ZGram - 9/26/2002 - "Buchanan's new magazine aims to rescue 'hijacked' right"

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ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

September 26, 2002

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Buchanan's new magazine aims to rescue 'hijacked' right

By Jennifer Harper

THE WASHINGTON TIMES


     Today marks the debut of the American Conservative magazine, a 
collaboration of Pat Buchanan, former New York Post editorial-page 
editor Scott McConnell and Taki Theodoracopulos, a worldly and 
acerbic columnist to be reckoned with.

     The three are primed for the good fight.

     "We believe the great conservative movement has been hijacked 
and put into services that would appall the Founding Fathers," Mr. 
Buchanan said yesterday. "There is a measure of exasperation seeing 
these conservative impersonators who set forth the war in the Middle 
East as the conservative agenda.

     "We are an America-first publication - the new, authentic 
conservatives. This is a voice which has not been heard before."

     The voice is directed at "neoconservatives bent on reckless 
wars, global free trade and open borders." The neocons, Mr.
Buchanan said, produce "milk-and-water magazines with no roots in history."

     Mr. McConnell is also on a mission.

     "We want to reignite debates which got short-circuited in the 
'90s," he said. "Should we continue to police the world with B-52s? 
Should we let a million-and-a half people over our border every year? 
I know a lot of mainstream conservatives are with us."

     Vitriol against neoconservatives should not be construed as 
anti-Semitic, Mr. McConnell said.

     "We're stating our positions. They are at odds with 
neoconservatism, but they are not intended as anti-Semitic. This is 
about politics, and we won't be intimidated. Our points will be fair 
and judicious," he said.

     Mr. Buchanan is a longtime fixture in the conservative movement. 
He advised Presidents Nixon and Reagan, became a public figure as 
co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," and twice ran for the Republican 
nomination for president. His books include the best sellers "Right 
 From the Beginning," "A Republic, Not an Empire" and "Death of the 
West."

     The debut of the 12,000-circulation magazine has set critics 
buzzing over paleocons, theocons and neocons - and the sure demise of 
the American Conservative, which is already being called "TAC." 
Badinage among pundits has given way to potshots.

     The magazine is "Buchanan's surefire flop," predicted the New 
Republic. "Buchanan and his rich friends couldn't have picked a worse 
time to start a journal of the isolationist right." Mr. Buchanan 
might find readers on the "anti-globalization left," the magazine 
suggested.

     Mr. Buchanan wrote in a Sept. 16 letter that the time was right, 
owing to an "absolute conformity of thought at National Review, the 
Weekly Standard and Commentary."

     "Do you seriously believe that conservatism is now wholly 
encompassed by Norman Podhoretz, Jonah Goldberg, Ramesh Ponnuru, Rich 
Lowry and our virtuous Teletubby William Bennett, Charles Krauthammer 
and the Kristols, pere and fils?" Mr. Buchanan inquired. The latter 
is a reference to Irving and William Kristol, respectively.

     The New York Times called Mr. Buchanan "a scold for the right" 
and suggested that the creation of another political journal is akin 
"to putting money down a rathole."

     Weekly Standard editor William Kristol told the Times, "I am all 
for another magazine, but I think the inclusion of Taki, who is a 
pretty loathsome character, will hurt their credibility."

     Mr. Theodoracopulos, a Greek shipping heir and longtime 
columnist for Britain's Spectator, is supplying start-up cash for the 
magazine. He was convicted of cocaine possession 18 years ago, an 
event later chronicled in his column.

     Countered the New York Press: "We do take issue with Bill 
Kristol's snide assessment of Taki, a terrific writer whose mixture 
of levity, self-deprecation and descriptions of his jet-set life are 
an asset to any publication."

     Mr. Theodoracopulos explained the new magazine in a recent 
column published in the Press: "Our motto is that we are traditional 
conservatives mugged by the neocons Pat, Scott and I were 
conservatives when the Podhoretzes of this world were schmoozing 
Uncle Joe Stalin. Who the hell is William Kristol, anyway, to tell 
people like Pat and me how we should think?"

     The American Conservative will be available in some bookstores 
and by subscription from their Web site (www.amconmag.com).


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