Sunday, August 26, 2007
That Sounds About Right
I'm a '60s liberal academic, registered Independent voter, consumed with anger that the New Republic has forced me to cancel my decades-long subscription. The sublime film criticism of Stanley Kauffmann, Jed Perl's art criticism, numberless fine book reviews and poems, and intelligent political commentary -- gone with the wind. I endured the Glass Affair, winced through Chait's juvenile "I hate Bush because he reminds me of guys in high school," even made peace with the magazine's recent lurch to the Left. I used to recommend TNR and The Weekly Standard to students for balanced political perception. But TNR's presentation of Beauchamp's fictions and fabrications just can't be tolerated. I'm angered but also mournful at what has become of this once fine and important publication. Glass was a journalistic embarrassment; Chait was ludicrous; Beauchamp, though, has put TNR in the gutter.
That sounds about right.
