Correspondence
Correspondence WRESTLING WITH HISTORY I GOT QUITE A KICK out of seeing a stuffy magazine like The Weekly Standard take on pro wrestling ("Pro Wrestling and the End of History," Oct. 4). And I...
...Your magazine beat him senseless in 1996 after his win in the New Hampshire primary, shouting many of the same epithets then as now...
...He has a moral code, albeit a primitive and barbaric one...
...Otherwise, this is one of the most embarrassing articles I've ever read in an otherwise excellent magazine...
...But I don't think it's quite as bleak as some critics charge...
...Imagine how much more effective this money would be if it was instead used for school vouchers in elementary and high schools...
...For a guy who is failing to convince conservatives that their new mission in life should be a crusade for "national greatness," the allegiance of so many street-corner conservatives to Pat Buchanan must be tough to understand...
...Last year I moved to the San Francisco area and was excited to have the opportunity to experience the notorious event firsthand...
...In the day-today trenches of budgetary politics it appears Senator Trent "King of the pork barrel" Lott and Congressman Dennis "Balanced budgets are all smoke and mirrors" Hastert have already accepted the "it's Politics" slogan...
...But Austin is different from the bad guys...
...He seems to feed on hatred and divisive-ness, which no party should attempt to foster...
...The Republican party used to be a party that tolerated dissent and differing viewpoints...
...But generally, the top guys turned every three or four years, just to keep the story lines from falling into a rut...
...ERIKA PADILLA-MORALES Alameda, CA...
...that government-mandated minimum wages are abhorrent...
...So, let me see if I understand...
...First, Col...
...Denouncing Buchanan is the right thing to do, and more Republicans should step up to the plate if they wish to be heard above the fray...
...He fights his own fights...
...To be a good guy in wrestling today, one has to have an edge, to be willing to play as dirty as the bad guys...
...The differences between Pat Buchanan and Republican principles are not minor issues that can be smoothed over behind closed doors," Kristol sniffs...
...If you gave me enough time, I might think of one or two who did...
...Come November 2000, the Republicans may wish they hadn't picked this fight...
...KEVIN RING Washington, DC WILLIAM KRISTOL ASKS if the Republican party slogan is going to be, "It's Politics...
...that the government should determine minimum wages...
...He doesn't pretend to be anyone other than who he is...
...What a preposterous litmus test—but one, unfortunately, that many admitted rubbernecks of The Weekly Status Quo are learning to expect from Kristol...
...If it was an option for Skinner to come to this year's Burning Man, it is certainly an option for him to not attend next year...
...Rather than having a bigger tent, Kristol seems to be pushing Pat and his supporters out the door...
...Does the current state of pro wrestling tell us much about the moral state of America...
...They needed a quick replacement, and turned Nikita Koloff into a good guy...
...He can't be bought by "the man...
...They are fundamental...
...Every time he is on television he promotes the idea that there is a conscious, continuous, and concerted effort by evil forces to, for lack of a better phrase, screw him and people like him...
...Perhaps it is not that he feels comfortable with them, but rather that he has been driven into their arms by the likes of your staff and other "new" moderate Republicans...
...TOM REITMEYER Virginia Beach, VA I WANT TO APPLAUD William Kristol's denunciation of Pat Buchanan in this magazine and on television...
...On the biggest issue, I'm still undecided...
...I am 26 years of age and I have never used a drug, or been drunk, in my entire life...
...Buchanan...
...I'm sure that this is because they know and like Buchanan, but their refusal to make a direct statement about his views is indefensible...
...That type is the Verne Gagne, Bob Backlund, milk-drinking, clean-cut wrestler...
...I don't believe much thought went into it...
...And he never quits, no matter how much the odds are stacked against him...
...It seems as if Buchanan's fellow television commentators all refuse to say, despite so much evidence to the contrary, that Buchanan is a bigot and an anti-Semite...
...I think Cantor makes too much over the Koloff family's various turns and the end of the Cold War...
...CHARLES OLIVER Los Angeles, CA PLEASE TELL ME that Paul Cantor's article on pro wrestling was a parody of the excesses of "Cultural Studies...
...But it is not enough...
