Over at Commentary’s website, some person named J. E. Dyer opens a discussion on the Israeli settlement situation with a passing reference to “the generally left-leaning Economist,” which has endorsed George W. Bush, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and David Cameron for the most important positions in the Western world. On the other hand, the publication also endorsed Bill Clinton and, more recently, Barack Obama, and has lately had particular occasion to praise the latter – for sending more troops to Afghanistan. It is a mysterious sort of arithmetic that would lead one to conclude from its record that The Economist is “generally left-leaning” unless one’s world view requires that it be so. Maybe the support of leftists is akin to having one black parent, which makes one black, I have noticed.
10 thoughts on “Nonsensical assertion of the day”
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J. Dyer? As in Jackson Dyer? He’s like Marty Peretz’s chief acolyte in the commentariate of The New Republic. He’s a less good humored Jewish version Brother Cheeks.Report
That would explain the Likud-leaning reality-warping whereby The Economist becomes The Blast.Report
“Generally left-leaning” is just a conservative code word for “Eurotrash”.Report
I’m not terribly familiar with The Economist but Democracy in America has been really great lately.Report
The Economist is largely a terrific magazine. I don’t know much about Democracy in America but Democracy Now is the best of the liberal outlets, in my opinion.Report
For all the great things Amy Goodman has done for journalism and democracy, I just wish she didn’t sound like an SNL parody of a public radio food show host.Report
I’ve been a subscriber for years because it’s generally a very good news source and one of the last to have correspondents stationed around the world. I have noticed that, since I’ve been reading it, people I know who are very liberal tend to think The Economist is very clearly a right-leaning magazine, while those who are conservative tend to think The Economist is very clearly a left-leaning magazine. However, Commentary must have noticed that they’ve raked Obama over the coals in recent issues about his lousy relationship with the business community.Report
“How can it possibly be left-leaning? It’s to the right of me!”Report
There are two problems here, the first is The Economist is written from a British perspective and political spectra can be hard to line up between countries. The second is that this is a magazine that takes its own line on issues, not a partisan cheerleader.Report
I believe the rule is ‘one drop’ – if you have any black ancestors you’re black and if you once met someone who once met a communist you’re blacklisted.Report