The New Republic has been sold again.
February 26, 2016 6:50 PM Subscribe
"Chris Hughes, the owner of The New Republic, said on Friday that he had sold the magazine to Win McCormack, a publisher and editor based in New York and Portland, Ore., who founded the literary quarterly Tin House. Mr. McCormack will appoint Hamilton Fish, the publisher of The Washington Spectator and a former publisher of The Nation, to be publisher and editorial director, The New Republic said."
But the election isn't until November. Oh, you mean the magazine!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 7:06 PM on February 26, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 7:06 PM on February 26, 2016 [8 favorites]
There's no gonif like a left-wing gonif.
posted by Daily Alice at 7:18 PM on February 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Daily Alice at 7:18 PM on February 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
The most important issue around this, of course, is what it means for Jeet Heer. #sortajokingnotreally
posted by sauril at 7:25 PM on February 26, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by sauril at 7:25 PM on February 26, 2016 [7 favorites]
Win McCormick. Hamilton Fish. Did I stumble into a Pynchon novel?
posted by OHSnap at 7:32 PM on February 26, 2016 [32 favorites]
posted by OHSnap at 7:32 PM on February 26, 2016 [32 favorites]
eh, sounds more like early David Foster Wallace to me.
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:41 PM on February 26, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Reclusive Novelist Thomas Pynchon at 7:41 PM on February 26, 2016 [6 favorites]
The new publisher is the fifth Ham Fish.
posted by GrammarMoses at 7:46 PM on February 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by GrammarMoses at 7:46 PM on February 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
Holy shit. Like everyone at MetaFilter I make six figures but every day I deal with rich Daddy money dicks like McCormick.
I collect books as a hobby and have every McSweeneys and nearly every Tin House but make no mistake...
His parents' money and his parents' golfing buddies' money allows him to by the next media outlet for his concerns.
I mean, I agree with his politics but holy fck. I mean. Jesus.
posted by four panels at 7:47 PM on February 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
I collect books as a hobby and have every McSweeneys and nearly every Tin House but make no mistake...
His parents' money and his parents' golfing buddies' money allows him to by the next media outlet for his concerns.
I mean, I agree with his politics but holy fck. I mean. Jesus.
posted by four panels at 7:47 PM on February 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
Did I stumble into a Pynchon novel?
It's more of an open-ended absurdist project, working title "WASP ruling-class America"
posted by RogerB at 7:47 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
It's more of an open-ended absurdist project, working title "WASP ruling-class America"
posted by RogerB at 7:47 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
I mean, I agree with his politics but holy fck. I mean. Jesus.
I say this with genuine puzzlement: who did you think would buy a magazine if not a rich dude or a shitty media conglomerate?
posted by listen, lady at 7:51 PM on February 26, 2016 [15 favorites]
I say this with genuine puzzlement: who did you think would buy a magazine if not a rich dude or a shitty media conglomerate?
posted by listen, lady at 7:51 PM on February 26, 2016 [15 favorites]
who did you think would buy a magazine if not a rich dude or a shitty media conglomerate?
I'm not crazy about Libertarian Bezoz but at least he made his money.
But wading into this who has money/who deservers it pit likely has no recovery.
posted by four panels at 7:55 PM on February 26, 2016
I'm not crazy about Libertarian Bezoz but at least he made his money.
But wading into this who has money/who deservers it pit likely has no recovery.
posted by four panels at 7:55 PM on February 26, 2016
The new publisher is the fifth Ham Fish.
There's actually a Hamilton Fish disambiguation page. They seem to be the very definition of old New York money, direct decendants of Peter Stuyvesant.
posted by octothorpe at 8:05 PM on February 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
There's actually a Hamilton Fish disambiguation page. They seem to be the very definition of old New York money, direct decendants of Peter Stuyvesant.
posted by octothorpe at 8:05 PM on February 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
Named, literally for the Hamilton of song and legend.
posted by The Whelk at 8:13 PM on February 26, 2016 [10 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 8:13 PM on February 26, 2016 [10 favorites]
I mean it's funny, ham fish 3 was like a fascist demagogue and ham fish 5 is the opposite and really into farmer's markets?
Oh the old WASP aristocracy, guy I knew with the initials GGG the 3rd named "3G". Ah well.
posted by The Whelk at 8:32 PM on February 26, 2016 [4 favorites]
Oh the old WASP aristocracy, guy I knew with the initials GGG the 3rd named "3G". Ah well.
posted by The Whelk at 8:32 PM on February 26, 2016 [4 favorites]
Metafilter: Like everyone at MetaFilter I make six figures but every day I deal with rich Daddy money dicks like McCormick.
posted by grobstein at 8:33 PM on February 26, 2016 [9 favorites]
posted by grobstein at 8:33 PM on February 26, 2016 [9 favorites]
Could be a Hamilton Fish Succession Crisis on the horizon, though. Wikipedia says V has two daughters, no VI as yet.
