Catching up with a great catch in last week's Weekly Standard “Scrapbook” section, the September 7 issue highlighted an example of how it takes a worldview that sees liberals like Barack Obama as “consensus”-oriented/“explicitly nonideological” centrists -- and Republicans as “ideologically committed” conservatives -- to work at the New York Times. Sam Tanenhaus, editor of the newspaper's Book Review and Week in Review sections, in his new book, The Death of Conservatism, proposes on page 23:The primary dynamic of American politics, normally described as a continual friction between the two major parties, is equally in our time a competition between the liberal idea of consensus and the conservative idea of orthodoxy. We see it in the Democratic Party's recent history of choosing centrist, explicitly nonideological presidential candidates (Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton, Obama), as contrasted with the Republicans' preference for ideologically committed ones (Goldwater, Reagan, George W. Bush).The unnamed Weekly Standard writer scoffed: “The sophistry here is breathtaking. Tanenhaus not only conflates his own political preferences with the American 'center.' In order to prove that only the Democratic party nominates 'centrist, explicitly nonideological' men for the presidency, Tanenhaus (1) puts Obama – Barack Obama! – in the 'centrist' camp, and (2) totally ignores Democrats Hubert Humphrey, George McGovern, Walter Mondale, Michael Dukakis, and Al Gore, as well as Republicans Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, and John McCain.”
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The refutation continued:
Indeed, when you look at all the major party presidential nominees since 1960, you actually find that more "proud liberals" than "red-blooded conservatives" have run for the office. Furthermore, it's actually rare for the GOP to nominate a dyed-in-the-wool conservative. Even the hated George W. Bush ran in 2000 as a "compassionate conservative" who promised more federal spending on education and religious charities.
The book's more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger tone is belied by blurbs from such noted well-wishers of conservatism as Chris Matthews, Jeffrey Toobin, Jane Mayer, and Leon Wieseltier. Sheesh. We wish somebody would give us cash for this clunker.
—Brent Baker is Vice President for Research and Publications at the Media Research Center
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
what?
September 7, 2009 - 17:29 ET by puredmashieobama was listed as the most liberal senator, based on his voting record. but in the eyes of a new york times reporter, i guess that's mainstream.
swing hard in case you hit it.
far left is the new moderate
September 7, 2009 - 17:31 ET by katainkentkeep up!
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We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. ~Thomas Jefferson
Twister
September 7, 2009 - 18:12 ET by ThisnThatTwister used to be a game, to see how many ways you can twist your body to touch and connect unconnectable squares.
It has also turned into an employment test for NYT reporters. Anybody who can't take a concept, phrase, or paragraph and twist the words to satisfy the agenda isn't hired by the NYT. To become one of the vaunted "reporters", you must also pass another, higher test. You must be able to take plane-as-the-nose-on-your-face facts and truth and twist them into an unrecognizable bromide of leftist talking points, and then be able to present the mixture as honest-to-God "new truth". If you can do that, you can proudly claim to be a NYT reporter.
I want to congragulate Sam Tanenhaus. He has surpassed the standards set by the NYT, and has been elevated to Editor. What an accomplishment. I, myself, am astonished.
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"Tax the rich" is a basically unstable way of governing - The NYT
Tanenhaus lives in
September 7, 2009 - 17:31 ET by bigtimerTanenhaus lives in La-La-Land along with his other leftist lemming liars.
'Go Green...Recycle Congress'
Tanenhaus needs to get out of New York City more . . .
September 7, 2009 - 21:19 ET by GalvanicGiven the strong public reaction triggered by Obama's reckless spending and his socialist health care reform, Tanenhaus' book title -- The Death of Conservatism -- appears to be premature.
Perhaps he'll be writing a sequel in 2011 titled Obama and the Resurrection of Conservatism.
it's just unbelievable
September 7, 2009 - 17:34 ET by botghow blind or dishonest these people truly are (maybe both)
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” -- Chief Justice John Roberts
They go to their own rubber room
September 7, 2009 - 17:41 ET by 10ksnookerWhere no ideological light shall be other than, nothing but leftists all the time. I suppose that is what happenes to your world view if you work at the New York Times. It's not that it doesn't show when real people come across it, it's almost funny.
