A monthly magazine of conservative journalism, little in the
American Spectator will serve to convince the unfaithful. That’s a shame, because there is a good deal of dispassionate argument in the Spectator that maintains a firm, reasoned opposition to the prevailing liberal orthodoxy. Plus, the magazine is often genuinely hilarious. It has an instinct for the jugular. But the strident tone of some articles, especially those by editor R.Emmett Tyrell, can turn off even some of the converted (my very conservative father- and sister-in-law both let their subscriptions lapse) and serves to not even get the magazine through the door of the more unsettled. Liberals with loathe this.
FYI, newsstand copies are $5.95 and an annual subscription is $39. Each issue is roughly eighty pages long.
The magazine’s politics are strongly conservative but not necessarily lock-step Republican. It is partisan but, unlike
The Nation, not bigoted and dishonest. Dubya comes in for a strong amount of criticism, as does the weak collection of Republican presidential candidates. However, you generally get what you pay for: free-market economics, no pull-out from Iraq, pro-missile defense, anti-ACLU, pro-life, school choice, etc. It despises the Clintons, Gore, and the Hollywood Left.
Each issue begins with a one-page editorial from the publisher, Alfred Regnery, and then swings into a page or two of short letters that usually comment on articles in earlier issues. Next is an often-hilarious two-page piece from Tyrell entitled “The Continuing Crisis” which has short vignettes on politics, current events, and assorted idiots and their idiotic behavior. These last are not merely political figures (even a half-wit conservative like Tucker Carlson comes under fire, much less Democratic presidential candidates) but wannabe Darwin award winners such as the unfortunate Croatian who, failing to find his underwear, burned his house down in retaliation. The two-page “On The Prowl” political gossip column follows.
The guts of the magazine are in the half-dozen or so feature articles on topics of conservative interest. The usual suspects of Democratic politics (TAS is against them) and Republican politics (TAS is sometimes for them) come under fire, as one might expect. But there are also thoughtful articles on a wide variety of topics from stem-cell research, separation of church and state, the Middle East, religion and culture. The magazine played a very important role in airing Clinton administration scandals such as Paula Jones and Troopergate. Authors include Natan Sharansky, Tom Bethell, Michael Fumento, Paul Johnson, M.Stanton Evans and others on the right.
Monthly columns and articles include James Bowman’s excellent movie reviews, Jonathan Aitken’s religion column, Tyrell’s editorial, and Roger Scruton’s topic of interest. A high point is “Ben Stein’s Diary”, a short excerpt of his diary that manifests his deep love of this country’s average citizens and his contempt for the cultural left. (Stein, for those of you who have forgotten your 80s pop culture, is a lawyer and actor must famous for his part in
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in which he muttered the famous word “Bueller? Bueller?”
There are generally three or excellent book reviews on wide ranging topics. Surprisingly, some conservative authors come in for some flak;
National Review columnist Florence King recently savaged a fawning biography of Bill O’Reilly. At Christmas, there is an excellent long piece of book recommendations from well-known politicos and writers. The mag concludes with “Current Wisdom”, a collection of assorted stupidity collected from magazines or newspapers across the country. Regardless of your political persuasion, for example, it is impossible to have any respect for the nitwit who penned in the
Washington Post:
Incredible as it may seem, Al Gore is not only carbon neutral, but is geek-chic cool. No velvet rope can stop him. He rolls with Diddy. He is on first-name basis, for real, with Ludacris. But what does this mean? And how did it happen?
If you think the writer of those words should be permitted to breed, then
you should not be permitted to breed.
I’m a pretty solid right-winger so I like the magazine, but not enough to subscribe (I read it at the library, and not cover to cover). I think the National Review is a bit more intellectual and frankly respectable, but TAS is a lot punchier and amusing. Hard-core conservative will like it, centrists and liberals will ignore it. But the mag has an impact beyond its readership, and the left ignores it at its peril.
And finally, you have to have some liking for a magazine whose legal counsel is the firm of Solitary, Poor, Nasty, Brutish & Short.
buffoonery’s magazine and newspaper reviews:
Wall Street Journal
Commentary
The Economist
National Review
The Nation
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Sun-Times
First Things
The American Spectator
The New Republic
Guitar World
Guitar World Acoustic
Guitar One
Guitar Player
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