[Previous entry: "Barton on Steyn"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Remains of 2 Sept. 11 hijackers identified"]

02/27/2003 Archived Entry: "Mark Steyn"

QUIBBLING ALWAYS WORKS: Steve, my only regret is that I didn't win a free book :( Of course, when most people say something about "Eisenhower-era conformism," they're referring to McCarthyism (Jonah Goldberg has just made a not-altogether convincing defence of Tailgunner Joe; here's a good summary of McCarthy's career, which more than shows why no one, least of all conservatives, should be caught defending McCarthy). Of course, this is historically myopic given that McCarthy was at the height of his powers during the Truman adminstration. In fact, it was McCarthy's former ally, Vice President Nixon (!) who made the first real counterattack against McCarthy when he made a televised speech warning against McCarthy's "reckless talk and questionable methods." And it was Eisenhower who manouvered McCarthy (I'd like to see Goldberg explain that) into overreaching when McCarthy began making baseless accusations of Communist infiltration in the US Army. The baby-boomer phenomenom of Fifties-bashing, like the Lytton Strachey-led attack on the Victorian era, will be seen in the future for what it is: utterly baseless self-promotion.