I guess the polling that say liberals are less than 20% of the polulace doesn't ever break in.
Hey Sammy Boy...
September 7, 2009 - 17:47 ET by FuzzlenutterYou may be dumb as a box of elephant shit to believe what you're saying, but believe me, most of America is not...
IMHO
September 7, 2009 - 17:50 ET by Vivaldi5That's funny, because I would like to tell Mr. Tanenhaus that, in my honest and unbiased opinion, George W. Bush was an "explicitly nonideological" president (and watch the smoke pour from Sammy-baby's ears!).
Not to defend the lib
September 7, 2009 - 18:08 ET by gopsteveNot to defend the lib msm...
They are so far left (and so are their pals they hang out with), that their liberalism seems normal, the way it should be.
So on their scale, Obama comes out as a centrist.
With their mindset, they may be being honest.
I do not know, I am just trying to rationalize the way these guys thinnk!
With apologies to the Cat
September 7, 2009 - 18:42 ET by ThisnThatWith apologies to the Cat in the Hat, here's my vision of the honest-thinking NYT reporters' typical day.
I love Obama. He makes my day!
I listen to him more each day.
I love van jones, he is the best!
I love his boss, and all the rest.
I'm happy to see him. I am. I am.
His face on televisions across the land.
I love his jokes, with all the laughter.
I even love his teleprompter.
I think my job is really swell,
there's nothing else I love so well.
I love to always tell the truth,
even when we don't have proof...
'Cause we can always make it up,
spew it out, off-the-cuff,
knowing you, our gentle readers,
are simply liberal-heart bleeders
who have no brains, no none at all
and if we throw it at the wall
you'll lap it up, stink and all.
So I repeat,
and it's quite a feat
I love this work. I love these chores.
'Cause I can treat you all like w$ores.
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"Tax the rich" is a basically unstable way of governing - The NYT
I love this
September 7, 2009 - 19:20 ET by bigtimerI love this TnT...
Written well!
You've got me grinning...great work.
'Go Green...Recycle Congress'
Wal-Mart must have rose-colored glasses on sale
September 7, 2009 - 18:12 ET by KC MulvilleTed Kennedy, the liberal lion, the proud unashamed liberal ... cast as a centrist? Every time a reporter at the New York Times tries to tell us how things are, they simply reveal how confused they are. What the hell is going on in that building?
KC, you nailed it!!!
September 7, 2009 - 19:04 ET by HogTideRebelCatsCompletely accurate and hilarious too!!!
KC...
September 7, 2009 - 19:27 ET by JerI believe Tanenhaus was referring to JFK, not Teddy...or am I overlooking the tongue in your cheek?
Jer
Just a little
September 7, 2009 - 20:19 ET by KC MulvilleYou're half right, Jer. This was the line I was reacting to: "a continual friction between the two major parties, is equally in our time a competition between the liberal idea of consensus and the conservative idea of orthodoxy." So the Democrats are supposed to champion "consensus?"
But you're right in one sense. When Tanenhause mentioned "Kennedy" in that blurb, he was referring to JFK, not Teddy.
Hey folks! We have a new label for someone who is a
September 7, 2009 - 18:40 ET by BO STINKScommunist/fascist/socialist!!! We don't have to type three words anymore. Woo hoo! Yay!!
"I am a Nonideological." - B. Hussein Obama
"Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton, Obama"
September 7, 2009 - 18:43 ET by nolotrippen"Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton, Obama"
OK students, which tax-cutting, anti-communist, anti-crime Democrat does not belong on this list? Which one was a centrist circa-1960, but not any time since? Which one has not left a legacy of embarrassment?
Times up. Put your pencils down. If you guessed "none of the above," congratulations! Your future working for the MSM is assured.
The MSM is now officially
September 7, 2009 - 18:58 ET by d1carterThe MSM is now officially dead.
