I failed

Ok, I admit it. This blog went nowhere. One Corner link, a whine from Media Matters, a couple of blog links, a few free BlogAds, and then nothing. "The Buzz" just never caught on.

Who do I blame? Myself. I simply didn't have the energy or time to do it justice. It takes hard work and talent to make a blog idea take off and I didn't have it.

Have I given up on Jonah replacing Safire? No, I will continue to make that argument but just over at my regular place.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, left a comment, or gave us a link. I will leave the site up for the historical record and whatnot.

Time for a reassessment

Let's be honest, this little venture hasn't exactly caught on like a wildfire. Sure so nice folks have mentioned and linked to it, but overall the response has been rather passive. Has this had to do with my inability to promote the idea properly? Most assuredly. Does it have something to do with the improbability of it all? Could be. Does it reflect on the man we are promoting? I hope not.

In case anyone cares I will be reassessing the goals and tactics of this humble blog over the weekend. If you have comments, ideas, or advice, feel free to send them my way.

Jonah on Federalism

Jonah's latest syndicated column (see he is already a national columnist why not a NYT columnist?) is a good example of why he would be great at the "paper of record." It is an example of combining humor with an important and relevant conservative principle. In this case it is federalism, something near and dear to Jonah's heart. Here is a snippet to give you a feel:

O'Donnell's higher than a moonbat with his secession talk. But I'm ecstatic that liberals suddenly love federalism. For years I've been ranting that federalism is the greatest system ever conceived to maximize human happiness.

The analogy I always use with college audiences is dorms. Imagine you've got ten dorms on a campus and a student population divided up into the usual coalitions: stoners, partiers, jocks, and so forth on one side, and study geeks, exchange students and — no offense — nerdy Mennonites on the other. A purely democratic system where all students get to decide dorm policy could result in the tyranny of 51 percent of the students over 49 percent of the students. The party-hardy crowd could pass a policy permitting loud music and keg parties at all hours of the night. Or if the more academically rigorous coalition won, they could ban "fun" of any kind, ever. Similarly, if the administration imposed its own policy from above, you could have a system that makes no one happy.

But, if you allowed each individual dorm to vote for its own policies, you could have a system where some dorms operate like scholarly monasteries and other dorms are more fun than a pool party at James Caan's house. Theoretically, 100 percent of the students could live the way they want. Maximized human happiness!

The virtue of a federalist, republican form of government is that the more you push these decisions down to the level where people actually have to live with their consequences, the more likely it is they will be a) involved and interested in the decision-making process, and b) happy with the result. Federalism is also morally superior because it requires the consent of the governed at the most basic level. Sure, your side can lose an argument, but it's easier to change things locally than nationally. And, at the end of the day, if you don't get your way, there's always the highway. It's easier to move to the next state than it is to move to Canada.

See? Funny and educational - it's like PBS but not annoying.

Seriously though, if the NYT wants to reach out to a different crowd - a more conservative, web friendly, South Park kinda crowd - Jonah would be a great way to start.

Ten Reasons Jonah Would Be Perfect At NYT

1. He is funny.
2. He is unconventional.
3. He can tackle serious topics.
4. He knows the intellectual history of conservatism.
5. He is a conservative first, a Republican second.
6. He is from New York.
7. He understands the power of the NYT.
8. He isn't afraid to make fun of the NYT.
9. He understands the power of blogs/alternative media.
10. He isn't afraid to make fun of blogs/alternative media.

There are ten reason just of the top of my head. Do you have ten reasons? Put them in the comments or post them on your own blog and link back here.

Draft Jonah

I like the way this guy thinks:

But if I had my druthers, for the otherthanSteyn pick, I'd go with Jonah Goldberg. He doesn't put a pretty face on conservatism like Coulter or Michelle Malkin (that's for sure), but he's sharp, intellectually well-rounded like Safire was, and occasionally humorous unlike most all-too-eager columnists on both sides of the ideological divide. Plus his humor is of the smile and stick-'em variety, not the LIBERALS SUCK, NOW LAUGH strain that Coulter employs. And, Goldberg doesn't toe the Republican party line -- a near prerequisite for a conservative in the City.

So an intelligent, funny, young conservative to replace the venerated Safire. What better new blood to add without detracting from Safire's honorable legacy than Jonah Goldberg?

The answer is of course: nobody! Can't you feel the groundswell already?

The Latest G-File

This is the kind of intelligent and thought provoking writing the NYT is missing because Jonah isn't a columnist:

One more example: Imagine you're the grand strategist of the Republican party during an age of unremitting social change. Homosexuality has been mainstreamed. The New York Times announces gay "weddings" alongside "traditional" ones and the social momentum is toward full legal recognition of gay marriages sometime in the near future. The popular culture being pumped into American homes is often coarse, smutty, and alien to traditional values. Narcissism has filled the vacuum of nihilism — designer drugs, designer bodies, designer children with nary a drop of shame for any of it. Technology itself is reducing the once-sacred boundaries of self and soul to a vast gray area where people are a collection of software and interchangeable parts. Meanwhile, Islamic fundamentalist terrorists are cutting off heads, blowing up Americans, and threatening to use nuclear or biological weapons on American soil. Even many of our European "allies" have decided that hating America is simply easier and more satisfying than hating America's enemies.

I don't mean to swipe John Derbyshire's pessimism hat, but I think the folks who celebrate the Republican triumph as a conservative triumph may be getting ahead of themselves.

Read the whole thing and tell me that isn't better than William Safire and David Brooks combined!

First Step: Creating Buzz

I figure the first step in sending Jonah to the NYT is to create a buzz of inevitability amongst the blogosphere. If we can make this the story around the net then the NYT will have to pay attention right? Right. So what we need to do is get as many people to link to this blog as possible. So get to it . . .

Let's Send Jonah to the NYT

If for some reason you are confused about what this blog is all about, let me clarify. The point of this blog is to convince the New York Times to hire Jonah Goldberg to replace retiring columnist William Safire. I will be posting various reasons why this is a good idea and encouraging others to do the same. Is it likely that this will work? Who knows. But we can at least have fun trying right? Stay tuned for more content soon.