The Gimlet Eye

Recyclable Myths

IT WAS pleasing in the days following the Republican sweep last month to watch the disorientation of the Left. I like to think that the pleasure I took was something more than cheap Schadenfreude—that it was, instead, a principled and mature response on my part to the magisterial movement of ideas through history, akin to the pleasure one takes in watching a garden bloom, or a mother nurture her young. Actually it was cheap Schadenfreude. I liked to watch them squirm. I liked the little beads of sweat that formed on Vic Fazio’s upper lip during his TV interviews. I liked the President’s rambling, groping press conference. I liked the way Tom Foley’s head swung from side to side, like Charlie McCarthy’s, as he conceded defeat. I liked it.

About the Author

Andrew Ferguson

Andrew Ferguson, a former columnist for NR, is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

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Recyclable Myths

IT WAS pleasing in the days following the Republican sweep last month to watch the disorientation of the Left. I like to think that the pleasure I took was something more than cheap Schadenfreude—that it was, instead, a principled and mature response on my part to the magisterial movement of ideas through history, akin to the pleasure one takes in watching a garden bloom, or a mother nurture her young. Actually it was cheap Schadenfreude. I liked to watch them squirm. I liked the little beads of sweat that formed on Vic Fazio’s upper lip during his TV interviews. I liked the President’s rambling, groping press conference. I liked the way Tom Foley’s head swung from side to side, like Charlie McCarthy’s, as he conceded defeat. I liked it.