Quickly!
September 7, 2009 - 19:01 ET by FeynmanFanGet a wooden stake so we can drive it through its heart.
"I support the President but not his policies" - Blonde
I'll get the salt
September 7, 2009 - 19:06 ET by katainkentsomeone grab the thermite.
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We must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. ~Thomas Jefferson
Don't cry for Tanenhaus . . .
September 7, 2009 - 21:23 ET by GalvanicHis employer, the New York Times, will continue to swirl downward toward the drain, but it will certainly be rescued by the likes of Sen. John Kerry, who is calling for Senate hearings into how the government can prop up the liberal print media.
Guys. You can't make this stuff up.
September 8, 2009 - 20:55 ET by JWFThis is from the product details for the Tanenhaus book on Amazon.com.
5:57 PM CST Amazon.com Sales Rank: #442 in Books
7:01 PM CST 07Sep - Amazon.com Sales Rank: #522 in Books
8:47 PM CST 08Sep - Amazon.com Sales Rank: #769 in Books
Let's see: in the "all
September 7, 2009 - 19:13 ET by HockeyKidLet's see: in the "all books" category, Sammy's braintrust volume "The Death of Conservatism" is at #522 in Amazon sales. "Liberty and Tyranny" is at #24, only five HUNDRED slots in front of Sammyboy. Yep. Conservatism is truly dead.
Carter, Sam? A non-ideologue? Really? Back to the Thorazine, baby.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Mark's book has been out 6 months.
September 7, 2009 - 19:42 ET by JWFPublisher: Threshold Editions; First Edition, Tenth Printing edition (March 24, 2009)
Mark's book has gone the the printers 10 times to keep up with demand. And it has gone from #1 to the current #24 in six months.
Tanenhaus' book fell 80 points in an hour.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
A few of our lurkers must
September 8, 2009 - 12:57 ET by HockeyKidA few of our lurkers must have bought it out of pity--he's back up to #483 today. With a bullet! ;)
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
HK..
September 8, 2009 - 15:49 ET by JerVery funny, but, if it's any comfort to Tanenhaus, I plan to purchase his book. Maybe it will rocket to #482.
I've heard him interviewed a couple of times, and read a long article he wrote--I believe for The New Republic. The guy is extremely articulate and an excellent writer...a liberal who--like me--is a great admirer of Bill Buckley, but his observation about "centrist" candidates is indeed breathtakingly stupid.
Jer
a competition between the
September 7, 2009 - 19:42 ET by Jack BauerThis is a nonsense sentence. It's meaningless. These nouns are NOT diametrically opposed. One does not preclude the other. You cannot ascribe either to a political ideology.
Consensus is not liberal. Orthadoxy is not conservative.
I mean, the consensus could cluster around orthadoxy, couldn't it? I hope the rest of his book displays slightly more literacy than that.
"Ask not what you can do for your country; ask what you can do for your President..."
Spectrum re-calibration needed
September 8, 2009 - 09:35 ET by needleWould somebody please get Sam Loon Tanenhaus to flesh out his spectrum of politicos?
So Obama is a Centrist, eh? I presume Van Jones is too, because there is reputedly no space between them; he just got thrown under the bus because he was embarrassing.
Kennedy and Clinton are in the same boat with Johnson, Carter, and Obama? Ha, ha, ha! Busted!
So who are the Leftists anyway?
Is there even such a thing as an extreme Leftist in Sam's cockeyed world? This is a pretty interesting question, because if you asked him who the extreme right-wingers are, I am betting you might need a thick pad of paper to write all their names down.
After we are done with this exercise Sam the Loon would get a chance to see how his own perception of the world is distorted. A potential teachable moment, if you happen to be an optimist.
- Relying upon the State Run Media for your information is like relying upon an embezzler for your portfolio management.
Communism is the new political center
September 8, 2009 - 11:12 ET by R D HelmI always suspected it would get to this point eventually.
-Dave
Even when the government tries to kiss you, it is just a prelude to a good screwing. -Neal Boortz