Fearless Freelance Intellectual John Podhoretz Speaks!

A correspondent writes: "Irony, thou art completely, completely dead." And she then points us to John Podhoretz, who writes:

The Corner on National Review Online: PUNDITS VS. CONSULTANTS [John Podhoretz]: It's a very good point, Jonah, about the cable nets improperly pairing off opinion journalists who stand on one side of the political divide and political consultants who actually work for the other side. Ten years ago I made a blanket rule that I would not appear on TV opposite professional Democrats because I am not a professional Republican but rather a working journalist. I don't speak for the GOP, even though my political and ideological views have placed me in close alignment with the Republican party. But a Democratic consultant does speak for his or her party for a paycheck, and viewers have no reason to know that there's a difference.

Wow.

Isn't it interesting how John Podhoretz's political and ideological views have changed over time? In 2000 Podhoretz thought it essential to maintain the federal budget in surplus; in 2006 Podhoretz thinks the large current and projected federal budget deficits aren't a very big problem. In 2000 Podhoretz thought that the Clinton administration had made a bad error in deploying U.S. troops in "nation building" exercises half the world away; in 2006 Podhoretz thinks that it would be a bad error not to deploy U.S. troops in "nation building" exercises half the world away. In 2000 Podhoretz thought that the federal government needed to be restrained lest it violate individual liberties; in 2006 Podhoretz thinks that individual liberties need to be restrained lest they hobble the federal government.

How fortunate is Podhoretz, working journalist, to have found a political party whose positions of the day change in exact synchrony with his own evolving views!

How in the Holy Name of the Lord has he managed it? I certainly have had no such luck.