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Rich Lowry

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“” I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, "Hey, I think she just winked at me." And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America.
— Rich Lowry On Sarah Palin's Debate Performance [1]

Richard Lowry (1968–) is the former editor (1997-2021) and current editor-in-chief of National Review. Lowry is best known for his obsession with masculinity, making egregiously bad predictions, and for being the biggest admirer of Sarah Palin in America.

History[edit]

Lowry attended University of Virginia in the 1980s where he wrote for the right-wing cage liner Virginia Advocate. After graduating, he initially took a job as a research assistant for Charles Krauthammer. In 1997, Lowry became editor of National Review when he was selected by its founder William F. Buckley to lead the magazine.

In his spare time, Lowry wrote an anti-Clinton book — Legacy: Paying the Price for the Clinton Years — which was published by traditional anti-Clinton book publisher Regnery Press. Lowry has also contributed to a book on conservative conversion stories. His "conversion" involved going from a nominally pro-gun conservative to a more pro-gun conservative.[2]

As Editor of National Review[edit]

Rich Lowry

Lowry was editor of NR from 1997 to 2021. One of Lowry's loudest drums to bang during his stint as editor was how American culture is too decadent, too liberal, and too lowbrow. Lowry blames liberals for everything from Bush era abuses at Abu Ghraib[3] to the shooting at Virginia Tech[4] to the devastation of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.[5]

Civil Liberties Are For Suckers and Losers[edit]

Like many conservatives, Lowry lost all regard for the Constitution and basic human rights after 9/11 and never found it again.[6][7][8][9]

The Lowry Test[edit]

Like Bill Kristol and David Brooks, Lowry has a knack for making erroneous predictions.

  • George Allen is really going places[10]
  • John Bolton will be nominated U.N. ambassador[11]
  • Obama can't possibly win the primary[12]
  • And, of course, the infamous "We're Winning" cover and everything that followed[13]

Notable Moments[edit]

Al Franken and Lowry[edit]

One of Lowry's obsessions is masculinity and the supposed lack thereof among liberals. In 2000, he appeared on CNN and alleged that Democrats had "feminized" and "sissified" politics. In response, Al Franken called Lowry and challenged him to a fistfight. Franken recounted the incident in Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them.[14] As expected, Lowry backed out, then followed up with a column in which he likened Franken to Richard Simmons.[15]

Megyn Kelly and Lowry[edit]

In September 2024, Rich Lowry appeared on The Megyn Kelly Show to opine on an explosive fictional story manufactured by the right wing to drum up outrage over black immigrants in Ohio. The same false story which led Donald Trump to amusingly burst out with, "They're eating the pets!" during the second presidential debate in 2024, which was the first debate between Trump and VP Kamala Harris.[16]

Around 42 seconds into his interview with Megyn Kelly, Lowry seems to say what sounds like the "n-word" while referring specifically to Haitian migrants before correcting himself and continuing without a beat.

Lowry: All things considered, I think people would prefer Haitian n****r um, migrants to come and take the geese off the golf course.[17]

No surprise, Lowry denies he said the n-word. He claims he misspoke the word "migrant." His claim of innocence has been met with much skepticism from people with ears. [18]

Trump supporter [Rich Lowry] just out and out calls Haitians the “N-word” and @megynkelly just lets it fly. This is MAGA folks. - Rep. Eric Swalwell[19]

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ↑ Rich Lowry In Love, Reason, 10/04/08
  2. ↑ Hopefully, At Least One of Them Tells About Being Seduced by Bill Buckley, World O' Crap, 02/07/07
  3. ↑ Don’t judge us by those photos, National Review, 05/11/04: "Consider the iconic film of the 1990s, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. It includes a scene of the rape of a man imprisoned and kept as a sexual slave, which prompted laughs in theaters. The victim, 'The Gimp,' became a figure of fun. Tarantino's latest, the Kill Bill movies, present the same romance of power and violence, arbitrarily and stylishly wielded. Cruelty, Tarantino tells us, can be fun."
  4. ↑ My Virginia Tech Professor, NRO, 04/19/07: "Finally, is it really so hard to imagine a world in which an English professor says, "You aren't going to wear sunglasses in my class." Says, "If you don't participate in the discussion in my seminar, you are going to fail." Says, "If you can't produce work that can be read aloud without frightening everyone else, you are going to fail." Says, "Your work is disgusting trash and not up to my standards." Instead, Cho seemed to get passed along."
  5. ↑ "Bold, Persistent Experimentation", National Review, 09/20/05: "New Orleans was partly a catastrophe of the welfare state, which has subsidized inner cities with countless billions of dollars throughout the past 30 years, with little to show for it except more social breakdown."
  6. ↑ CNN, aired 05/30/02
  7. ↑ Who's Tortured? Reason.com, 12/27/04
  8. ↑ Pro-Pain Pundits, FAIR.org
  9. ↑ Original post and follow-up
  10. ↑ The Lowry Test, Davidweigel.com
  11. ↑ BOLTON NOMINATION WILL PASS THE COMMITTEE 10-8 TODAY, NRO
  12. ↑ Obama, NRO, 06/19/07
  13. ↑ We're Winning! Rising Hegemon, 12/02/05
  14. ↑ Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (hardback), pp. 324-327. The relevant text can be seen here.
  15. ↑ Why I Won't Fight Al Franken, NRO, 08/22/00
  16. ↑ Trump Pushes Baseless Claim About Immigrants 'Eating the Pets', NBC, 9/10/24
  17. ↑ #Springfield, Steve Marmel, x.com, 9/16/2024
  18. ↑ Rich Lowry Says He Didn’t Say the Racial Slur You Heard Him Say on ‘Megyn Kelly’, Yahoo, 9/16/24
  19. ↑ Rep. Eric Swalwell, x.com, 9/17/2024
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