In his most recent newsletter, Jonah Goldberg has a very interesting discussion of "corruption" and the ways in which we're confused about the meaning of that term. (By the way, Jonah's newsletter, "G-File," is spectacularly good. He's a born newsletterist (is that a word?). And you should subscribe here.)
In any case, in the course of his discussion, Jonah takes a pretend swipe at TWS:
For the sake of argument, let's imagine that in ten or 15 years, a longtime friend of mine, say Steve Hayes, asks me to get his kid an internship at National Review or AEI (assuming they haven't fired me by then). I'm not saying I would automatically do it; there are other considerations at play. But let's assume that on paper the kid is qualified. I would certainly consider it (at least to spare the young'n the professional and moral stain of working at that hive of mopery and insolence, The Weekly Standard ). But if some stranger offered me $1,000 dollars to get his kid an internship, I'm certain I would reject the entreaty summarily.
Jonah's making a (very interesting) point here as to what is and what is not "corruption." But I was of course struck by Jonah's characterization of The Weekly Standard as a "hive of mopery and insolence." I really like it. I've instructed our people to put that in our ads and promotional materials. I'm looking into having T-shirts made. People have said lots of nice things about The Weekly Standard in our 21 years, but a "hive of mopery and insolence" is near the top. So thanks, Jonah!
Jonah is an interesting and thoughtful guy in addition to being an ace newsletterist. So I'll recommend again the Conversation with him that the Foundation for Constitutional Government released about a month ago. You can take a look here.
By the way: A couple of inquiries about the Paul Cantor Conversation made me realize that not everyone knows that transcripts of the Conversationsare also available. So if you want to refresh your memory about something or simply find it easier to read than watch or listen, go to the website here, sign in with your email address, and the transcripts are there for your enjoyment and edification.
And another by the way: Speaking of newsletters (you're reading one now, so this is getting a bit meta), you should of course be getting the best of The Weekly Standard newsletters, Jonathan Last's, which is available (free!) here. And speaking of conversations of various sorts, you're probably aware of the regular podcasts available most days at weeklystandard.com moderate
One more thing to keep you busy: I don't think I've said enough in praise of the "Prufrock" post that appears on our website each morning about 9:30 or so. Its links to suggested literary and cultural readings from around the web (including of course from The Weekly Standard) are invaluable. Take a look at last week's Prufrocks to see what you've been missing.