I love it when I see Matthew Continetti on TV because all kinds of great things happen. For those who are unfamiliar with Continetti's oeuvre, just flip through the the pages of the Weekly Standard, where he is something of that periodical's resident wunderkind. Now, I don't agree with the assessment that the young neocon is what some have called a "once-promising talent" (his reporting may be adequate, but his writing -- not so much), but I do think that if I had cribbed from Continetti's love letters to Rudy Giuliani when I was in fourth grade, Becky Sanders and I would be happily married with four kids right now.
Alas, it was not meant to be! But that may be just as well because Becky went on to marry Ron Berger (what an asshole!) and, well, let's just say that time has not been good to either of them...
But I digress ...
Anyway, a few years ago this Continetti fellow, at the tender age of (I think) 23, published a book called The K Street Gang, about the rise and fall of Jack Abramoff. To promote said book, Continetti's publisher booked him on the Daily Show, and when the day of his appearance arrived, Continetti strolled out across the stage and took his seat across the table from the show's host, absolutely petrified with the thought of sparring with John Stewart. As it happened, Stewart treated the young author with kid gloves, but to date Continetti remains hands-down the single most nervous guest (in my viewing) ever to have appeared on the show.
Since then he's become the bright young face that the Weekly Standard pushes in front of a TV camera when it has a point to make or when a news organizations is looking for the neocon perspective. And my how little Matty has grown up since those first steps in front of the camera in New York! Now he appears far more confident, comfortable and just as unwaveringly full of shit as the rest of his colleagues.
Case in point:
A few minutes ago, MSNBC ran a report on the scandal and then called on three talking heads to discuss it. The whole segment ran about five minutes. One of the participants was Matthew Continetti of the neocon rag the Weekly Standard, who used half of his alotted time to express his utter indignation that MSNBC would devote time to something as tawdry as the Craig matter while ignoring a recent Newsweek report about al-Qaeda. "I think it says something about American media that we’re talking about Senator Craig and not this very important piece in Newsweek," Continetti harrumphed.
Which, of course, raises the question: If talking about Craig is so offensive, why did you agree to do the segment?
I actually caught the segment myself and it was so ridiculous that the moderator couldn't contain a "ppssshhhaww!" after listening to Continetti's plea for a return to sanity.
If that kind of flagrant self-righteousness sounds familiar, let me just say this: Continetti is also developing some of William Krystol's verbal idiosyncrasies too.
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