Soccer Dad

TNR Supports Kerry

I think there was some doubt where Martin Peretz would come down in this election. He recently trashed Sen Kerry's record towards Israel in the LA Times in an essay titled "Kerry the Clueless." It's a pretty strong indictment of Kerry. But still, as I noted earlier, Peretz wrote in the essay:

Now although there are many reasons one might want to vote for John F. Kerry, remembering Jerusalem — remembering to stand up for the state of Israel — is not among them.

I took this as meaning that Dr. Peretz accepts those "many reasons." Maybe not. On the other hand (Thanks to Real Clear Politics) Peretz's magazine, the New Republic endorses Senator Kerry.

And so a president who promised to make America safer by making the Muslim world more free has failed on both counts. This magazine has had its differences with John Kerry during his career and during this campaign. But he would be a far better president than George W. Bush.

It's sad. I used to - when I was younger and more liberal - subscribe to the New Republic. I used to find its arguments interesting if not convincing. Of course, when I subscribed, Fred Barnes was its White House correspondent and I could still read Charles Krauthammer every few weeks. Either I've changed or the magazine has. (I think a little of both.)
What bothers me is how much of this endorsement could have come from the New York Times. It doesn't seem to reflect thought as much as boilerplate liberal rhetoric.
For one thing the editors of TNR declare that the President's effort to democratize the Arab world has been an abject failure. But as I noted earlier (same link as before), Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post, whose favorite topic is Arab reformers, noted that Arab reformers have been emboldened somewhat by the current administration.
There was a time, I think, when TNR would have been less partisan and more thoughtful. It sometimes still is. But not in its endorsement.

Posted by SoccerDad at October 21, 2004 01:47 PM | TrackBack