Only one Steyn error:
“I am a considerably less elegant writer and listening to Bill reading my rough-and-tumble prose in his languid vowels was a bit like hearing Maria Callas sing “Yes, We Have No Bananas.”
Hardly, Mark.
It may be a sign of the times that the SOLE inheritor of the Buckley “elan” as well as of the Buckley point-of-view, ferocity, and unflagging sense of, and knack for exposing, the ridiculous is accused of NR’s downfall. Most ridiculous of all is the meme that Buckley’s NR was more secular than its modern (and flaccid) counterpart. Where, or how old, was Mr. Linker when Buckley parsed Vatican II, Mater et Magistra, Humanae Vitae? Hans Kung? Catholic University, Notre Dame, Fr. Hesbergh, etc., ad infinitum? Sure, he published articles by Ayn Rand and other atheists, but with reservations he never failed to highlight.
Poor Mark. But poor Bill, too. Bet he’s pulling every string in St. Peter’s realm to send a sign to the caretakers of his now-wayward brainchild.
I cannot helping but wonder if George Soros planted Jason Lee Stoerts as managing editor at National Review. If not, it must have been done directly by Satan.