STANDARD TIME

They all fall down.

It is wasn't a real surprise to hear of the shuttering this week of the Weekly Standard. As an anti-Trump conservative magazine in a pro-Trump conservative world, the Standard was preaching to an increasingly smaller crowd -- at last look, 89% of Republicans were solidly behind their Mafioso-in-Chief. Pres. Eisenhower's highest Gallup number was 65%, and he won World War II.

I feel a bit of personal regret, though -- not that I had picked up an issue in the last decade or so. No, it reminds me of my brief sojourn with the Standard, when for the first half of 2008 -- arguably its most influential period -- I was a regular contributor to its cyber edition, both in long form essays and, perhaps more creatively rewarding, its daily update column.

(Before going further, I would be remiss in not mentioning that I owed this good fortune to one of its columnists, the late Dean Barnett. Dean liked the blog I was writing at the time, and thought I would be a good fit at the Standard.)

Mike Goldfarb -- no William F.
Buckley, he (thank God).

Under editor Mike Goldfarb, the daily update column had a funny, snarky (in a good way) attitude that separated it from the more sedate conservative magazines. Whereas you pictured, say, the National Review editors cradling brandy snifters and puffing pipes in their $2500 suits, Goldfarb gave you the idea that his writers were beer-swilling, cheap-cigar smoking guys in jeans and Led Zeppelin t-shirts. 

Perfect! Even if my concert t-shirts consisted of Devo, the Clash, and Elvis Costello. 



It wasn't long before readers and other writers at the Standard took note of me. What could have been better than an email from Jon Podhoretz reading "you're very funny"? Perhaps it was when Goldfarb let me know that editor-in-chief Bill Kristol wanted to know "who this Kusinitz person was". 

Bill Kristol was asking about me? It wasn't long, I was certain, that my little caricature would join those of the other Standard writers in its print and web editions.

Bill Kristol in his younger,
more vulnerable (to bad
decisions) years.

That was before Goldfarb joined the McCain presidential campaign as its online p.r. guy. His two replacements quickly informed me the daily column was getting serious, and that they wanted straight reporting, not the wiseguy routine that gotten me hired in the first place. 

What?! I was just shooting spitballs at the passing parade. The only things I could report were my smartass opinions. 

Unsurprisingly, none of my subsequent contributions were accepted; Dean Barnett advised me that other people were pulling the strings. (Bill Kristol, is that you I see behind the curtain?). It wasn't long before I gave up contributing to the Weekly Standard, and turned my attention to the occasional op-ed for the New York Daily News -- another publication that's now one page from the graveyard. 

Goldfarb's irascible influence was sorely missed, at least by me. Too, as the GOP decided to make Barack Obama public enemy #1 in the worst possible way, I became disenchanted with its increasing ugliness. At times, I would briefly tune into Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity just to remind myself that parting ways with the Standard might have been a good thing after all.

Erase that smirk off
your face, Fred.

As if doubling down on their obliviousness, the Standard's Fred Barnes -- who always seemed to pride himself as the smartest guy in the room -- applauded Sarah Palin's decision to quit her job as Governor of Alaska midway through her first term for a sweet TV gig. This, Barnes assured us, would give her time to bone up on the issues before running for president in 2012. 

Forget about drinking the Kool Aid. Barnes was brewing it up by the gallon and, man, was it stinking up the joint. That was the final issue of the Standard I ever read.

Over time, my politics drifted back to left of center, and have remained ever since. By the time Donald Trump announced his candidacy, the Republican base had already been undergoing its eight-year journey to Crazy Town. It was only a matter of time, then, that the Weekly Standard would expire. When close to 100% of your party not merely disagrees with you but actively hates what you stand for, where else is there to go but bankruptcy court?

Trump asks Palin if she knows how to spell "A".

I wonder if the Standard editors realize they had a hand in their own demise. Because it was they who introduced the world to Gov. Palin as the future of the GOP: not just a woman, but a good looking woman who wore lipstick and high heels -- that is, when she wasn't hunting and making moose stew for her family. More than anyone else, the Standard editors were responsible for Palin getting on the McCain ticket. 

The Republican party hasn't been the same since. For while Palin gradually faded from the limelight, she ignited something horrific in the GOP base that led straight to Donald Trump, white nationalism, the rise of anti-Semitism, and a proud racism unseen since the 1950s. Thanks, guys. Now look in the mirror and decide if you like what you see.

The new standard of the Republican Party.

Unlike other prominent conservatives who have left the GOP in disgust, Standard editors Bill Kristol and Steve Hayes are hanging in there, determined to regain ownership from the crazies who run the show now. Good luck with that.

My advice? Considering the GOP is damaged goods, why don't you and your fellow-disaffected Republicans form a new party? One that combines the pro-immigrant, pro-free press vibe of Reagan with the infrastructure gung-ho of Eisenhower? Something called... oh, I don't know... maybe the Standard Party.

Keeping Podhoretz
entertained.

And if you two guys don't remember me, take a look at the page your team set up that provides links to everything I wrote for the Standard.  Your colleague Jon Podhoretz can vouch for my talent. (UPDATE: The page is now run by the Washington Examiner. Just by the titles, I'd likely be embarrassed now by what I wrote, by why deny history?)

I may be voting the straight Democrat ticket for the foreseeable future -- like, forever -- but I really want you to make a comeback. And not just to provide a safe haven for decent conservatives. See, I still want that caricature of me. 



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