I was saddened by the news that the New Republic, where I began my career in political journalism, has lost so much circulation that it is moving from a weekly to a biweekly.

I am also saddened by the magazine’s peremptory announcement that we subscribers will now simply be receiving half as many issues as we paid for, and too bad about that.

And, finally, I am amused by editor Franklin Foer’s remark that the magazine now hopes to publish articles that will “transcend ideology.”

This sounds very much like what my old boss, John Kennedy, said when he described the new magazine he was creating, George, as “post-partisan.“

Transcend ideology…post-partisan…yup, pretty much the same thing.

But what magazine ripped John a new one for coining that term? You guessed it: The New Republic. First, literary editor Leon Wieseltier trashed the magazine in a column he essentially co-wrote with his old friend, Maureen Dowd. “The message of George is…don’t take politics seriously.” Etc., etc.

Then TNR published an absolutely vicious piece accusing John of squandering his family’s dignity. (News to William Kennedy Smith, I’m sure.)

What wonderful irony! Twelve years after George was founded, TNR admits that John was right. (I’m not holding my breath waiting for an apology.)

And the irony goes even deeper…because at the moment, those political magazines which have the passion to take on the Bush administration are actually doing well. This might actually be a moment when a little ideology would be a good thing.

The reason TNR has been slumping for years is not that it isn’t viable. It’s because it’s been badly edited….