What’s Up With Matthew Continetti?

The young writer for The Weekly Standard has become Sarah Palin’s biggest cheerleader.  Continetti has written a book defending the former Alaska Governor from her media critics.  Continetti’s articles have even portrayed Palin as an heir to the populist tradition of William Jennings Bryan and Andrew Jackson.

Palin the next great American populist?  Daniel Larison has something to say about that:

Of course, we understand that the purpose of the article is to give favorable press coverage to Palin and to continue The Weekly Standard’s embarrassing cheerleading for her. There is also a clear desire to burnish Palin’s credentials as the “rogue” anti-elitist and to make her part of the most absurdly artificial tradition of “Jackson-Bryan-Reagan.” After all, no Palin love letter would ever be complete without some reference to how she resembles Reagan in some intangible, mystical way that only devotees can understand. I simply don’t know how one draws a line between William Jennings Bryan, an intense evangelical Christian who fiercely opposed concentrated wealth and power, and Ronald Reagan, a mild Unitarian Presbyterian and former FDR Democrat whose practical domestic legacy was the advancement of corporate and large business interests. Of course, Bryan never won a presidential race, so it’s hard to know whether he would or could have translated his rhetoric into policy, but I doubt very much that he would have recognized any of his legacy in Reagan. How much less is Palin in the same tradition?

Continetti seems to be continuing in the proud tradition of The Weekly Standard by shilling for Republican candidates.  David Brooks did it for McCain, Fred Barnes did it for Bush and now Continetti does it for Palin.

Andrew Sullivan chalks Continetti’s partisan hackery to pure ambition.  That’s probably accurate.  Given that anything with the name “Sarah Palin” attached to it will sell like hotcakes, any aspiring political writer could do quite well ($$$ that is) to jump on the gravy train.

That Continetti is willing to become the poster boy for Palinistas isn’t surprising, but it is nevertheless disappointing.  Back in the spring of 2006, Continetti wrote a little book called the “K Street Gang.”  In it, Continetti detailed how Congressional Republicans under the leadership of Tom Delay sold out on conservatism for the glory of power and wealth.  Mind you that he was doing this before the GOP’s collapse, before it was popular to shake one’s head in disgust.  That book didn’t give me the impression that Continetti would one day trans-morph into a public relations director for a pseudo-candidate whose platform never extends beyond recycled talking points.  Continetti genuinely seemed to be someone willing to challenge the conventional wisdom.  Republicans need a lot more writers like that – young men and women who can still see right from wrong without needing to check on party affiliation.  Perhaps Continetti will get back to that once Palin’s political career finally ends.  I certainly hope so.