Vindication!
October 6, 2011 - by
I have an apology from The New Yorker – and a correction (online, at least).
The reporter, Jane Mayer, called me to apologize. She said she was “totally mortified” that her Art Pope story identified me as former executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party. My biographical information apparently got mixed us with somebody else’s, and then “our fact-checker got sick!”
No harm done, Jane.
The reaction to her story has been interesting. Mark Binker called it “derivative, in that it doesn’t provide a lot of new information.” John Hood with the John Locke Foundation called it a “hit piece.”
Well, there was some new information – like the opening anecdote about Ed Gillespie and REDMAP. But Mayer gave credit, and she did have some new information.
I can see how Hood felt she unfairly demonized his patron. (See my blog “Stop Whining.”) Politics is the clash of ideas, and I told Mayer in my interview that I admire Pope for putting his money where his mind is and fighting for his beliefs. I disagree with him, but I see nothing evil in what he has done – so long as he doesn’t break the law.
The best thing Mayer did was tell us what Pope is like – and let him talk. Which gave us these insights into his thinking and his personality:
“Pope believes that wealth is the just reward for talent and hard work, and that all Americans have a fair chance at success.”
“Pope grew up on Raleigh’s most elegant street, Glenwood Avenue, in a large house next to a country club. While his older brother preferred playing golf, Pope was politically minded, and in high school he volunteered as a driver for a state Republican candidate. He read academic papers on free-market economics, and credits a summer program run by the Cato Institute, to which he has since given money, for immersing him in the writings of conservative icons such as Friedrich August Hayek and Ayn Rand. His favorite novelist was the science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein, whose book ‘The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress’ popularized an acronym that has become a rallying cry for young libertarians: ‘TANSTAAFL,’ which stands for ‘There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch’.
“His father, whom a family acquaintance describes as ‘domineering,’ became known as a particularly outspoken trustee at U.N.C.-Chapel Hill, which he believed had been taken over by radical scholars. Pope graduated from Duke Law School in 1981, and after a few years went to work as a general counsel in his father’s company. ‘I am not an heir,’ Pope insisted, explaining that his father demanded that he and his siblings buy equity stakes in the family business.”
Posted in General, North Carolina - Republicans
Vindication!
October 6, 2011/
I have an apology from The New Yorker – and a correction (online, at least).
The reporter, Jane Mayer, called me to apologize. She said she was “totally mortified” that her Art Pope story identified me as former executive director of the North Carolina Democratic Party. My biographical information apparently got mixed us with somebody else’s, and then “our fact-checker got sick!”
No harm done, Jane.
The reaction to her story has been interesting. Mark Binker called it “derivative, in that it doesn’t provide a lot of new information.” John Hood with the John Locke Foundation called it a “hit piece.”
Well, there was some new information – like the opening anecdote about Ed Gillespie and REDMAP. But Mayer gave credit, and she did have some new information.
I can see how Hood felt she unfairly demonized his patron. (See my blog “Stop Whining.”) Politics is the clash of ideas, and I told Mayer in my interview that I admire Pope for putting his money where his mind is and fighting for his beliefs. I disagree with him, but I see nothing evil in what he has done – so long as he doesn’t break the law.
The best thing Mayer did was tell us what Pope is like – and let him talk. Which gave us these insights into his thinking and his personality:
“Pope believes that wealth is the just reward for talent and hard work, and that all Americans have a fair chance at success.”
“Pope grew up on Raleigh’s most elegant street, Glenwood Avenue, in a large house next to a country club. While his older brother preferred playing golf, Pope was politically minded, and in high school he volunteered as a driver for a state Republican candidate. He read academic papers on free-market economics, and credits a summer program run by the Cato Institute, to which he has since given money, for immersing him in the writings of conservative icons such as Friedrich August Hayek and Ayn Rand. His favorite novelist was the science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein, whose book ‘The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress’ popularized an acronym that has become a rallying cry for young libertarians: ‘TANSTAAFL,’ which stands for ‘There Ain’t No Such Thing as a Free Lunch’.
“His father, whom a family acquaintance describes as ‘domineering,’ became known as a particularly outspoken trustee at U.N.C.-Chapel Hill, which he believed had been taken over by radical scholars. Pope graduated from Duke Law School in 1981, and after a few years went to work as a general counsel in his father’s company. ‘I am not an heir,’ Pope insisted, explaining that his father demanded that he and his siblings buy equity stakes in the family business.”
Posted in General, North Carolina - Republicans