Richard Spencer

June 16, 2009

National Review has a new ?editor at large,? Kathryn Jean Lopez, who this fall will be leaving her New York position at NRO to go to DC to do ? well, I?m not sure exactly what. (At any rate, her strange plea in her farewell blog for book deals and speaking engagements seems to suggest that she?ll be taking a salary hit.)

At NR, the ?editor at large? designation has often been a nice way of saying ?You?re Purged!? It certainly was like that for John O?Sullivan, whose NR editorship (1988-98) appears as a Golden Age in comparison with what we have now. Can you imagine Peter Brimelow or Steve Sailer contributing to the current magazine?

Still, K-Lo is such a conventional, confused movement conservative?a pro-war pro-lifer who loves Mitt Romney?and such a hokey romanticizer of official ?conservatism??she thinks Sarah Palin successfully channels the spirit of William F. Buckley and that George W. Bush should spend more time with America?s inner-city youth, weaning them off dangerous pop culture?that it?s hard to imagine her getting fired for ideological reasons. Sure, K-Lo?s posting are cringe inducing, but then no more cringe-inducing now then they were six years ago. Rich Lowry, who?s somehow found himself as editor-owner of the dead-tree edition, will be taking over K-Lo?s post at NRO. The Internetz is where it?s at.