We need at least one journal that holds to a high standard of seriousness. After that, I see no reason why funny con’s and bought and paid for con’s shouldn’t have all the venues the market allows. But for this old con, the descent into juvenalia and irrelevance of the old flag ship is sickening.

I guess my point is, if I gave a damn what McCain or Mark Steyn thought, I’d go read their stuff. I couldn’t care less, so I don’t. And writing about them just encourages some of the stupid comments from their troll fans that we’ve seen above.

I don’t see why TAC needs to pay the least attention to NRO, Steyn, McCain, etc, unless it wants to buy into their fantasy of a “conservative movement” that is actually accomplishing something positive in this country. (Other than simply propping up the careers of faux-intellectuals and “writers” who don’t want to get a real job.)

Yeah there are some mediocrities and nonentities like Lowry and Lopez, but they are editors and probably just publish their own articles for vanity. With that being said, I DO prefer The American Spectator in print form over NR.

For his part, Tommy is right as well in pointing out that RSM is another gem on the right whose hard work and old school reporting is coupled with tremendous production and a cutting sense of humor.

It is a Conor Feidersdorf type question to attempt to guide the right as to which writers properly advance conservatism and which do not. I like Conor as well, very much, but find the quest for the right’s Holy Grail of commentary unnecessary and self-defeating. The more the merrier I say, and welcome to our side. We need all the help we can get in putting the lie to the left’s domineering and disparaging characterization of the right.

I enjoyed reading your comments Kate. A lot of vinegar and spunk! I believe you may find a fellow soul mate in April Gavaza.

Cheers all!

Yes indeed. Like modern sanitation, hygiene, reforms of brutal and sadistic prisoner treatment, conservation, civil liberties, and the need to engage foreign policy once in a while, and actually have some answers. Just to shave the top of the cheese here.

All these notions–sorry, fellow cons–came from the Progressive Movement of yesteryear.

I don’t care for much of what most modern libs say, no, but they write trillions of words yearly and tend to be highly intelligent people, and if by nothing else than the old saw that a broken clock is correct twice a day, hit upon sound ideas sometimes.

Dreher is a nice guy. But as with his dumbfounded encounter with the painfully lunatic provocateur PZ Myers demonstrates, he never knows how or when to pour through context about what others say vs. what HE thinks.

“Well, like my broker says–we operating at par level!”

Nyuck nyuck. *burp*

But other than the obvious (once again, from AC commentators…*sigh*) Jew bashing regarding beet stews and funny accents from the Northeast and controlling cabals setting up Israeli puppets states to diss the peace loving Palestinian gut-splat brigades that the Paleos have no problem with, PLEASE show Steyn the door BUT show us his replacement.

That too much to ask?

Yes, Steyn’s pondering of shemales and edible panties is more earthly than some con commentators, but then it shows he’s a real man with red blood in the veins and not some English fairy who piddles with grammarian high jinks and Jew bashing as policy insight.

“Jennifer said…

Oh come on- don’t be such a prude. The halal thong was the funniest thing I’ve read in ages- Steyn outdid even himself. I emailed his link to about 20 people- unfortunately for one recipient, it happened to be the second post-operative day (after a Caesarian section) and the surgical wound literally split because she laughed so uncontrollably.”

Since you bring up my blog, I’ll let readers decide for themselves what to think. http://odysseusontherocks.blogspot.com

I did think it a shame to find Steyn’s edible underwear jokes in a journal of conservative opinion, once the home of real intellectuals.
My point was and is simply that conservative commentary can be amusing but it should never descend into cheap entertainment. And that is what the American conservative scene has become since the Neocon’s and Murdock subverted it.

If the only ideas you can tolerate flow from the pen of “International best sellers,” you might considered getting yours from Barbara Cartland.

Wakefield Tolbert, I won’t interfere with your richly imagined image of me smoking cheroots and drinking brandy at the Nassau Club, except to say that I wish you success in overcoming your feelings of social inferiority. Like Karen/Jennifer, you are looking for entertainment. But it is not my job to provide it.

It seems like the neocons have broken themselves and the Republican party against the Law, and now they are seeking a challenger to fight off, so they don’t have to compare their paradigms with reality. Of course, the real challenger is not a rival faction or dogma but the Law itself. For this reason I think personal attacks, which give neocons a human enemy to face, ultimately postpone the personal revelations of which they are in need.

