Republicans are Convervatives again
Mar 01 2009, 12:20 EST [updated Mar 01 2009, 12:22 EST]
The Weekly Standard published a piece that consists entirely of excerpts from Tocqueville. This is a big change from their previous tone; every piece could have been subtitled "Sorry, but this is the best defense we could think of for Bush policy." I unsubscribed early in the first Bush administration because the magazine was so tortured.
Now that they are in the opposition TWS doesn't have to choose between being Republicans or Conservatives. They can be both again. By contrast National Review has always been Conservative first which makes it more readable (assuming you are into that kind of thing). I expect being in the opposition will also give their writing a small boost, but the result will be less noticeable because it is genuine.