Dog Eat Dogma

Jay Nordlinger, Jonah’s conservative colleague and a senior editor at National Review, joins the Remnant ...

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Jay Nordlinger, Jonah’s conservative colleague and a senior editor at National Review, joins the Remnant for the first time to provide his uniquely measured blend of rank punditry and linguistic insight. Brace yourself for an eclectic potpourri of topics, including an exploration of the Dobbs decision and the future of abortion in America, a thorough discussion of what it means to be a conservative, and a few etymological asides. Also, tune in to find out whether conservatism’s three-legged stool is still standing.

Show Notes:

– Jay’s page at National Review

– Jay’s podcast, Q&A

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  1. Avatar photo
    Andrea Leane

    Highly enjoyable conversation. More, please!

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    Russell Board

    More Jay Nordlinger, please.

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    Will

    This was truly a pleasure to listen to. I could listen to both of you meander in conversation for hours. Hope Jay returns soon.

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  4. James Wynn

    RE: WHAT HAPPENED TO SARAH PALIN

    ANSWER: NOTHING
    Sarah Palin was always a populists.
    That's why she opposed her own party regarding crony oil capitalism.
    Palin RESCUED the GOP in 2008. If you think the returns were bad in that election, there would barely have been a Republican party at all if McCain had chosen a like mind as his VP.
    The sequential candidacies of McCain and Romney are a major reason (not the only one) for why so many Conservatives gravitated to Donald J Trump -- and ended up liking that choice for the most part.

    RE: JONAH ON PALIN NOT DOING HER "HOMEWORK":
    Every time I hear this I'm am reminded that Jonah interviewed the weasley Steve Schmidt and drank deep on his self-serving diagnosis of the 2008 campaign. The true answer is that Palin should have done what Pence did when he joined the Trump campaign: She should have brought her OWN people. She shouldn't have relied on the good-will of Schmidt and his minions who constantly tried to undercut her so she wouldn't overshadow McCain.

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    William Miller

    If you're still looking for a new outro for The Remnant, I think you definitely have a winner in Jay Nordlinger saying "I'm about to go medieval on yo a**!"

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    Dave

    Great discussion. I thought Jay's comment about the 1/6 commission -- take away every word by every member of the committee and look only at emails, text, sworn testimony, and video, and the evidence is still damning.

    I will push back a bit on their assessment of the Tea Parties. Here in Texas, the same people who were at least a plurality of the Tea Parties are the same people who are writing the idiot planks into the GOP Platform. There was some of the cut the debt/deficit, get out of the way, but there was a huge contingency in the culture war, anti-immigration, nationalist-populist folks.

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      Dave

      Funny coincidence - I was just listening to the History of Rome podcast, and he was explaining what "decimation" was.

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    Antebellum Whig

    Jonah (and anyone interested in this), re your interesting discussion about nuances of words, I would commend to you two readable yet rigorous works: J.L. Austin's essay, "A Plea for Excuses," which examines questions of agency and responsibility by looking at the various expressions we use to justify actions, and Bernard Williams' book Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy.

    Williams' thesis (which I endorse) is essentially that ethical knowledge can be destroyed by talking and thinking about actions in the wrong way. He thinks that words describing virtues and vices (e.g., courage or cowardice) have real meaning and truth value (i.e., a sentence describing an action as courageous for example can be true or false). However, when actions are analyzed and described through a sort of moralistic framework (say deontological or utilitarian) then we can't assess the merit or demerit of those actions on their own terms; they instead have to be analyzed in terms of something else - intention or consequences (or both) - which can prove very elusive and difficult to assess.

    It's been 20+ years, so I probably botched that, but it's great book I've read more than once and highly recommend.

    It's actually a little bit similar to the "Disquieting Suggestion" that Alasdair MacIntyre opens his classic book After Virtue with - another piece of philosophical writing I would recommend to anyone serious about discourse on questions of value.

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    Antebellum Whig

    Re Jay's point about Sarah Palin, I agree 100%: Based both on my direct observations and my reading about the '08 campaign, it's quite clear to me that Palin did indeed undergo some kind of psychological transformation. I'm trying not to be pejorative by using words like "break," or "crack up," but they are on the tip of my tongue. It shouldn't be surprising: fame, notoriety, money, access to power - these things all change people. If she'd remained governor of Alaska and stuck to her knitting (so to speak) she may have had a creditable career in public service. Instead, she became a kind of reality TV celebrity.

    I think it's more evidence that character is destiny.

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  9. Mike G

    Hey everyone, Jonah mentioned that members can access Dispatch Live after the fact. Can anyone point me in the direction of where to find that? I'm rarely able to tune in live but would love to listen if possible. Thanks!

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      Andrea Leane

      If you received the email or open the story on their web page giving the time and link, you can still click that link and watch the video at your leisure. I have to do this all the time since I work Tuesday nights and can't always listen live.

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      1. Mike G

        Thank you Andrea!

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  10. steve hurlburt

    I, too, loved Sarah Palin in '08, but on a perversely different planet than Jay.  Not only did she "become something else" -- she WAS something else.  "The killa from Wasilla" captured my imagination, "turned my key," and I (shameless self-promotion) composed this, er, love letter / homage (https://youtu.be/Kx4kXgF88wQ).  Rated R.  Special appearances by, among others, Hillary, Baracko, Gloria Steinem, Bill Kristol, Rush Limbo, and Laura Ingraham.  Enjoy.

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