John Podhoretz
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John Podhoretz (born April 18, 1961) is a U.S. neoconservative commentator for a variety of media sources, the author of several books on politics, and a former presidential speechwriter.
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[edit] Life and career
Podhoretz has contributed to a number of leading conservative publications, including National Review and the Weekly Standard. He is also a consulting editor at an imprint of HarperCollins, ReganBooks. Podhoretz has a regular column at the New York Post, is a political commentator on Fox News, and regularly appears on CNN's Reliable Sources. He has also worked at Time, the Washington Times, Insight, and U.S. News & World Report. Podhoretz is a contributor to The Corner, a group blog run by National Review.
Podhoretz has also served as speechwriter to former U.S. President Ronald Reagan as well as former President George H.W. Bush. He also served in the capacity of special assistant to White House Drug Czar William Bennett. He was co-founder as well of the White House Writers Group, a corporate speechwriting and public-relations firm in Washington, D.C.
The son of Norman Podhoretz and Midge Decter, Podhoretz received a bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1982. He is married to Ayala Cohen, a former associate producer for Saturday Night Live. Podhoretz is also a five-time Jeopardy! champion.
[edit] Political commentary
[edit] George W. Bush
Podhoretz has been one of the most steadfast supporters of U.S. president George W. Bush, and even wrote a book extolling Bush as "the first great leader of the 21st century". He is quick to note any upturn in Bush's approval ratings and has often praised Bush's political acumen in winning re-election as President and improving the political standing of the Republican party, at least before the 2006 midterm elections. He is particularly emphatic in arguing against criticism of Bush from the political right. When some conservatives denounced Bush's immigration plan, Podhoretz wrote that Bush's "efforts on behalf of conservative causes — from faith-based policies to stem-cell research to a strict-constructionist judiciary to entitlement reform and massive tax cuts — have all fallen down the memory hole".[1]
[edit] Israel
Podhoretz is emphatic in his defense of Israel in its conflicts with its Arab neighbors. When pundit Pat Buchanan called Israel's actions in the recent Israel-Lebanon hostilities "un-Christian", Podhoretz wrote: "You want to know what anti-Semitism is? When Pat Buchanan calls Israel's military action 'un-Christian', that's anti-Semitism."[2] However, Podhoretz was critical of the tactics used by Israel's leadership in the recent Lebanon conflict, and argued that the Olmert government should have been more forceful in its efforts to weaken Hezbollah as a political and military force.
[edit] Immigration
In disagreement with several other writers at National Review, Podhoretz has favored a more open immigration policy for the United States. He has specifically emphasized his Jewish ancestry in such discussions, writing: "I said merely what I feel deeply — which is that, as a Jew, I have great difficulty supporting a blanket policy of immigration restriction because of what happened to the Jewish people after 1924 and the unwillingness of the United States to take Jews in."[3] Podhoretz has been generally supportive of President Bush's proposals for a guest worker program and a path to citizenship for certain illegal immigrants in the U.S.
[edit] 2008 U.S. presidential election
In his political handicapping of the 2008 U.S. presidential race, Podhoretz virtually assumes that U.S. Senator and former First Lady Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic nominee. He recently published a book about Hillary Clinton's political potential and has dismissed possible rivals for the nomination such as former Vice President Al Gore and 2004 nominee John Kerry. On the Republican side, Podhoretz appears to favor the chances of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. On National Review Online he has stated: "He wears drag, he bunked with a gay couple, blah blah blah. Rudy Giuliani scores 30 percent in a poll of Iowa caucus-goers. That's Iowa. About as far from New York City as you can get."[4]
[edit] Jill Carroll situation
On March 30, 2006, Podhoretz was criticized by various bloggers [5][6] for posting the following comment on National Review Online approximately three hours after hostage Jill Carroll's release from her captors:
- "It's wonderful that she's free, but after watching someone who was a hostage for three months say on television she was well-treated because she wasn't beaten or killed -- while being dressed in the garb of a modest Muslim woman rather than the non-Muslim woman she actually is -- I expect there will be some Stockholm Syndrome talk in the coming days."[7]
Within days of Carroll's release, a video of Carroll slamming the "occupation" of Iraq and praising the insurgents as "good people fighting an honorable fight" appeared on an Islamist website. While counterterrorism expert Laura Mansfield, (who had neither met nor interviewed Carroll), posted on CNN that Carroll's actions "may indicate she was experiencing a touch of Stockholm syndrome", Carroll subsequently released a statement through the Christian Science Monitor's website stating that she participated in the video only because she feared for her life and because her captors said they would let her go if she participated to their satisfaction. Carroll called her captors "criminals, at best" and said she remained "deeply angry" with them.[8]
On April 1, 2006 Podhoretz quoted his original comment on the Jill Carroll situation and added the following on National Review Online:
- "For writing these predictive words, which were entirely accurate, I've been pilloried all over the blogosphere. Weird, especially in light of Jill Carroll's statement today, which was an effort to address and quiet precisely the kind of talk I predicted would take place."[9]
[edit] Miscellaneous
- On The Corner blog, Podhoretz frequently posts under the name "JPod."
- According to blogger and columnist Andrew Sullivan, when Podhoretz worked at the Washington Times, he was nicknamed "J. P. Normanson."[10]
- In response to now-deleted comments in his Wikipedia article that he is a homosexual, Podhoretz joked: "For the record, I am not an admitted homosexual, nor am I a homosexual, though I do know the lyrics to every show tune ever written, which might perhaps account for the confusion."[11] Podhoretz has also made more serious critical remarks about Wikipedia's reliability and authority.
- Political pundit and prolific writer on racial issues, Steve Sailer, quoted Hanna Rosin's remark that the term "podenfreude" described the sensation of reading bad writing for comic value. In response, Podhoretz e-mailed Sailer: "Please keep attacking me. It's how I know I'm not a bigoted, racist scum...If you think I lack them [wit, eloquence, etc.], I imagine you think I have too much melanin in my skin." Sailer riposted: "Amazing as it may seem, the rumors that Mr. Podhoretz maintains a staff of Nobel Laureates and Oscar-winning screenwriters to craft his devastating comebacks for him are not true. The reality is that, somehow, he makes them up himself!"[12]
[edit] Notes
- ^ NRO. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ NRO. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ NRO. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ NRO. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ Think Progress. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ Andrew Sullivan website. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ NRO. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ CNN. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ NRO. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ Andrew Sullivan website. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ NRO. Retrieved on 2006-09-03.
- ^ Steve Sailer website. Retrieved on 2006-09-11.
[edit] Bibliography
- Can She Be Stopped?: Hillary Clinton Will Be the Next President of the United States Unless..., Crown Forum, ISBN 0-307-33730-8
- Bush Country: How George W. Bush Became the First Great Leader of the 21st Century---While Driving Liberals Insane, St. Martin's Griffin, ISBN 0-312-32473-1
- Hell Of A Ride: Backstage at the White House Follies 1989-1993, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-671-79648-8
[edit] External links
- The Corner at National Review Online
- Fox News bio of Podhoretz
- "Oedipus and Podhoretz," an article from New York by Hanna Rosin
