E.J. Dionne, Jr. admires (or is it envies?) William F. Buckley, Jr. He professes to admire WFB’s commitment to giving conservatives a "serious intellectual life," but then suggests that conservative ideas are simply subservient "to the interests of the wealthy and powerful." If Dionne thinks ideology is serious intellectual life, he reveals his own limitations as an, er, intellectual. Or he is so self-righteous in his liberalism that he can’t imagine that those who disagree with him are moved by ideas rather than, or in addition to, interests, which also reveals his intellectual limitations.
All of this suggests that Dionne’s celebration of Buckley’s accomplishments is a little disingenuous. He writes of WFB’s war against "wing nuts" and anti-Semites on the right. Is he, or anyone else on the left, willing to wage a war against the all-too-common extremists on their side? Or does Dionne think that his side is beyond reproach? If he took Buckley seriously, as he professes to do, he’d look in the mirror, and look around himself.
Update: Dionne passed on an opportunity to marginalize the wing-nuts and anti-Semites here. If anyone can find evidence of any criticism of, say, Cindy Sheehan by E.J. Dionne, Jr. anywhere, please post the link in the comments.
Update #2: Over at WFB HQ, aka The Corner, Jonah Goldberg--not an ideologue in my sense of the word, unless he’s either secretly defending a horde of wealth about which I’m clueless or simply prostituting his wit and intellect to the highest bidder--has more here, here, and here.
Professor Joe:
Who has the stomach to cruise through the swamp that is a pile of old EJ Dione columns looking for evidence of him being consistent. Hell it will be tough enough to find him being logical. I will pass on the opportunity. I think this is a Diogenes inspired exercise at best.
This is at least the second time, but I fear not the last, that a blogger here has gone into full denial mode regarding the ideological nature of this blog, the Ashbrook Center, etc. It’s every bit as laughable as it is mind-boggling. Sorry, but ideological zealots aren’t just found on the left. And the list of "wing-nuts" on the right which you do not shun, criticize, or marginalize would be a long one, indeed. Unless of course the plan is that you’re just letting William F. take care of that perpetual chore.
As for Jonah Goldberg’s "horde [sic] of wealth," well, since his mom is well-known conservative literary agent Lucianne "Trixie" Goldberg of Lewinsky tapes fame (she also coined the term "Freeper"), and his dad is a New York publisher, and they have a nine-room apartment on the West Side of Manhattan, something tells me that Jonah isn’t hoarding hubcaps in his garage for backup income in the event he loses his no-doubt minimum wage gig at NRO. He’s as much an ideologue as you No Left Turns guys (and girl, Julie Ponzi), only he just seems to be more honest about it.