The Life and Death of the American Spectator

The Atlantic Monthly ^ | November, 2001 | Byron York

[mrustow]

(After wiping the egg off my face) Of course!

[mountainfolk]

We have subscribed to the American Spectator for some years and renewed this year. I only read about half of it in the previous form but always Ben Stein. My husband thinks the new focus is great and always reads cover to cover anyway. He is a technical person and soaks up the articles on engineering and technology in general. I'll be happy as long as Ben stays put. Hope the magazine makes it but the business is certainly a hard one competing with the internet as others have said. I do believe the net is a big factor since it gives instant gratification for those of us who use it for our news source.

[Edmund]

I worked at the Spectator in the 1980s. I know your name well but alas cannot put a face to it. I've kept in touch with a few staffers over the years. How's Ron doing anyway? The last line of York's piece was brutally sad. At times I shared an office with "Mr." Mencken!

[Rebeckie]

Mena is a credible tale and one that unfortunately will never be solved if the cynics, both on the Right and the Left, have their way. The evidence in the Ives/Henry case is not just circumstantial, the boys' autopsy report was falsified by a Clinton appointed state coroner and were most likely killed because they witnessed a drug drop-off being executed by local town officials. The only reason the Mena tale has an overload of circumstantial evidence, is because the main-steam media was not doing its job and conniving politicians have fought to keep this explosive story a cover-up. No one wants to go muck-raking if the muck involves people of one's chosen political party affiliation-which in the case of Mena, involved both Democrats and Republicans.

[katykelly]

I remember when you began posting at FR. I thought your screen name was quite clever :-) Hope your eye surgery has gone well.

[Fighting Irish]

I am/was still a subscriber. I had decided to let my subscription run out because of the new format. It wasn't the same magazine as I had enjoyed before. I used to devour every article, but recently found it hard to find anything to read, except for Ben Stein.

Same here ... when I retrieved my copy from the mailbox Ben Stein was the first article I read.

I cancelled my subscription about 6 months ago.

[billhilly]

I remember when you began posting at FR. I thought your screen name was quite clever :-) Hope your eye surgery has gone well.

Well, thank you Katykelly. I like your name. Kelly is my grandson and daughter's last name. Of course, it is also my son-in-law's name as well.

[No!]

Another thing has been bothering me these last few days...
And I want it off my chest:

I resent the tone of ENVY in the article of Bob Tyrrell's successes and the obvious JOY in his downfall!

I did not know Bob Tyrrell, but I know many others like him.

HE dreamed up the whole thing... the spectator was his baby, and he deserved any money, cars, apartments, etc. period!

Of course, people wanted to STEAL his idea (I, and ANY other creative thinker has been through this ordeal) and resentment is the main process used to do it.

Bob Tyrrell, however, has the upper hand... since his mind is what CREATED the Spectator, convinced the funders to come on board and generally made it all work,

Bob Tyrrell can (and I suspect WILL) simply do something else!

He will be heard from again (the good creative people ALWAYS do "come up" with another idea).

So the Spectator has been "LOOTED" from him...

The Welsley Mooches CANNOT make it run...

"Who is John Gault" is ever self fufilling these days.

I consider this event nothing more than another looting (be it a privately done one in this case)...

[Luis Gonzalez]

"I worked at the Spectator in the 1980s. I know your name well but alas cannot put a face to it."

You know Dave, I can do something about that.

[Luis Gonzalez]

The first time that I read the piece, I was just fascinated by the details of the inner working of the magazine. The fact that I had met billhilly, and that he had privately revealed his name to me, made the author's spin on him raise my eyebrows.

It wasn't until about the third time reading the piece that I picked up on the undertone, almost jealousy, of the article.

RET is a classsic American success story, we should all strive to be him.

"Of course, people wanted to STEAL his idea (I, and ANY other creative thinker has been through this ordeal)"

I know what you mean there my friend.

"My Sweet Lord
Oh my Lord
My, my, my Lord
I really wanna see you"
I really want to be with you...."

[bleudevil]

Some people on this thread have said that the Internet played a part in killing off The American Spectator. But the Internet brought it to the forefront of my attention. I'd heard of it and read a couple of issues, and once I was online I went to the A.S. site via the Drudge Report every day. I bought some issues at the bookstore that I might not have bought if I hadn't read it on the Internet. Maybe there were other people like me, who really were introduced to it through the Internet.

[billhilly]

Look at the masthead of The American Spectator. The Editor-In-Chief is none other than R. Emmett Tyrrell,Jr. The same RET who founded and built the magazine. George Gilder was smart enough to know that you do not remove a "Brand Name" from a product. Others may finally be getting the message. Their names are not on the masthead.

[billhilly]

Luis, treasure your gifts. They are abundant.

[No!]

looted...

[Chemnitz]

Magazines do NOT last forever. I liked the old AS. I'm not sure about the new version. RET inspired a lot of campus conservatives. I always admired his take no prisoners approach to polemics.

[RnMomof7]

Interesting but sad tale. I was a longtime subscriber to the Spectator, but I certainly didn't let my subscription lapse because I thought they went after Clinton too much or were "out of touch" with all the idiots who blindly supported him (and who are now heaving a collective gasp as the vibrations from the WTC explosions shake the scales from their eyes). I only let my subscription lapse when Gilder changed it, and I was disappointed that it would no longer be the sharp-edged conservative magazine that I loved. I wanted more politics, not less. I hope Tyrell & company find another outlet, and soon.

Dittos..I loved the"Old Spectator"edge and irreverence..that combined with some solid conservative writing made it an important part of my life for many years..but they killed what was best..

[billhilly]

looted...

332\

The second pargraph was that of my four year old grandson. The first was from No! I can't tell the difference.

[Exit148]

I'm going to bookmark this for later reading, but skimming over it, I came to a paragraph that I remember reading so clearly --- so many months/years ago--- that was the start of Clinton's biggest scandal, and which led me to FR via Monica.

Another oddity in the article was Brock's reference to a woman "whom the trooper remembered only as Paula." Brock's source said the woman had joined Clinton alone in a room at the Excelsior Hotel after the governor spotted her at a business conference. The inclusion of Paula Jones's name—albeit only her first name—would have enormous consequences, but it appears to have been included almost by accident. In a 1999 interview Pleszczynski said, "It was obvious from the start that we would never mention any of the women by name without their approval." In the case of Paula, "It never dawned on me that anyone would recognize her. David didn't know her last name, and I thought Little Rock was a big enough place for there to be many Paulas." Brock knew the names of the women involved in all the other cases (they had turned down his requests for interviews), but he had tossed in the Paula anecdote without even knowing who the woman was.

Sorry to hear about TAS's demise. I was once an avid reader, but when I found FR.com, I didn't have time to read it any longer, and cancelled out.

Thank you TAS for being there when I needed you.

[No!]

It appears that I have insulted you in some way...

Your last post to me certainly was.

Best of luck to you and I know what you're going through with your eyes.. My mother had the same problem, and I am probably going too as well.

Like I said, I don't know the man and/or your situation(s)...

I will not respond to you anymore I think.

[billhilly]

Let me make this private. I have no idea what your post meant. It was one word. Looted.