Claim: The editor of the National Review has endorsed Barack Obama for president.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected via e-mail, October 2008]
The National Review's Editor Endorses Obama A Conservative for Obama My party has slipped its moorings. It's time for a true pragmatist to lead the country. by Wick Allison, Editor In Chief, The National Review THE MORE I LISTEN TO AND READ ABOUT "the most liberal member of the [...] Barack Obama is not my ideal candidate for president. (In fact, I made the maximum donation to John McCain during the primaries, when there was still hope he might come to his senses.) But I now see that Obama is almost the ideal candidate for this moment in American history. I disagree with him on many issues. But those don't matter as much as what Obama offers, which is a deeply conservative view of the world. Nobody can read Obama’s books (which, it is worth noting, he wrote himself) or listen to him speak without realizing that this is a thoughtful, pragmatic, and prudent man. It gives me comfort just to think that after eight years of [Rest of article here.] |
Origins: It would be rather remarkable political news if
the editor-in-chief of the
through a small but significant instance of misidentification.
The "A Conservative for Obama" editorial referenced above was written by Wick Allison, who took over as publisher of the National Review in 1990. However,
As for whom the National Review is endorsing for president, the magazine's real editor-in-chief, Rich Lowry, told the Washington Times: "It's funny, but I don't know if we endorse in general elections. I just really haven't thought about that. Most people aren't on the edge of their seats wondering whether a conservative magazine will support the conservative Republican candidate."
Christopher Buckley, the son of the National Review's founder (and himself a contributor to that publication), did endorse Barack Obama in a
Last updated: 14 October 2008
Sources: