The Washington Post lovingly remembered liberal historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr in Friday’s editions, including a front-page obituary by Adam Bernstein. But the most notable line came in the Linton Weeks appreciation on the front of the Style section, where his article carried the gooey headline "A Historian Who Made the Ivory Tower Glisten." Weeks declared the historian had an air of timelessness: "He was, in a way, frozen in time, like Austin Powers – International Man of History!" (Exclamation point is the writer’s.) He added: "This analogy came to me in late November 2000" after Schlesinger was "quietly outrageous" in a lunch meeting with the reporter. Yes, he used it in that article, too, right down to the "yeah, baby!"
Unlike Bernstein, who didn’t mention Schlesinger was a liberal until paragraph 19 (although his lede noted he was JFK’s "court philosopher"), Weeks was up front with a royal We: "Seeing him with his bow tie and his Harvard University credentials, we had the reassuring feeling that a smart guy was doing some heavy thinking about this country’s most serious problems. He was an unapologetic liberal, able to articulate the lefty perspective as the country move more and more to the right."
Weeks applauded Schlesinger as America’s ideological guide: "To a nation, he was a compass point. Adore him or disagree with him, he spoke with a historian’s worldview. The architects of the war in Iraq, he told C-SPAN in an interview that will be aired on Saturday, "do not know enough history, and they duplicated the stupidity of the Vietnam War."
Bernstein’s obituary on the front page also carried a headline that touted Schlesinger as an opinion leader: "Author Shaped Lens For Viewing U.S. History." The most annoying line in it came when he arrived at a liberal label, noting Schlesinger helped start Americans for Democratic Action, a group "made up of a range of New Deal liberals" to "counter the influence of the Progressive Party of Henry Wallace, which they saw as Communist-dominated." This is ridiculous, like writing that someone "saw Cuba as Communist-dominated."
(For the record, the Post also put its obituary for revered libertarian economist Milton Friedman also on the front page.)
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center
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Comments Policy
La-La-Land of the leftists at
March 2, 2007 - 11:59 ET by bigtimerLa-La-Land of the leftists at their finest.
What sweet nothings bunch of tripe.
They see things through rose-colored glasses and always will.
Austin Powers
March 2, 2007 - 12:36 ET by CarpareusNo way Art was anyway near as funny as Mikey is.
WARNING on above link- not the MM we're flappin' our jaws about I think. But please let me know if you end up buying that property 8D.
'Gun control means using two hands and yelling "Halt 3 (three) times" before firing.'
Combating communism with big
March 2, 2007 - 13:00 ET by EdhenryCombating communism with big government liberalism is like fighting a fire with a gasoline hose. Both end up the same way. Government gets too big and powerful, individual rights erode, capital is reallocated to free states, economy shrinks, prices rise, then prices controlled, necessities scarce, two classes created (gov't employees who vote their own corrupt largess and the rest of us), resources are ineptly allocated; then a revolution is necessary to overthrow government, anarchy rules, the black hand then owns commerce, and on and on.
The United States is an experiment in limited government with specific enumerated powers. Our individual freedom is directly proportional to individual responsibility. This is why we moved the nation's capital out of the big city to inaccessable swampland. Keep the gov't small and beholden to the people.
Typical liberal from Harvard who lived his life on the backs of those who make this economy hum, unaware of what makes this country/economy work. Educated, but not smart.
Best summary I have ever read.
March 2, 2007 - 13:27 ET by Eagle OneVery well thought out piece of writting.
Combating communism with big
March 2, 2007 - 13:01 ET by EdhenryCombating communism with big government liberalism is like fighting a fire with a gasoline hose. Both end up the same way. Government gets too big and powerful, individual rights erode, capital is reallocated to free states, economy shrinks, prices rise, then prices controlled, necessities scarce, two classes created (gov't employees who vote their own corrupt largess and the rest of us), resources are ineptly allocated; then a revolution is necessary to overthrow government, anarchy rules, the black hand then owns commerce, and on and on.
The United States is an experiment in limited government with specific enumerated powers. Our individual freedom is directly proportional to individual responsibility. This is why we moved the nation's capital out of the big city to inaccessable swampland. Keep the gov't small and beholden to the people.
Typical liberal from Harvard who lived his life on the backs of those who make this economy hum, unaware of what makes this country/economy work. Educated, but not smart.
Wasn't Alger Hiss a New Deal Liberal
March 2, 2007 - 13:16 ET by Carl KolchakThe most annoying line in it came when he arrived at a liberal label, noting Schlesinger helped start Americans for Democratic Action, a group "made up of a range of New Deal liberals" to "counter the influence of the Progressive Party of Henry Wallace, which they saw as Communist-dominated."
Wasn't Alger Hiss a New Deal liberal? He didn't do much for the Communisists now did he? He was very loyal to the United States and not to Communism wasn't he?
"Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country" John F. Kennedy
Schlesinger a liberal? Who
March 2, 2007 - 14:25 ET by Tim the EnchanterSchlesinger a liberal? Who would have thought? (<sarc off>)
The Soviet Union was never a
March 2, 2007 - 14:32 ET by MidAmericaThe Soviet Union was never a true 'communist' country. It was merely a government ruled by one party with a controlled economy. If you extend out the nanny state envisioned by liberals you would essentially end up with the same system.
Remember that old saw: &quo
March 2, 2007 - 14:42 ET by Tim the EnchanterRemember that old saw: "Communism only works in two places: Heaven, where they don't need it, and Hell, where they already have it."
Just another example of the
March 2, 2007 - 16:02 ET by kathleenirishJust another example of the dumbing-down of America. How un-intellectual for the uber-elites.
"He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare, and he who has one enemy will meet him everywhere" -Ali ibn-Abi-Talib, 4th Islamic Caliph
"A Historian Who Made
March 2, 2007 - 17:02 ET by Dave R"A Historian Who Made the Ivory Tower Glisten."
Yeah, the liberal ivory tower.
I hate newspapermen.....I regard them as spies.....If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast. -Gen. William T. Sherman