National Review Online used to be the place where we put things that got squeezed out of the print magazine for space.
I was often published here back then. How many reproductive-health-related editorial paragraphs could we really have in The Week, anyway?
That doesn’t seem that long ago, but that was back in 1997. We’ve come a long way since then.
National Review Online has gone through so many iterations, updates, growing pains. One of our first big-feature moments was our Washington Bulletin, with young reporters Rich Lowry and Ramesh Ponnuru writing in from Washington. Then we hired one Jonah Goldberg back when Bill Clinton was president. Not only is Jonah now a husband, father, and best-selling author . . . he’s even a fellow. And the infamous Goldberg File now exists in its second version, this time older and wiser, but still as clever and irreverent as ever.
If you remember all that, too: Surely you’ve contributed?
Now, on NRO, not only do you find way much more than how to subscribe to the print magazine and “The Week Extra” to read, you now have more than you could possibly read on a daily basis.
Jim Geraghty. Andy McCarthy. The Corner. And those were just the first three things that came to mind.
Or Andrew Stuttaford. Yuval Levin. Maggie Gallagher.
And Dana Perino. And Mona Charen. And Jay Nordlinger.
Or Steven Hayward. Ed Whelan. David Pryce-Jones.
And Matt Franck. Greg Pollowitz. Kevin Williamson.
Or Nicole Gelinas. Veronique de Rugy. Michael New.
And Daniel Pipes. James Capretta. Heather Mac Donald.
Or Nina Shea. Paul Marshall. David French. The list does go on.
If you tried the same exercise — naming just the top three of your favorite features or authors on NRO today — I suspect Mark Steyn or Victor Davis Hanson, Ramesh Ponnuru, Rich Lowry might be in your top three. Because the list goes on and on of the quality minds who write for NRO who know their way around the language. The hard-working reporters who pitch their tents on location. The experts who get to the meat of the issues.
And there’s much more than them and there is even more to come. We’re constantly evaluating: How can National Review’s website bring quick, solid, well-written conservative analysis in innovative and comprehensive ways?
Comprehensive both in terms of telling the whole story in any given story on your minds, on the nation’s mind, or stories that others don’t and won’t put in their headlines (though they should). Having a full debate — and oftentimes right out on The Corner, in full view. And covering all topics of interest both to our loyal longtime readers, and to new ones too.
As part of that, I have a few things to ask you on behalf of all of us here at NRO:
First of all, please consider investing in us. In supporting us and our future. We do not charge for our online content. This is why we ask now and again for this financial show of support. It pays bills. And we’re a place where many of our writers do what they do for us for free. I can’t tell you how often I ask an expert for a comment — of the 300-700 word kind — and they get no financial compensation for doing so. But they deliver it, diligent and clear, and without hesitation. Because they know the top-quality, high-caliber, influential audience they’re reaching by appearing on NRO. (Some of them explain it themselves here.)
Second, please e-mail one article from NRO today to a friend who probably doesn’t read NRO every day — or ever. Maybe start a conversation. Spread the word about NRO.
Third action item: Please e-mail with your suggestions, wish list, or other feedback. Feel free to do that anytime.
And, finally: If you didn’t jump on that first action item: Please, do consider contributing to our spring fundraising drive. I had to laugh the other day when I saw in The Corner that someone in the New York office brought in a Keurig coffee machine. I’ve been here for 14 years now and I can tell you: That’s extravagant for National Review. We do tend to run a frugal operation. This is not the place of expense accounts and three-martini lunches. This is the place where a young reporter may borrow a car and NR will pay his friend for gas for a reporting road trip.
That did happen during the last election season. And now 2012 is here.
It’s here in the enthusiasm and hard work in the name of the Constitution, liberty, and, well, conservatism, afoot on Capitol Hill and in our nation’s statehouses. It’s here as we fight for our families and our nation’s futures. And encourage others to. Sometimes pressure others to.
It’s here on National Review Online, as we seek to bring you breaking and under-the-radar news and expert analysis. As we shine a light on the Marco Rubios of this next election cycle, as we help make sure that there isn’t just one-half or one-third of the federal government that’s ever going to consider giving conservatism a hearing. As we sort through spin and shine a light on truth.
And we’ll need some gas money along the way.
Thanks for bearing with the spring fundraising campaign. Thanks for being an NRO reader. And thanks so very much for considering sending your contribution of $50 or $100 or $500 to support this daily online companion you find yourself reading.
Just click here.
Thank you.
— Kathryn Jean Lopez is editor-at-large of National Review Online.