Granddaddy's Old Party Manifesto

Will Folks got all jiggy about it, but Christopher Buckley doesn't think much of The Mount Vernon Statement his cousin Bozell helped draft:

...But it must be said that he and his fellow signatories, the roster of whose names reads like a Who’s Who of conservative elders, have produced a document that bears the same relation to the Sharon Statement as Edward Everett’s two-hour long speech at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863, bore to the two-minute-long speech by the other speaker on the program that day: Abraham Lincoln...

...If you’re out of Ambien or Lunesta, you can call up the Mount Vernon Statement in its entirety at themountvernonstatement.com. You could also Google The Sharon Statement, and then decide for yourself whether conservative manifestos have improved over the years. (I note, weirdly, that the Sharon Statement was signed on Sept. 11, 1960. Nostradamus, call your office.)

I thought to ask Sam Tanenhaus what he made of the Mount Vernon Statement. Mr. Tanenhaus can be considered authoritative on the subject by virtue of his varied credentials: as noted biographer of Whittaker Chambers, editor of the New York Times Book Review and Week In Review, and biographer of William F. Buckley, Jr. His most recent book, The Death of Conservatism, is required reading for any serious student of the current conservative crackup. He emailed back:

“My question is: Where are the youngsters? The Sharon Statement launched the Young Americans for Freedom college kids, for the most part. The new/old submission seems more like Geriatrics Against Obama. Also, what happed to brevity? The Sharon Statement set forth concise principles. The new one seems a windbaggy Cliff’s Notes on The Federalist Papers.”