“A man is not primarily a witness against something,” Whittaker Chambers wrote. “That is only incidental to the fact that he is a witness for something.”
Christmas is the time to recall these words, especially for a columnist who flatters himself an occasional muckraker, and who dwells on corruption and hypocrisy.
The late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus once told a small group of (mostly political) journalists in which I sat that we must resist the trap of negativity. We all spend so much time writing on the failings of politicians, the machinations of lobbyists, and the perfidy of bureaucrats. Fr. Neuhaus warned us against leaving our readers — and ourselves — with the impression that all news was bad. The priest wanted us to remember that there is good news, lest we also forget that there is the good news.
My old boss Bob Novak, who held Chambers as a hero, once got similar advice: “It’s always better to be a ‘builder-upper’ than a ‘tearer-downer,’” Joliet Herald-News publisher John Lux told a young Novak. “I never dreamed of taking that advice,” Novak wrote in his memoirs.
In that Novakian spirit, I offered Fr. Neuhaus a compromise: I’d be positive in person, negative in print. “How about I tear down politicians,” I suggested in front of the group, “and raise up a family?”
I was pretty pleased with that formulation, and it got a chuckle. But when you find yourself objecting to Fr. Neuhaus, it’s a sign you’re probably a bit off-target. My view on this matter would be refined by a man who spent years refining my rough prose: my dear longtime Washington Examiner editor Stephen Smith.
Smith is the type of editor who could take your 800 words, send it back at the appropriate 700 words, and you wouldn’t be able to tell which words he took out. (I say “type of editor,” because I’m told others like that exist, but I’ve never had the pleasure of working with any like him.)
Smith, as my editor for five years and nearly 500 columns, also egged me on as a combative columnist. When we started the print magazine in 2013, he titled my column “Fighting Words.”
Some of Smith’s impression of me has always been a loving type of ethnic stereotyping. My name is Timothy Patrick Carney, and I grew up with three older brothers in New York. In his mind, it seems, “The Fighting Carney Brothers” regularly get in barroom brawls. Once, to try to disabuse him of this notion, I explained that the last bar fight we got in was between the Carney brothers — Mike and I against John — over a game of pool. This merely strengthened Smith’s notions about the Irish.
Smith, you see, is a WASP’s WASP. He went to Deerfield and then Penn. He plays golf at a club in England. He’s even named “Stephen Grant Smith.”
Smith occasionally dissected for me the difference between Andover kids and Deerfield kids. He explained that among the abominations of the wrinkle-free shirt is that it simply looks too crisp: the true WASP is just a tad bit rumpled because his shirts, while well-cared-for, are also well worn.
His WASP sensibilities have always attuned him nicely to my columns. A statesman ought to see political office as “public service,” not as a stepping-stone to a quick cash-out and the fast money of K Street. “You’ve gotten me good and pissed off,” was high praise from Smith after he’d read my draft.
Exposing the tawdriness of D.C. and the dishonesty of our politics is worthy work, and Smith always encouraged me in this work. But he repeatedly gave me much more important encouragement:
“Whatever you may accomplish in your professional life — awards, fame, scalps — it is nothing when you compare it to family,” Smith told me repeatedly in our five and a half years working together. “In the long run, your work as a husband and father are what will matter.”
Smith, who no longer works at the Examiner, also asked me to bring a bit a positivity to my work. I’m a happy person, and so I should share some of that joy with my readers. So I promised Smith I would write a positive column at least once a year. Time’s running out on 2014, so here it is.
When I rail against corruption and argue against government’s growth, this is incidental to my being a witness for the things that Christmas represents: my faith and my family. I am blessed that my work not only pays the bills for me to feed my family and buy Christmas gifts, but it allows me to fight for the freedom of my family and my Church, and the families and faiths of others.
Also, my work has been a blessing because it has brought me fine colleagues and mentors. Novak and Smith have encouraged and inspired my work. They have also, through their witness, reminded me what really matters.
CORRECTION: The first draft of this column noted Steve Smith attended Andover, when of course he went to Deerfield. I don’t know if Smith will ever speak to me again.
Timothy P. Carney, The Washington Examiner’s senior political columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]. His column appears Sunday and Wednesday on washingtonexaminer.com.
