Jonah Jacob Goldberg (born March 21, 1969) is a conservative commentator, probably best known for his contributions on politics and culture to National Review Online, where he is the editor-at-large. He also frequently appears on television, on such shows as Good Morning America, Crossfire, Nightline, Hardball with Chris Matthews, Larry King Live, and Politically Incorrect.

Early life & career

Goldberg graduated in 1991 from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. (He served on the college’s Board of Trustees from 1991 until 1994). He has written, produced, and edited two documentaries, Gargoyles: Guardians of the Gate [1], and Notre Dame: Witness to History. He also spent a year working as an English teacher in Prague.

His columns

Some frequent topics of his articles include censorship [2] [3], meritocracy [4] [5], liberty [6], federalism [7] [8], and interpretation of the Constitution [9]. His disagreements with libertarians [10][11] also appear often in his writings. Goldberg has a second, syndicated column, available from Townhall.com (among other places), which tends to be more uniformly serious in tone than his National Review Online column, which he has written regularly since September 11 1998. He has also written for The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Commentary, The Public Interest, The Wilson Quarterly , The Weekly Standard, the New York Post, The Women’s Quarterly , and Slate.

His National Review Online column, the "Goldberg File" (often called the "G-File" by fans, who are called "G-Philes"), frequently involves humor, often at the expense of liberals. Alec Baldwin, a Hollywood actor who Goldberg insinuates cannot read, is a frequent target of such jibes. Goldberg has also been critical of the French and claims credit for popularizing the term "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" (first used on The Simpsons television program) to refer to them (see Anti-French sentiment in the United States). Goldberg also makes occasional allusions to Star Trek and references to his anthropomorphized couch and his dog, Cosmo ("the wonderdog") [12]. Many of his comments are self-deprecating.

Goldberg has a contentious relationship with Andrew Sullivan, with them agreeing on some conservative subjects, then arguing (usually) about social and libertarian issues. Goldberg has also been publicly feuding with Juan Cole over U.S. Iraq policy and Air America Radio commentators such as Janeane Garofalo. Garofalo has accused Goldberg of cowardice and being a chickenhawk on the Iraq War.

Family

Goldberg is married and has a young daughter; his wife, Jessica Gavora is a speech writer for United States Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Goldberg's mother Lucianne Goldberg played a role in the Lewinsky scandal:

"My mother was the one who advised Linda Tripp to record her conversations with Lewinsky and to save the dress. I was privy to some of that stuff, and when the administration set about to destroy Lewinsky, Tripp, and my mom, I defended my mom and by extension Tripp." June 23, 2004

He is currently working on a book for publication.

External links

• His National Review column (the G-file)
• His syndicated column (here at Townhall.com)
• Goldberg's National Review Online Bio
• Goldberg's Townhall.com Bio
• VDARE Article-Goldbergism: The Lowest (Terminal) Stage Of Conservatism
• Some Goldberg quotes
• G-Philes, the Jonah Goldberg Fan-Blog
• "Jonah Goldberg Embarrasses Himself Once Again" -Juan Cole
• Salon.com Interview - Interview in which Goldberg appears to approve of torture.