-03T12:26:54.274-04:00HamiltonsGhost: I look at it the same way. Buckl...HamiltonsGhost: I look at it the same way. Buckley said he wanted to "stand athwart history, shouting STOP." The new, younger editors at NR seems to prefer shouting "SLOW DOWN."LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-51996448975012989702010-07-03T12:25:48.050-04:002010-07-03T12:25:48.050-04:00These two "conservative" organizations a...These two "conservative" organizations are defecating on regular conservatives. I think in the hopes of derailing the conservative movement which is gathering momentum. <br /><br />In other words, they are the Lindsey Graham's of the "right" side. They still think that fascism is to the right of libertarianism, when in fact fascism is to the right of communism and the left of socialism.Joel Farnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15856960977033430002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-57564506600569999152010-07-03T12:24:44.089-04:002010-07-03T12:24:44.089-04:00Joel: I think there's some of that involved, ...Joel: I think there's some of that involved, but I'm still trying to figure out how they strayed this far. It's to be expected that when the founder of a magazine and its longtime mentor passes away, things will change somewhat with the newer, younger generation. This isn't quite yet the shift from right to left that <i>Time</i> went through after the death of the Luces, but it's still a shocker. <br /><br />It may have something to do with the "corporate leadership" model and how things change when there is no longer one single guiding thought-process being produced under the leadership of one single powerful chief. <br /><br />As they say, the definition of a camel is a horse put together by a committee. What Buckley wouldn't have done, the editorial committee did.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-51521095686480967382010-07-03T12:15:30.294-04:002010-07-03T12:15:30.294-04:00Lawhawk--The NRA is one of those "single-issu...Lawhawk--The NRA is one of those "single-issue" organizations that you and Andrew have talked about. The fact that they sold their souls cheap is a surprise, but not a complete shock. But National Review, at least as Buckley saw it, was the voice of the intellectual conservative movement on all fronts. This endorsement is completely mystifying.HamiltonsGhosthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07777000856977635480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-50463136091386250332010-07-03T12:14:26.145-04:002010-07-03T12:14:26.145-04:00Good point, but what is happening is the PC police...Good point, but what is happening is the PC police have gotten into the leadership of NRA and National Review. People who fake interest in all things conservative. <br /><br />They fake it, until they are exposed. Which is now.Joel Farnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15856960977033430002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-82428984931088753272010-07-03T12:11:06.962-04:002010-07-03T12:11:06.962-04:00Joel: At least the NRA got something in exchange ...Joel: At least the NRA got something in exchange for their endorsement, which makes them a cheap date. But what did National Review get? They must be the cheapest date in town.LawHawkRFDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17800255923675295515noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4425587034622601550.post-89890907153775141732010-07-03T09:18:00.861-04:002010-07-03T09:18:00.861-04:00LawHawk,
This is almost as bad as NRA's endor...LawHawk,<br /><br />This is almost as bad as NRA's endorsement of Harry Reid. <br /><br />Some organizations need to get a grip.Joel Farnhamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15856960977033430002noreply@blogger.com