...But it just isn't true that wrestling no longer offers good guys and bad guys...
...Rather, it's only that a particular type of good guy has gone, killed by fans who no longer want to see him...
...DeBeers was a creation of Verne Gagne's AWA, not the WWF...
...One wonders what sort of parent buys those for them...
...The one simple question I would ask Buchanan is: What are you so angry about...
...Kristol says Pat is no longer a conservative...
...I felt free to walk about the desert in the middle of the night and witness the beautiful sky above me—undisturbed by pollution...
...Burning Man was said by my friends to be an artistic playground for all, and, as with all art, I was moved by some pieces, amused by others, and driven to ennui by still others...
...These, I suppose, are "minor issues that can be smoothed over behind closed doors" in Kristol's view...
...and that private property rights deserve greater protection, he can and should be run out of the party if he also happens to believe—mistakenly, in my view—in the benefits of tariffs...
...I do, however, have a few quibbles...
...Enough is enough...
...Second, Eric Bischoff was always a TV announcer and executive, never a pro wrestler...
...Third, it just isn't true that in the old days a wrestler would go his entire career as either a good guy or a bad guy...
...Hill Republicans...
...and that unproven environmental threats justify abridgment of private property rights...
...During the course of the weekend there were brief moments of tongue-in-cheek lewdness, but I did not feel the least bit unsafe in the makeshift community...
...The Burning Man experience was amazing, and I left touched by the refreshing sense of how persons can interact with one another in a positive light...
...that the federal departments of education, commerce, and energy should be eliminated...
...I can't defend everything about modern pro wrestling, especially as presented by the WWF...
...With the solid basic education they would provide, black and Hispanic students could compete on their own in college, even in the rigorous disciplines of science and engineering...
...And who does Kristol implore to play guardians of the faith...
...If someone believes—as Buchanan does—that life begins at conception and that abortion—like slavery—is the most important moral issue of its day...
...in the long run their actions will define the Republican party far more than Pat "Have you ever heard of Harold E. Stassen...
...that the federal government should play a greater role in local education policy...
...That's more than a little curious, considering the fact that there are at least 25 Republicans in Congress—enough to keep the GoP in the majority, mind you—who believe that killing unborn children is a constitutional right...
...The simple fact is that Jim Crockett's lead good guy was injured in a real-life car accident that ended his career...
...And I thought Paul Cantor did a pretty good job addressing the changes in the wrestling business...
...Whoever in the GOP is in charge of denouncing ought to look at Republican leaders in Congress too...
...Certainly, it speaks volumes when one sees small children in the stands holding up foam fists with the middle finger extended...
...I find it odd that you say Buchanan prefers to hang around with people like Lenora Fulani and Fred Newman...
...PETE SKURKISS Chester, NJ TOUCHED BY BURNING MAN I AM SORRY David Skinner and I did not meet during the weekend of Burning Man ("What I Saw at Burning Man," Sept...
...Alas, as long as Republicans remain free traders (and believe peace in Bosnia and Kosovo are vital national interests), they can close the flaps of the Big Tent behind them...
...The best example is the most popular character in wrestling right now, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin...
...BRIAN HIPP Chicago, IL NOT STANDING PAT I'M A CHARTER SUBSCRIBER to The WEEKLY STANDARD, but I am disgusted with William Kristol's take on Pat Buchanan ("Pat the Bunny," Sept...
...ANDREW M. WONG New York, NY BILLION DOLLAR BILL CHRISTOPHER CALDWELL'S article on Bill Gates devoting a billion dollars to minority-only college scholarships is a story of opportunity lost ("Bill Gates, Minority Leader," Oct...
...Kristol's candor is a refreshing change...
...RICHARD READ Huntsville, AL POOR WILLIAM KRISTOL...
...I didn't know there was a litmus test of beliefs for which you had to score 85 percent or higher to be a real conservative...
...Their actions speak volumes about "politicians who seek office, and who will swallow anything in their efforts to accumulate support for the next election...
...I hope that Buchanan runs as a third-party candidate, not because it will tilt the election toward the Democrats, but because he will be marginalized, suffer a humiliating defeat, and, hopefully, not be heard from again...
Vol. 5 • October 1999 • No. 5
