Eunomia In The Times
Posted on June 27th, 2008
by Daniel Larison |
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After all of the grief I have given him over the years, I am impressed and a bit humbled that David Brooks chose to mention me along with a Who’s Who of bloggers on the right. Thanks for this goes in no small part to the release of Ross and Reihan’s new book, Grand New Party, which is the occasion for Brooks’ column:
Ross Douthat and my former assistant, Reihan Salam, are two of the most promising. This pair has just come out with a book called “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream.”
There have been other outstanding books on how the G.O.P. can rediscover its soul (like “Comeback” by David Frum), but if I could put one book on the desk of every Republican officeholder, “Grand New Party” would be it. You can discount my praise because of my friendship with the authors, but this is the best single roadmap of where the party should and is likely to head.
I’m just starting to read Grand New Party, but from what I can tell, if you can discount my friendship with the authors (if I may call it that), it deserves the praise it is receiving. I should add that Ross and Reihan have done a great deal to help make this blog a success (they were linking to Eunomia very early on), and engaging with their arguments has, I hope, made my own better. We have had and continue to have many disagreements, but I have been very glad that we have always managed to remain cordial and constructive in our critiques.
Filed under: politics
Daniel,
It’s been encouraging to follow the work that you, Ross, James, and (though he’s in a slightly different category) Rod Dreher have been doing to keep conservatism intellectually substantive and creative. I’m glad to see that David Brooks (!) is recognizing what you all are doing. Keep up the excellent work!
By the way, you have my old blog (Musings of a Reformed Catholic) linked on your sidebar. I’ve moved in somewhat different (though still Reformed and conservative) direction since that venture, as you may ascertain from the introductory post to my new blog: http://jgrimm787.blogspot.com/search/label/Introduction. If you could update your links accordingly, I would appreciate it. Thanks!
I whooped with delight at seeing your name in his column this morning, I’d gone into it thinking “he’s never going mention Larison.” Well-deserved congratulations to you. I now dislike Brooks very slightly less than I did.
Thanks to you both for the kind words and thanks also for remaining loyal readers. The link has been updated, Josh.
Daniel,
Congratulations! I made sure that the Starbucks crowd this morning was aware that I actually knew someone mentioned in the NYTimes. Ha! I saw an interview with Reihan on Hardball, and made note of the book. Your recommendation ensures that it will be one that I read.
Terry
Congratulations, Daniel. Much deserved, of course.