I’ll take this spin, from an e-mail:

Face it, you guys have become “the” National Review. There are no others, be it on dead tree or online. You are a monolith, the only review of the nation in existence. Or as Jonah would say the “Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu waza Banga”

And another:

I’d consider “the” a blessing in disguise. When someone verbally says “the National Review,” it sounds just like “the national review.” In other words, the speaker is subliminally equating your magazine with the national review of the way things are. Not a message I’d think you’d want to dissuade.