Might be permitted to adopt a male heir in the manner of old Japanese families, not sure.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 8:41 PM on February 26, 2016
Might be permitted to adopt a male heir in the manner of old Japanese families, not sure.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 8:41 PM on February 26, 2016
Besides the name, and a certain amount of prestige, just what is there left that's worth buying?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:48 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:48 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
Like everyone at MetaFilter I make six figures
Oh! Yeah, yep definitely. Of course. [cuts eyes nervously from side to side] Well, would you look at how late it is! Snuck up on me. I should go, I need to ... put my money ... to bed. That's probably a thing! Right? Ahahaha okay bye fellow people making 6 figures, just like I definitely am! [door slam, footsteps, car tires squealing]
posted by penduluum at 9:17 PM on February 26, 2016 [44 favorites]
Oh! Yeah, yep definitely. Of course. [cuts eyes nervously from side to side] Well, would you look at how late it is! Snuck up on me. I should go, I need to ... put my money ... to bed. That's probably a thing! Right? Ahahaha okay bye fellow people making 6 figures, just like I definitely am! [door slam, footsteps, car tires squealing]
posted by penduluum at 9:17 PM on February 26, 2016 [44 favorites]
I'm more of a four figure man myself, but at least I'm not named Hamilton Fish
That's like a Disney character that is an actual fish
Henry Limpet's rich a-hole friend
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:22 PM on February 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
That's like a Disney character that is an actual fish
Henry Limpet's rich a-hole friend
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 9:22 PM on February 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
The new publisher is the fifth Ham Fish.
Actually, apparently not. Ham Fish the 5th is the 6th Ham Fish: Cite (it's a bit convoluted, follow the link if you want to figure out why).
posted by el io at 9:24 PM on February 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
Actually, apparently not. Ham Fish the 5th is the 6th Ham Fish: Cite (it's a bit convoluted, follow the link if you want to figure out why).
posted by el io at 9:24 PM on February 26, 2016 [3 favorites]
I wondered where Little Hammy had wanderd off to 22 years ago
posted by KingEdRa at 9:57 PM on February 26, 2016
posted by KingEdRa at 9:57 PM on February 26, 2016
A hamfish? Hate those fuckers. Always getting caught in the sea-dirigible coils, put up a hell of a fight if you encounter one on a clam hunt. The hocks are covered in electric quills, see if they ain't. Looks delicious but no, deadly. Crime against nature you ask me.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:10 PM on February 26, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:10 PM on February 26, 2016 [8 favorites]
Like everyone at MetaFilter I make six figures
*sobs quietly*
posted by AdamCSnider at 10:13 PM on February 26, 2016 [7 favorites]
*sobs quietly*
posted by AdamCSnider at 10:13 PM on February 26, 2016 [7 favorites]
Like everyone at MetaFilter I make six figures
Where the hell are the rest of my figures?
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:18 PM on February 26, 2016 [12 favorites]
Where the hell are the rest of my figures?
posted by a humble nudibranch at 11:18 PM on February 26, 2016 [12 favorites]
Like everyone at MetaFilter I make six figures
wat
posted by juv3nal at 11:31 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
wat
posted by juv3nal at 11:31 PM on February 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
Like everyone at MetaFilter I make six figures...
Sure, when you count the ones behind the decimal.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 11:38 PM on February 26, 2016 [12 favorites]
Sure, when you count the ones behind the decimal.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 11:38 PM on February 26, 2016 [12 favorites]
I found Chris Hughes's bullshit purchase of his "instant power couple status & vanity publisher" extremely creepy even if he has the "right" politics in general. I think there was a profile or two that helped form that opinion but I can't be bothered to trace it.
As a Hamilton Fish note, the world is actually full of these familiar historical names that never seem to go away. I took a course in Diplomatic History at Indiana University with Wendell Wilkie's grandson, and when I lived in DC I worked with a direct descendant of Robert E Lee with the expected name and even took an apartment off of an Adlai Stevenson.
posted by C.A.S. at 1:04 AM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
As a Hamilton Fish note, the world is actually full of these familiar historical names that never seem to go away. I took a course in Diplomatic History at Indiana University with Wendell Wilkie's grandson, and when I lived in DC I worked with a direct descendant of Robert E Lee with the expected name and even took an apartment off of an Adlai Stevenson.
posted by C.A.S. at 1:04 AM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
Do we really think it's cool to make fun of people's names?
