Noted and acknowledged.
I used to subscribe to AS but had to quit when Kristol and Barnes took it down a path that undeniably aspired to establishment think. Then when the two were introduced as the editors and owners of it began their punditry, it all went off the rails.
It is that trust thing all over again. Violate it and I’m gone. I was one of the biggest flag wavers for the Party but like the publication, I just can’t go there anymore.
Kristol and Barnes are two different creatures though. Kristol is sometimes establishment, but at other times he’s leading the pro Palin charge - way way way ahead of the curve and ahead of McCain’s choice. Barnes on the other hand is pretty much 100% all estab all the time.
Amazing then that Jeffrey Lord hasn’t been fired (what with his rabid support of Trump).
You need to do a little homework. American Spectator was and still is the baby of R. Emmett "Bob" Tyrrell. The magazine does appear, however, to be a failing enterprise, because it no longer appears in print -- only on the Interwebs.
On the other hand, the hated demons Kristol and Barnes are at a print-and-web publication called The Weekly Standard. It was started by Rupert Murdoch, but was later purchased by the same oil-and-media billionaire, an evangelical Christian named Phil Anschultz, who owns The Washington Examiner.
Moreover, unlike the Spectator, it seems that the Standard is holding its own in terms of circulation and funding.