I’m with Bill Bennett on this one.
Erik Kain
Erik writes about video games at Forbes and politics at Mother Jones. He's the contributor of The League though he hasn't written much here lately. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter.
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Really?
I’m with Peggy Noonan.
Could you go into detail on that? The Ninth Circle is, indeed, reserved for those who betray their benefactors. I don’t see “the President” as the benefactor here.Report
Oh the whole thing just feels so opportunistic. Rubs me the wrong way.Report
Maybe it’s the timing. It just seems like anybody worth their salt would wait a while, craft a decent, detailed memoir, etc. These monthers who churn them out so quickly after the last administration seem shady.Report
Okay, fair enough. I thought that the whole “loyalty” thing (which seemed to be the root of Bennett’s criticism) was at the root of yours.
Sure, the guy’s sleazy and only out to make a quick buck. I agree with that.Report
“I’m with Peggy Noonan.”
I’ll second that.Report
You know, I actually really strongly disagree. I think the “more memoirs” argument inadvertently waters everything down. The real important works get mixed up with every former employee who wants a piece of the action.Report
Too much information? Where’s the job security for future historians?
Let’s have as many first person accounts as possible. It’s not like you can get the info from the freedom of information act.Report
Eh, the truth will out, eventually. It will be good to have this anecdote to compare to that one to compare to this completely different take.
Perhaps we will even be able to figure out what really happened.Report
Yeah, that’s on us to sort out what matters.Report
I’m a little mixed, on one hand, I think I land in the Kain-Bennett camp on the two-a-penny-scandalous tell all nature of Latimer’s book.
On the other hand Noonan’s What I Saw at the Revolution was one of the more enjoyable books I’ve read this year and, generally, would prefer more in that mold.Report
‘So quickly after'” (italics added)?
So are you with Bennett on this McClellan?
You’d rather we not have had the recollections of a mortified press secretary on the record before being able to choose the guy to replace the one that managed to turn a hard loyalist into a public confessionalist in a few short years? How long after he became inclined to share it should we have been made to wait before we should have been allowed the benefit of Scott McClellan’s perspective?
Loyalty is indeed the coin of the realm in politics: that’s because there are major consequences when you manage to alienate those on whose loyalty you rely.Report
I’m will Bennett on the “worm” bit, at least. And Conor is dead wrong: loyalty to the President is simply not a virtue of any kind. Latimer’s primary responsibility was to the American people. Waiting until the end of the administration to talk is pure cowardice. What a punk.Report