Conservative ‘Standard’ Full Of Debate, Discussion
George, the new political magazine edited by John F. Kennedy Jr., is arriving on a tidal wave of hype and media interest that all but obscures the launch of another power-minded publication.
The Weekly Standard went on sale Monday, quietly. Unlike George, a bimonthly that won’t reach newsstands until Sept. 26, sporting a cover shot of supermodel Cindy Crawford dressed like George Washington (with her navel on display), the right-of-center Standard features a gun-toting Newt Gingrich blasting his way high above Washington. Beyond the eye-catching image of the House speaker, the Standard offers page after page of gray text, modeled after the New Republic’s style of drab “layout.”
Though leaden in appearance, the columns of text burn with the conservative convictions of Editor and Publisher William Kristol, a leading Republican Party strategist who served as former Vice President Dan Quayle’s chief of staff; Executive Editor Fred Barnes, a talking head on TV’s “The McLaughlin Group” and an alumnus of The New Republic; and Deputy Editor John Podhoretz, a former Ronald Reagan speechwriter. Contributors include David Frum, the author of “Dead Right,” and investigative reporter David McClintick, who followed Gingrich for several months and offers a closeup of the speaker at work. Senior Editor David Brooks, formerly of The Wall Street Journal, allows conservatives to laugh out loud, as he ruminates on the virtues of “moral sex.”
Based in Washington, the Standard is published - that is, bankrolled - by Rupert Murdoch’s News America Publishing Inc. Kristol says he hopes to reach a circulation of 100,000 copies in a couple of years. According to Kristol, the seismic gains of the Republican Party in the November elections signaled the end of the New Deal-Great Society era.Kristol characterized the Standard as a forum for debate and discussion amid the political flux and said the weekly frequency will enable the magazine to stay on top of the action. In the premiere issue, Kristol examines recent setbacks in Sen. Bob Dole’s presidential campaign and makes a case that a Colin Powell presidency “could be a useful way station on the road to a lasting conservative realignment.”