Chutzpah alert! Jonah Goldberg defends Republican cronyism.

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Thursday October 13, 2005 · 7:44 AM PDT

2005/10/13 · 07:44

That's right. Over at Wanker Central, Goldberg defends the Bush administration's hiring practices. More below the fold.

I think the Miers pick was ill-conceived, but I'm remaining agnostic on her confirmation until those hearings. But I do think someone needs to say something in defense of cronyism.
It's a word and concept much abused in recent months. The Washington Post's Dana Milbank quoted me as saying Harriet Miers fits the dictionary definition of "crony," as if it was a stinging rebuke of the White House. In reality, it was merely a factual statement. According to the dictionary, a crony is a longtime close friend or companion. Historically it didn't have a negative connotation. It derives from the Greek chronos (time) and simply means someone you've known for a long while. The Oxford English Dictionary cites as the word's first appearance an entry in Samuel Pepys' diary in 1665: "Jack Cole, my old school-fellow ... who was a great chrony of mine." In America, the term has become politically negative, meaning favoritism for your buddies.

Thus it's something of a departure for liberals to become particularly vexed over cronyism, given that cronyism is central to traditional Democratic machine politics. Recall Bill Clinton appointed his childhood friend Thomas "Mack" McLarty as his chief of staff and Bruce Lindsey as his counsel, and he criminally attacked the White House travel office so he could get his cronies in there.

Of course, comparing the appointment of personal staff to the heads of an independent branch of government or an agency responsible for disaster response can only be charitably described as willfully stupid.

However, the real atrocity is that this is JONAH GOLDBERG hoisting the banner of cronyism.

Yes, the same Jonah Goldberg who has been described as "the National Review Online's very own poster child for legacy hires" by Kevin Drum.

Next up: John Hinderaker writing in defense of insanity.

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