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:22 AM on February 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 3:22 AM on February 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
I say this with genuine puzzlement: who did you think would buy a magazine if not a rich dude or a shitty media conglomerate?
Well, given the politics, a worker's collective? An anarcho-syndicalist commune?
posted by happyroach at 3:24 AM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
Well, given the politics, a worker's collective? An anarcho-syndicalist commune?
posted by happyroach at 3:24 AM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
It is like the bible says, "The rich you shall always have with you". Something along those lines.
posted by Chitownfats at 3:50 AM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Chitownfats at 3:50 AM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
Who's making fun of Hamilton Fish's name? Not me. I think it's marvelous. I am even more in love with the name of his ancestor Preserved Fish, whaler-turned-prominent-NYC-merchant-turned-bank-president, and the third to bear that noble name.
posted by GrammarMoses at 4:31 AM on February 27, 2016 [26 favorites]
posted by GrammarMoses at 4:31 AM on February 27, 2016 [26 favorites]
G-moz-I can't decide if that name means that early 19th century blueblood parents were utterly humorless or if it means they were a Python-esque laugh riot.
posted by Captain l'escalier at 5:05 AM on February 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Captain l'escalier at 5:05 AM on February 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
Before the Harvard-Yale game there's always a procession of Harvard alumni with the oldest living alum ceremonially marching in front. When I was in college that was always one of the Hamilton Fishes. Looks like it must have been III.
posted by escabeche at 5:09 AM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by escabeche at 5:09 AM on February 27, 2016 [1 favorite]
Hamfish? I thought tuna was the chicken of the sea?
posted by blue_beetle at 5:47 AM on February 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by blue_beetle at 5:47 AM on February 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
Making six figures? Anybody can do that. I can make circles, triangles, rectangles... pentagons... uh, quadrilaterals (no wait that's what a rectangle is) um, uh, parallelogram (oh shit that's what a rectangle is too)... shit, give me a moment, uh...
posted by ardgedee at 6:26 AM on February 27, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by ardgedee at 6:26 AM on February 27, 2016 [5 favorites]
I'm not crazy about Libertarian Bezoz but at least he made his money.
I'll take inherited wealth over Libertarian Bezos running The New Republic. Why do you think this guy has some agenda? Tin House is very, very good.
posted by listen, lady at 6:50 AM on February 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'll take inherited wealth over Libertarian Bezos running The New Republic. Why do you think this guy has some agenda? Tin House is very, very good.
posted by listen, lady at 6:50 AM on February 27, 2016 [3 favorites]
I used to read The New Republic back in college. Then they became one of the lead saber-rattlers for the Iraq war. I never forgave them. I can't imagine why someone would want to read it now.
posted by panama joe at 7:23 AM on February 27, 2016
posted by panama joe at 7:23 AM on February 27, 2016
Preserved Fish, whaler-turned-prominent-NYC-merchant-turned-bank-president, and the third to bear that noble name.
Once, I was walking through the NYC Marble Cemetery with my then-girlfriend, and we happened upon the grave of Preserved Fish. Neither of us could believe someone had that name, so of course we looked him up on Wikipedia. She made the comment, "It's like they were so waspy, they weren't aware that preserved fish was a staple food for swathes of NYC's immigrant population."
posted by panama joe at 7:32 AM on February 27, 2016 [5 favorites]
Once, I was walking through the NYC Marble Cemetery with my then-girlfriend, and we happened upon the grave of Preserved Fish. Neither of us could believe someone had that name, so of course we looked him up on Wikipedia. She made the comment, "It's like they were so waspy, they weren't aware that preserved fish was a staple food for swathes of NYC's immigrant population."
posted by panama joe at 7:32 AM on February 27, 2016 [5 favorites]
Like everyone at MetaFilter I make six figures
who let the plebs in here?
posted by pyramid termite at 7:42 AM on February 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
who let the plebs in here?
posted by pyramid termite at 7:42 AM on February 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
I make seven figures! If you count the figures to the right of the decimal.
Preserved Fish, whaler-turned-prominent-NYC-merchant-turned-bank-president, and the third to bear that noble name.
