The Once Prestigious National Review Endorses Sean Parnell

The upcoming April 7 edition of the conservative weekly publication, National Review, contains an editorial that says:

Two years ago, Alaska’s Sarah Palin came out of nowhere to swipe the GOP nomination from Frank Murkowski, the unpopular incumbent Republican governor. She went on to a general-election victory and is occasionally even discussed, in some circles, as vice-presidential material. Now her 2006 running mate, lieutenant governor Sean Parnell, has announced a primary challenge to Rep. Don Young, who has held the state’s lone House seat for 18 terms. In that time, Young has become one of Washington’s premier pork-barrel pols, most notably for his advocacy of the infamous “bridge to nowhere.” Despite their self-image as rugged libertarians, Alaskans love federal handouts, and the 74-year-old Young hasn’t faced a difficult reelection in some time. Yet he’s also under an ethics probe involving earmarks, and has spent around $850,000 on legal bills. Many Republicans worry that if Young is their nominee once again he will lose the seat. Now they have a viable alternative in the August primary. Palin has endorsed Parnell. So should Alaska’s conservatives.

On the surface, it looks like the National Review editors have put some thought into their decision. But DC-based reporter Robert Dillon called up National Review this morning about the editorial, and had the following exchange with NR writer, John Miller:

"There's a feeling that he's a conservative that can win and protect the seat," said National Review reporter John Miller.

Asked if there were any particular issues on which the National Review agreed with Parnell or if the magazine had analyzed the position of the race's other Republican challenger, state House Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux , -- the answer was no.

"The governor's support of him was influential," Miller said.

So basically it's an anti-Young, pro-Palin endorsement.

Miller said the editorial pretty much said it all (see previous post) and he wasn't too interested in answering additional questions. For my part, I was just trying to make a story out of the endorsement, but there's not much to write about if they endorsed him only because the governor did.

It does mean that I could conceivably put more thought into this blog than the National Review does in endorsing candidates for national office, which is kind of scary.

Robert's onto something there. More likely that the National Review folks were told by their conservative GOP behind-the-scenes masters to cook up an editorial marginalizing Young and touting Parnell as the solution to part of their growing negative national image.

hat-tip to Robert Dillon