Misplaced Pages

#728271

30-834: Although the term has a longer recorded usage, it first came to prominence with the John Podhoretz 's 1993 book, Hell of a Ride , about his experiences working for the George H. W. Bush White House . According to reviewer Jonathan Yardley of The Washington Post , The term was also defined by David Brooks in a review of the 2001 book Reagan In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America . Brooks differentiated Reaganites and Bushies as types of Republicans. While Reaganites were often Hayekian academics connected to think tanks , Bushies tended to be "boring" corporate careerists with "neat desks and thin briefcases because their reading comes in

60-407: A "vision of a walled-off America primarily under threat from border-crossing immigrants." Podhoretz attempted to connect Krikorian's stance on immigration to an isolationist foreign policy. In response, Krikorian called Podhoretz a "pedantic bore" who had no "actual arguments" against Krikorian's position on immigration. On March 30, 2006, Podhoretz was criticized by various bloggers for posting

90-625: A blanket policy of immigration restriction because of what happened to the Jewish people after 1924 and the unwillingness of the United States to take Jews in." Podhoretz was generally supportive of President Bush's proposals for a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrants in the U.S. In November 2007, comments on Commentary's blog "Contentions", Podhoretz attacked his former colleague at National Review Online , Mark Krikorian , for what Podhoretz called

120-430: A son. Podhoretz's sister, Rachel Abrams , was married to the diplomat, lawyer, political scientist, and Iran-Contra convict Elliott Abrams . ReganBooks ReganBooks was an American bestselling imprint or division of HarperCollins book publishing house (parent company is News Corporation ), headed by editor and publisher Judith Regan , started in 1994 and ended in late 2006. During its existence, Regan

150-491: Is now this: We didn't have a plan, and now everything is in chaos... This is entirely wrong. We did have a plan—the problem is that the plan didn't work... We thought a political process inside Iraq would make a military push toward victory against a tripartite foe—Saddamist remnants, foreign terrorists and anti-American Shiites—unnecessary... The only plan that will work is a plan to face the tripartite enemy—the Saddamists,

180-573: Is the editor of Commentary magazine, a columnist for the New York Post , the author of several books on politics, and a former speechwriter for Presidents Ronald Reagan and worked in the administration of George H. W. Bush . Podhoretz was born in a Jewish family in New York City, to conservative journalists Norman Podhoretz and Midge Decter . He has two older half-siblings from his mother's first marriage. He grew up on

210-637: The Miami Herald , once said that at the Times , Podhoretz "constantly complained that his brilliance wasn't appreciated." On January 1, 2009, Podhoretz became editor of Commentary , succeeding Neal Kozodoy . Podhoretz was a staunch supporter of President George W. Bush . His 2004 book Bush Country: How George W. Bush Became the First Great Leader of the 21st Century---While Driving Liberals Insane called Bush "the first great leader of

240-667: The 2006 Lebanon War "un-Christian", Podhoretz wrote: "You want to know what anti-Semitism is? When Pat Buchanan calls Israel's military action 'un-Christian.' That's anti-Semitism." Podhoretz has supported the Iraq War from its inception until the present. In a July 25, 2006 column for the New York Post that discussed the Israel-Lebanon conflict, Podhoretz advocated a more Machiavellian policy in Iraq, writing: "What if

270-470: The Scott Peterson case, and those by political commentator Sean Hannity . Though ultimately owned by politically active Rupert Murdoch , ReganBooks disavowed any political agenda, publishing, for example, books both supportive of and critical of George W. Bush . In August 2004, ReganBooks had three books on The New York Times Best Seller list , including the top two non-fiction positions, and

300-552: The Upper West Side in New York City. He attended Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School and he received a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1982. In 1987, he became a five-time champion on the game show Jeopardy! Podhoretz was a speechwriter for former U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush . He was special assistant to White House Drug Czar William Bennett . He co-founded

330-470: The Virginia Tech massacre should have been more forceful in defending themselves, Podhoretz wrote: "The notion that a human being or group of human beings holding no weapon whatever should somehow 'fight back' against someone calmly executing other people right in front of their eyes is ludicrous beyond belief, irrational beyond bounds, and tasteless beyond the limits of reason. 'Why didn't anyone rush

SECTION 10

#1732787499729

360-465: The 21st century". When some conservatives denounced Bush's immigration plan, Podhoretz wrote that Bush's "efforts on behalf of conservative causes—from faith-based policies to stem-cell research to a strict-constructionist judiciary to entitlement reform and massive tax cuts—have all fallen down the memory hole". Podhoretz is emphatic in his defense of Israel in its conflicts with its Arab neighbors. When pundit Pat Buchanan called Israel's actions in

390-537: The News , and U.S. News & World Report . Podhoretz was a contributor to The Corner, a group blog run by National Review . At The Weekly Standard , one staff member said, Podhoretz's "arrogance and egotism had a psychological effect people can't quite believe." At The Washington Times a colleague reported, he was "permanently frozen in juvenilia." Glenn Garvin, the Central American bureau chief of

420-612: The White House Writers Group, a public-relations firm in Washington, D.C. Podhoretz was a consultant for the popular television series The West Wing , including the controversial episode " Gaza " in season five, first broadcast on May 12, 2004. Podhoretz has contributed to a number of conservative publications, including National Review and the Weekly Standard , where he was a movie critic and

450-623: The coming days." Within days of Carroll's release, a video of Carroll slamming the "occupation" of Iraq and praising the insurgents as "good people fighting an honorable fight" appeared on an Islamist website. However, Carroll subsequently released a statement through The Christian Science Monitor 's website stating that she participated in the video only because she feared for her life and because her captors said they would let her go if she participated to their satisfaction. Carroll called her captors "criminals, at best" and said she remained "deeply angry" with them. On April 1, 2006, Podhoretz wrote