Fun fact: some years ago when I was trying to find something I'd written by googling "Orange Swan" and whatever, I came upon a list of Civil War soldiers from New York that included a listing for "Swan, Orange S. 2 V.Cav." So there actually has been a person with the real, legal name of Orange Swan.
posted by orange swan at 7:57 AM on February 27, 2016 [7 favorites]
Preserved Fish, whaler-turned-prominent-NYC-merchant-turned-bank-president, and the third to bear that noble name.
Fun fact: some years ago when I was trying to find something I'd written by googling "Orange Swan" and whatever, I came upon a list of Civil War soldiers from New York that included a listing for "Swan, Orange S. 2 V.Cav." So there actually has been a person with the real, legal name of Orange Swan.
posted by orange swan at 7:57 AM on February 27, 2016 [7 favorites]
There was an activist in the nineteenth century who wanted to increase the supply of paper money, named Jacob Coxey.
He named his son Legal Tender Coxey.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:57 AM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
He named his son Legal Tender Coxey.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 7:57 AM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
I used to read The New Republic back in college. Then they became one of the lead saber-rattlers for the Iraq war. I never forgave them. I can't imagine why someone would want to read it now.
You must have missed their backing of Ronald Reagan's right-wing Contras and the mining of the harbors in Nicaragua.
posted by JackFlash at 8:16 AM on February 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
You must have missed their backing of Ronald Reagan's right-wing Contras and the mining of the harbors in Nicaragua.
posted by JackFlash at 8:16 AM on February 27, 2016 [4 favorites]
I used to read The New Republic back in college. Then they became one of the lead saber-rattlers for the Iraq war. I never forgave them. I can't imagine why someone would want to read it now.
Because with a magazine like The New Republic, the politics change with the ownership. Rabidly pro-Israel neocon propaganda went out with Martin Peretz. Hughes' version was like him, vaguely technocrat, unthought Internet progressiveness.
posted by Diablevert at 8:55 AM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
Because with a magazine like The New Republic, the politics change with the ownership. Rabidly pro-Israel neocon propaganda went out with Martin Peretz. Hughes' version was like him, vaguely technocrat, unthought Internet progressiveness.
posted by Diablevert at 8:55 AM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
Besides the name, and a certain amount of prestige, just what is there left that's worth buying?
If you can turn it around and make it half-respectable: One large ton worth of bragging rights.
posted by suedehead at 8:57 AM on February 27, 2016
If you can turn it around and make it half-respectable: One large ton worth of bragging rights.
posted by suedehead at 8:57 AM on February 27, 2016
🍖🐟
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:59 AM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:59 AM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
I make stick figures.
Ahem... Is it me or is there something fishy about this ham?
posted by atoxyl at 11:42 AM on February 27, 2016
Ahem... Is it me or is there something fishy about this ham?
posted by atoxyl at 11:42 AM on February 27, 2016
Besides the name, and a certain amount of prestige, just what is there left that's worth buying?
Tax write-off?
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 12:49 PM on February 27, 2016
Tax write-off?
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 12:49 PM on February 27, 2016
A prominent Southerner in the 1830s named his son States Rights. I'd like to say that he shook off the curse of the name and worked quietly to mitigate the damage done by his family, but States Rights Gist became a brigadier-general in the Confederate Army.
posted by Countess Elena at 1:40 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 1:40 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
Do we really think it's cool to make fun of people's names?
It's okay to find funny names funny. No one's being like "this guy is a worthless piece of shit because of his name."
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 2:00 PM on February 27, 2016
It's okay to find funny names funny. No one's being like "this guy is a worthless piece of shit because of his name."
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 2:00 PM on February 27, 2016
Okay, Lentil Ham Sammitch, that makes sense.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 2:20 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Joseph Gurl at 2:20 PM on February 27, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm not crazy about Libertarian Bezoz but at least he made his money.
He's no different from any other lottery winner. Let's not pretend he's some kind of self made man. If his college roommate wasn't named Mark Zuckerberg he probabaly wouldn't be a billionaire.
posted by humanfont at 4:27 PM on February 27, 2016
He's no different from any other lottery winner. Let's not pretend he's some kind of self made man. If his college roommate wasn't named Mark Zuckerberg he probabaly wouldn't be a billionaire.
posted by humanfont at 4:27 PM on February 27, 2016
Am I the only one whose first reaction was "Hamilton Fish is still alive??"
posted by janey47 at 1:37 PM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by janey47 at 1:37 PM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Seems that McCormack is a bit seedy. He's being accused of helping to cover up Neil Goldschmidt's statutory rape.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:18 PM on February 29, 2016
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:18 PM on February 29, 2016
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posted by Naberius at 7:03 PM on February 26, 2016 [25 favorites]