Partisan Hacks

You know, I wish Jay Nordlinger were other than he is. What I mean is, National Review -- and the right wing media generally -- could use a crusty old conservative. Problem is, Nordlinger is an (insufferably pompous) utterly partisan hack. His devotion is to Republican aims, not republican ones -- not to the constitutional process. And too many things out of his pen are simply nutso. But what a pity. A Jay Nordlinger without the Jay Nordlingerness -- that would be very nice.

How else am I supposed to respond to a rant about Robert Byrd as a partisan hack coming from a man who has made a career out of gushing over Bush administraton studs such as Don Rumsfeld. Readers of Byrd's Losing America know that he does criticize Democrats, especially when they try to usurp the powers of Congress. A staunch opponent of the Iraq invasion, he was also critical of Clinton's Kosovo adventure.

Nordlinger, on the other hand, has a relationship with the Bush administration similar to People magazine's relationship with Tom Cruise.