27 September 2001
Peter Beinart
A few weeks ago, Peter Beinart, editor of the left-leaning New Republic, took over the regular column (TRB) previously written by Andrew Sullivan, a really thoughtful guy whose column was almost always worth reading. At the time, I thought Sullivan was going to be extremely hard to replace, and it's still a significant loss for TNR.
But Peter Beinart's columns so far are a really refreshing addition to a journal whose leadership has, in the past, included the uninspiring Michael Kinsley. I was impressed enough with his online column last week, in which he critiqued the anti-interventionist, lunatic Left. "No stereotypical liberal loudmouth here," I thought.
Beinart's column today is even better. I'm not going to summarize it -- go read it in its entirety. It's the sort of serious discourse that people on the Left (like Daniel Patrick Moynihan and David Boren) once engaged in, but that was not much in evidence during the Clinton/Begala/Morris/Gergen Democrat soundbite years.
Those of us on the Right who have found it easy to criticize the anti-interventionist Leftist fringe are now apparently going to be pushed by some thoughtful people on the Left. Ultimately, that's good for the Left as well as the Right.
[Posted @ 01:22 PM CST]
