The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Moe Tkacik Nukes the Bridge

In 2008, Moe Tkacik was hailed as a ‘literary it girl.’ “I know of one wretched hack who lists ‘Thought Leader’ as his occupation on his Twitter profile; he recently scored a fellowship with the American Enterprise Institute.” — Moe Tkacik, The Baffler No. 19 Sometimes there is nothing so wonderfully educational as seeing someone […]

It’s Past Midnight in Louisiana, and We’re Already Knee-Deep in Craziness

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana While I was driving six hours across Alabama and Mississippi to get here, and then covering Newt Gingrich’s appearance at a Tea Party forum on the LSU campus, it seems that everbody went crazy: Ed Crane went crazy on the Koch brothers, whom he accuses of trying to take over the libertarian […]

Nostalgia Is Not a Business Strategy

The introduction: John R. MacArthur is publisher of Harper’s Magazine and a monthly contributor to The Providence Journal, among other publications. This essay is one of this year’s Delacorte Lectures at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Oh, boy. You know this one’s gonna be a hoot: Long before I took myself off Facebook, I doubted […]

Andrew Sullivan Should Be Deported, Not Invited to White House State Dinners

Let me set this up by telling you a story: My 13-year-old son Jefferson accompanied me to South Carolina in January. After the debate in Myrtle Beach was over and I’d hit my deadline for the American Spectator (“Carolina Spin Wars“), friends wanted me to join them at the hotel bar, and I told Jefferson to […]

Mr. Inevitability, Mitt Romney

Quin Hillyer of The American Spectator lives in Alabama and reports on the ideological emptiness of the front-runner’s campaign: At about 7:15, Ann Romney came out to say her husband would be out soon. They knew it was important to do it soon, she said, because they were looking at weather forecasts and were afraid […]

Sources Close to Christina Hendricks Could Not Be Reached for Comment

When you’re seeking a metaphor for “no chance in hell,” certain impossible scenarios immediately come to mind, which was what I was aiming for in my American Spectator column today: Monday, Carl Cameron of Fox News was the vehicle by which “sources close to the Gingrich campaign” floated a trial balloon, suggesting that former House […]

Rush Limbaugh Apologizes on Radio Show; Byron York Explains Background

Rush Limbaugh devoted the opening monologue of his nationally syndicated radio program today to explaining why he issued an apology to Sandra Fluke. Limbaugh said that in his fight with the Left, he had “descended to their level.” Limbaugh then cited a Washington Examiner column by Byron York, in which Republican sources on Capitol Hill […]

Who Is James Wolcott? And Why Would Anybody Want to Know? Or Care?

Pamela Geller’s commentary about Sandra Fluke has caused a conniption on the part of — you guessed, didn’t you? — Charles Johnson. Mr. Jazzy McBikeshorts then got into a Twitter colloquy with the infamously boring James Wolcott, who decided to bring my name into it. A commenter informed me about this, prompting my Twitter reply: […]

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