O. Meehan, oh me, oh MY!

The borscht belt indeed. Though I must point out this Eurasian dish is good for you, whereas the country club lifestyle and drinks on the links is not, and leads to potbellies and bad tickers.

Now then. Since you think a better promoter of a your fantasy creature of a blue-blooded, high brow, poison-pen scribbler can be found among some other brand of conservative, presumably those chomping cigars and coddling drinks in a paneled library all day long, wondering why the non-redneck flavor of Conservatism is seen as an aloof monstrosity in a planet of want and beggary and thus just as bad as that of the ignorant clod-kickers, tell us dear readers and rubes who might that be…

You got your flyswatter out to thusly dispatch the Steynmart gnats, and in true Paleo-con style, have come close to the old saw that the neo-cons are sandbox warriors of Jew blood and liberals who attack defenseless dictators, and we just need to get back to shipping the Mexicans across the Rio–and making a wall around Buchanian Fortress America–and that THAT will do the trick quite nicely regarding Islamist terror lords. That’s about all that’s left of Paleo brand of Conservatism these days, with all the relevance of a planet in full bloom when T-Rex roamed Montana eating smaller reptiles for breakfast.

But fine. Go for it.

But do tell us of Steyn’s replacement and chief competitor to the Lefty blogs’ take on things.

It has come to more than one person’s attention that the paleo cons and the crunchies–God bless them–don’t fare well over on Pandagon and Balloon Juice. One hit from John Cole’s handy stats on immigration and the need for socialized meds and NHS stats and the paleos come holding their balls and bawling.

An encounter with Steyn–however and wherever you think his writing prowess falls–by contrast leaves them reaching for their own entrails–at least on matters of political philosophy and the everyday observations the Left is famous for missing in the “devil in the details” deparment.

Steyn DOES get much mileage on the very real decapitation boffo snuff films and the lack of balls and vinegar in the West’s tepid and torporous responses as hooked on the ambrosia of the Welfare State. Yes, and that’s because it’s ripe for the picking about what’s wrong with America and her alleged Allies across the Pond.

Dig?

Steyn is far from perfect as either a writer or a comic relief, but then, the foot soliders in the culture war are not hired for perfection, now are they? They are hired to fight, and at that, Steyn is willing to take the Left head on rather than hide in enclaves and fabulous estates. His methodology, though crude in some opines, leaves even the most determined Lefty deep thinkers utterly and gorily disemboweled. An encounter with the Old Right merely makes them snort.

So show Steyn to the door, of course, but let’s see the new whipper-shapper waiting in the office, eh?

It is amusing to picture oneself being a caterer on the deck of the Titanic, wondering if any of these people know the ship is sinking.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/08/tax_receipts_fall_off_a_cliff.html

I think I remember you from a few months back. The pompous, self-righteousness and the middle initial thing seem to ring a bell.

If I’m not mistaken, you objected to an NRO Corner piece by Steyn, and specifically questioned the validity of a news item he discussed, even though he provided a direct link to it for all to see.

You struck me as an exceptional prude also. You were absolutely disgusted the piece, as I recall.

I’d actually sent that same Steyn piece to as many friends and relatives I could think of (some belonging to other people), because it actually made me WET MY PANTS it was so funny.

For the benefit of anyone who missed it (and I hope you appreciate the fact that I’ve spent close to 10 minutes going back through my “sent messages” to find this gem), here it is again:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MmU1ZTFjZjYwYzM1MGY2ODk2ODY3YzNmN2Q0YzVmYTY

When your international bestseller comes out, Thomas, please let us know.

NR is simply too juvenile to read. I do appreciate John Derbyshire and read his work. The rest consists of policy positions written by people who desperately want to believe someone cares.

Mark Steyn is a very facile stylist but he is out of his depth since leaving his post as movie reviewer with the London Spectator. He is also a neo-conservative punk of the first water. His reaction to criticism is to publish one’s words on his blog, inviting legions of his gnat like fans to swarm one’s site with their vitriol. I confess to enjoying the spike in blog hits, but was stupefied by the ignorant sordidness of his admirers. Steyn’s world opened up after 9/11. He has surfed the tide of anti-Muslim writing ever since. Now there’s nothing wrong with putting the Mohammedans in their place, but I for one would prefer someone other than a borscht belt comic to do it.