Conservatism
May 3, 2022 — Scott Johnson
When Justice Alito was nominated to the Court by President Bush in 2005, the editors of National Review invited John and me to comment. Our article was published in the November 21 issue of the magazine that year. I thought it might be a timely moment to take a look back. This is what we had to say (below the break). * * * * * When the White House
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May 2, 2022 — John Hinderaker
The Metropolitan Museum’s annual Gala, superintended by Vogue’s Anna Wintour, is taking place tonight. The event’s theme is “Gilded Glamour,” and as usual celebrities major and minor are being photographed on the red carpet in more or less ridiculous outfits. The Gala is being widely abused in conservative media as out of touch, in view of the fact that Americans are suffering due to Bidenflation and other liberal maladies. It
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April 24, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Orrin Hatch, who represented Utah in the Senate from 1977 to 2019, died yesterday. His foundation reviews his career here. Orrin Hatch was, above all else, a patriot. He came from humble origins and was a senator for 42 years. I cannot add to the accolades Hatch has received, except to append a personal note. Some years ago I represented one of America’s biggest companies in a series of lawsuits
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March 29, 2022 — John Hinderaker
We conservatives get libeled a lot. If you are Donald Trump or Sarah Palin, there is no remedy: it is open season on politicians and former politicians. But most of us are not in that category. My organization and one of our policy fellows were libeled recently, and we fought back. What followed should encourage all who are wrongly maligned by liberals. I told part of the story here: American
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March 20, 2022 — Scott Johnson
I’ve been presenting previews of the Claremont Review of Books for more than 10 years. I am taking a break from promoting my favorite magazine that is in part prompted by “the Claremont question” that Steve Hayward raised with CRB editor Charles Kesler and Berkeley Law’s Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law John Yoo in Steve’s March 17 podcast. The CRB editors have posted the following highlights of the current
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March 15, 2022 — Scott Johnson
Steven Hayward just concluded his conversation with AEI’s Matt Continetti about a certain book that is just days away from publication. Hint: Steve wrote the book. Steve is not exactly a tough interview, but Matt did an excellent job in hitting the high points. AEI’s live stream was converted to the video below a few seconds ago. There is not a dull moment in it and many laughs along the
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March 5, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Conservatives are currently under attack on two contradictory grounds: 1) they are pro-Vladimir Putin, and 2) they are warmongers trying to embroil the U.S. in a war against Putin. Of course, it is possible that there are some conservatives in each of these alleged camps. Still, it is odd to be attacked from two utterly antithetical directions at once. I know hundreds of conservatives, and not one of them, to
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February 16, 2022 — Scott Johnson
John O’Hara famously observed on the death of George Gershwin that he “died on July 11, 1937, but I don’t have to believe it if I don’t want to.” I feel like that hearing the news that P.J. O’Rourke died yesterday at home in New Hampshire at the age of 74. He was a gifted humorist and prolific author in the American grain. His death represents an irreplaceable loss in
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February 8, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
I detect an emerging trend in the anti-conservative mainstream media — using conservatives to attack other conservatives. The New York Times is leading the charge. How else does one explain the Times publishing the op-ed by “common good conservative” Adrian Vermuele attacking originalism? Or an op-ed by three leading common good (or national) conservatives attacking the Republican foreign policy establishment? The publication of the two pieces can partially be explained
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January 16, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
I’ve written a few posts about common-good/national conservatism and its challenge to the mainstream conservative movement as it has existed since the 1960s. Two of these posts are basically summaries of presentations in a forum hosted by The New Criterion. Among other things, my posts summarized the lead, anti-common-good conservatism piece by Kim Holmes and a rebuttal by Josh Hammer. Peter Berkowitz covers this ground in an article called “The
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January 10, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
A friend called my attention to a show on YouTube called “Black Conservative Perspective.” It features commentary by Greg Foreman. I enjoyed the two episodes I’ve seen, which can be viewed below. The first is a report that MSNBC might fire Joy Reid, whom Foreman calls a racist, seemingly with good reason (I’ve never seen Reid’s show — just a few clips that support Foreman’s characterization.) The second is Foreman’s
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January 4, 2022 — John Hinderaker
Everyone knows that millions of people are leaving blue states and moving to red states, but I still haven’t have heard the liberal line on the phenomenon. They have to come up with an explanation other than the obvious one–liberal policies don’t work, and create inferior living conditions–but what is it? I am all ears. Mark Perry lists the top ten states that are gaining and losing residents (raw numbers,
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January 2, 2022 — Paul Mirengoff
David Brooks argues that what goes by the name of conservatism today is grotesque and bears no relation to what conservatives traditionally have believed. Not surprisingly, considering that this is Brooks, he begins his piece on the subject with autobiography. A socialist early in life, he says he fell in love with conservatism in his 20s because events persuaded him that, as Edmund Burke argued, “human society is unalterably complex”
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December 30, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
In this post, I discussed “national conservatives” and their movement (if one can call it that), “common good conservatism.” The New Criterion devotes a large part of its current issue to a debate on the subject. In this post, I will present two articles criticizing national conservatives and common good conservatism. I’ll present some entries from the other side of the debate in a follow-up post. But first, here is
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December 27, 2021 — Paul Mirengoff
George Will predicts that the current fever of racial thinking in America will break in 2022. I agree that the fever will break because it represents an irrational view of modern America, the prescriptions of which serve the interests of few Americans and, on balance, the interests of few whom it treats as victims. Will the fever break in 2022? That may be optimistic. One reason for Will’s optimism is
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December 26, 2021 — Steven Hayward
They say misery loves company, and that may be why liberals always want to extend their control over everyone and everything—because they are miserable people. Thomas Byrne Edsall covers some of the survey evidence about the misery and unhappiness of liberals in a New York Times article back in October: Conservatives Are Happier Than Liberals. Discuss. Two similarly titled papers with markedly disparate conclusions illustrate the range of disagreement on
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December 1, 2021 — John Hinderaker
In the last few years, partly because of Trumpian outreach and partly because of Democratic Party excess, more and more minority voters are swinging to the GOP. This is a trend that we need to encourage, with constant outreach and with good candidates. One such candidate may have emerged in Nevada: world champion fighter Jessie Vargas. Vargas, 32, is an excellent boxer, with a professional record of 29 wins, three
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