Can someone educate me on HOW centrist is The New Republic?

[blm]

I never really paid attention to them because, just from a casual observation, they seemed more opinionish than the hard journalism I prefer.

So, what's the deal? Left of center or center right?

[Buck Laser]

1. I used to read NR in the 60s,

But it seems to have taken a distinctly neo-con turn in recent years. The Nation is much better as a clear and unapologetic vice of the left.

[leveymg]

4. Then there's this magazine that may describe a "vice of the left":

[hedda_foil]

2. DLC War Hawks, Think Lieberman and you've got TNR.

[Tom Joad]

3. They are extreme right-wing in many ways.

support militarism. Supported bush's invasion of iraq. Supported arming saddam in the 80's.
I think they used to be considered liberal/left, but its founders followed the evolution of some others to become extreme hawks.

See what anti-Arab racist Dan Pipes wrote in the 80's there
http://tomjoad.org/pipes.htm

[CrushTheDLC]

9. If Danny "Crack" Pipes ever wrote for them

Then they were NEVER liberal by any meaningful definition of the word.

[Tom Joad]

13. Be surprised how many here hold him in high esteem. Somehow

they think an anti-Arab racist is just fine and dandy.

[BlueManDude]

5. They peddled "Bell Curve" eugenics crap. IMO they've got

problems with blacks. Jesse and Al are their big scary boogy men.

[blm]

7. This is all pretty disheartening stuff.

They sound worse than Al From, and everyone knows pretty much how seriously I loathe From.

[BlueManDude]

11. Ran a very influential cover article trashing Clinton's health care reform

written by a woman who later became the GOP Lt Gov of New York. This piece was widely credited with helping bring down any chance of health care reform.

[blm]

12. whoa...are they part responsible for talking Gore into choosing Lieberman

in 2000? The insurance companies were always big on Lieberman.

[liberalpragmatist]

14. Possibly

Martin Peretz, the magazine's owner is a rabid Neolib with Neoconish views on foreign policy. He HATES Bill Clinton, John Kerry, and several other Democrats. However, as a former professor of Gore's, he LOVES Gore (even though Gore has now moved quite a bit to the left). He also holds Lieberman in high esteem and is friends with both.

So it's possible that Peretz' influence may have pushed Gore to pick Lieberman. Although, to be fair, GORE picked Lieberman because their political sentiments were pretty similar at the time (Gore has since moved left and Lieberman has moved right).

[liberalpragmatist]

6. Neoliberal, but they have some good writers

Avoid Martin Peretz like the plague - he's the neoconish owner and editor-at-large who pens ridiculously poorly written editorials excoriating Democrats (including Clinton and Kerry), anybody who critizes Israel, and Muslims.

Overall, their foreign-policy politics are what truly suck. They have outright neocons like Lawrence Kaplan on their writing staff and several other members who are ultra-hawkish. It's not for nothing that they're often jokingly called the "Joe Lieberman Weekly." And their editorial line on Israel is so one-sided that it abdicates any credibility.

My major problem with them is that they're overly contrarian. There's nothing wrong in being heterodox or unorthodox in opinion journalism; I prefer that to knee-jerk liberalism. But TNR oversteps the boundaries such that it becomes knee-jerk contrarian. I once saw them refered to as being on a permanent "Sista Souljah loop." And if they ARE going to stick to their editorial line, they ought to call themselves centrist, not liberal, especially when their editors-in-chief have included Andrew Sullivan and Michael Kelly (I like Andrew Sullivan, but a liberal he is not).

OTOH, they do have some good writers. Ryan Lizza is one of the best political reporters in the business. Spencer Ackerman, who does reporting from the Middle East and Iraq, is excellent (and has even been willing to challenge the magazine's line on Israel recently).
And they do usually have some good pieces in most issues.

I would just read it at a library. Then you don't have to pay and you can skip the objectionable articles.

[leveymg]

10. You're right about Marty P, but the magazine has published some

very important articles exposing the neo-cons.

The magazine is almost as schizophrenic (and interesting) as the WSJ.

[leveymg]

8. In all seriousness, see the film "Broken Glass"

It's about the downfall of TNR from its apogee as "the in-flight magazine of Air Force One" during the middle years of the Clinton Administration. Good movie.