Podhoretz, Brooks, and Grove

I can't help but contrast the treatments of a recent Norman Podhoretz speech by Lloyd Grove and David Brooks. People who were unable to see Podhoretz -- most of us -- and who might rely upon the Washington Post as a primary source of news got an entirely different impression of that speech than someone who either read the speech online or read the Brooks treatment of it (Brooks disagrees with Podhoretz, but thoughtfully, and unlike Grove, actually deals with Podhoretz's argument). Pre-internet, one would have had to wait perhaps for AEI to send out something on the speech in the mail, or wait for the print version of the Weekly Standard and read Brooks to get a fair analysis of the speech. Now, when writers like Grove write such drivel, they are exposed as the minor minds they are, almost instantly. That's powerful.

[Posted at 19:52 CST on 02/25/02] [Link]