480-407: The controversial replacement of several U.S. Attorneys when it was revealed that Justice Department official Kyle Sampson suggested in an e-mail to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft that According to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , a Democrat , John Podhoretz John Mordecai Podhoretz ( / p ɒ d ˈ h ɒr ɛ t s / ; born April 18, 1961) is an American writer. He

510-468: The first two years of the elder Bush administration, which led to major losses in the 1992 Congressional elections, brought about the ascendancy of "ideologues" such as Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey , but their "uncompromising" approach once again returned the reins of the party to the Bushies by the 2000 election, in which George W. Bush was elected. The term became prominent during the investigation of

540-467: The following comment on National Review Online approximately three hours after hostage Jill Carroll 's release from her captors: "It's wonderful that she's free, but after watching someone who was a hostage for three months say on television she was well-treated because she wasn't beaten or killed—while being dressed in the garb of a modest Muslim woman rather than the non-Muslim woman she actually is—I expect there will be some Stockholm syndrome talk in

570-411: The following on National Review Online : "For writing these predictive words, which were entirely accurate, I've been pilloried all over the blogosphere. Weird, especially in light of Jill Carroll's statement today, which was an effort to address and quiet precisely the kind of talk I predicted would take place." In response to assertions by National Review writer John Derbyshire that the victims of

600-481: The foreign terrorists and the Shiite sectarians—and bring them to heel. Kill as many bad guys as we can, with as many troops as we can muster." In disagreement with several writers at National Review and conservatives in general, Podhoretz has aggressively favored a more open immigration policy for the United States. He wrote: "I said merely what I feel deeply—which is that, as a Jew, I have great difficulty supporting

630-463: The form of memos", who saw themselves as "master managers" and politics as a "competition of interests" rather than ideas. Although Brooks acknowledged that both groups were skeptical of government, their skepticism took different forms, with the Reaganites viewing the Bushies as skilled at political or bureaucratic wrangling, but lacking principles. According to Brooks, the failure of the Bushies in

SECTION 20

#1732787499729

660-473: The guy?' Derb asks. Gee, I don't know. Because he was executing people? Because if you rush a guy with a gun, he shoots you in the head the way he executed the teachers in each classroom?" Podhoretz went on to ridicule Derbyshire's claim that he was touching a " third rail " by raising a subject nobody else wanted to discuss. Podhoretz has frequently clashed with Derbyshire on immigration policy and other issues. Podhoretz often writes about popular culture, and

690-413: The highest profit ratio at HarperCollins. In 2005, ReganBooks announced plans to move from Manhattan to Los Angeles , making it one of the first major book publishers to move from the east to the west coast. In November 2006, ReganBooks announced plans to publish O. J. Simpson 's book If I Did It ; publication was later cancelled by News Corporation chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. After

720-504: The public fallout Newsweek reported, "Regan's meddlesome-free days are almost certainly over" and Murdoch will be "clamping" down on control. On December 15, 2006, Regan was fired from HarperCollins, over anti-Semitic comments. The staff at ReganBooks were reassigned within the HarperCollins General Book Group. The New York Times reported that ReganBooks' offices were closed and "a stunned Ms. Regan

750-411: The tactical mistake we made in Iraq was that we didn't kill enough Sunnis in the early going to intimidate them and make them so afraid of us they would go along with anything? Wasn't the survival of Sunni men between the ages of 15 and 35 the reason there was an insurgency and the basic cause of the sectarian violence now?" In a December 2006 column, he wrote, "The most common cliché about the war in Iraq

780-459: Was called the "resident pop culture expert" at National Review Online by Jonah Goldberg . Dennis Miller has called Podhoretz his "favorite movie reviewer." Podhoretz has written that "it doesn't make sense to judge pop culture by its politics." In 1999 a column he wrote for The New York Post , "A Conversation in Hell", which featured a conversation between Satan and Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. ,

810-462: Was called, by LA Weekly , "the world's most successful publisher". The division reportedly earned $ 120 million a year. ReganBooks focused on celebrity authors and controversial topics, sometimes from recent tabloids . Prominent ReganBooks titles include Jenna Jameson 's How to Make Love Like a Porn Star , biographies by General Tommy Franks , professional wrestler Mick Foley , and radio talk show host Howard Stern , three different books on

840-458: Was confronted by security guards who arrived with boxes and ordered her to leave." Regan sued News Corporation for $ 100 million for defamation over the anti-Semitism charge, asserting that it was "completely fabricated"; in January 2008 News Corporation settled the lawsuit and publicly stated, "After carefully considering the matter, we accept Ms. Regan's position that she did not say anything that

870-532: Was killed because of its controversial nature. Jonathan Chait has criticized Podhoretz's use of social media, accusing him of "spew[ing] forth abuse upon various adversaries, especially by lobbing spurious charges of antisemitism." Podhoretz's first marriage, to Elisabeth Marie Hickey, in 1997, ended in divorce after less than three months. In 2002, he married Ayala Rae Cohen, a former co-producer for Saturday Night Live , who works for International Creative Management ( ICM Partners ). They have two daughters and

900-551: Was the magazine's deputy editor. He was also a consulting editor at ReganBooks , a former imprint of HarperCollins . Podhoretz has a regular column at the New York Post . He has also appeared on television, including Fox News , CNN 's Reliable Sources , MSNBC, and The McLaughlin Group (in the chair usually occupied by conservative Tony Blankley ). He has also worked at Time , the Washington Times , Insight on

#728271