THE ROBERT W. WHITAKER ARCHIVE

REPLY TO JOE | 2005-11-23

In reply to my article about Joe Sobran not liking me any more below, Joe Rorke wrote the following:

"Perhaps it is not so. If Joe didn't personally tell you that then all you have is what someone told you. I respect Joe Sobran and I appreciate his work. People have a right to choose their friends. If you don't like me, it is your right to not like me. I am not interested in being liked. But respect.....that's another thing. I expect to be respected. My job is to respect others. I respect Joe Sobran. I respect Bob Whitaker. There are many people, admittedly, that I don't respect. There is always a reason for this. I don't ask anybody to like me. But they must respect me if we are going to have any kind of relationship. I may dislike you and still respect you. Respect, in my opinion, is the important thing. "

Rorke, as I said inthe article, Joe Sobran has ignored my messages for months.

Rorke, I spent decades as a loose cannon rolling around decks in Washington. This is NOT the first time I have had people reject me suddenly.

Let me remind you that NO ONE confronts me. I spend endless articles on how to make people who are wrong feel the exact way you know they do NOT want to feel. I gave examples of how I got everybody LAUGHING at professors for well over forty years.

I teach what I DO. My coaching comes from practice.

It WORKS.

NOBODY confronts me.

Joe Sobran is doing what everybody has ALWAYS done who knows my reputation.

This has happened more times than I can count.

THAT, Rorke, is respect of the most demonstrative sort.

I don't care what Joe thinks of me personally. He did the best writing in my book in his Foreword. He lost a really good job at National Review because, though he was an old friend of William Buckley's and one of Buckley's proteges, he simply would not back down from his principles.

Joe Sobran has paid and paid and paid for his principles.

A man like that cannot get rid of my respect, whether he wants it or not.

COMMENTS (4)

#1 Tim | 2005-11-24 16:56

Thank you for the responses. Yes, your stuff works. I have been going over all your stuff for about 6+months and it has proved immensely helpful. Very simple and effective. Of course, it takes me saying the same thing 100xx's for some folks to get it. I just stay on message as you say. All the little tips are very helpful. I am young and it can be frustrating. But I will learn. Some days I just feel like taking a chainsaw to these damn table legs.

I never knew that they were going to try to destroy (integrate) the private schools as well. They are beyond fools. Oh and you are right laughing at the the liberals is a great way to go. It never fails. This stuff has gone so far. It is impossible to argue for any of this nonsense. You said people are looking for a way out of this. You are right and I never thought of it like that. Like I said. I am still learning. Thank you for all your work. Patrick Buchanan may be able to write a nice article. Joe Sobran seems good as well. But neither one of them has ever given me squat to work with. You have.

#2 joe rorke | 2005-11-24 19:26

Actually, the article says Joe Sobran ignored your messages. It does not say that he ignored your messages FOR MONTHS. If that information was there it would have made a difference in my conclusion. The thing I like about Joe Sobran most of all is that he is a thoroughgoing gentleman. That, to me, is an admirable characteristic. Joe Sobran has class. Class is also an admirable characteristic.

#3 Peter | 2005-11-24 22:39

Yes, Bob I too agree that your quips work.

The trick is to learn the signs of success. For example when we have hit home, the other may switch topics. But if the other replies with something unkind and below the belt, he has lost, is aware that he has lost and will not be worth pursuing, although anyone else listening may benefit from what they hear. Gentle parrying from someone one considers honest can be a sign that he is interested at least intellectually. Keep it low key and conversation normal, and if the person brings up the topic again, we have the right to reply.

#4 Richard L. Hardison | 2005-11-25 23:01

I fail to see moral cowardice as worthy of respect. I can understand a cetain regret at the sundering of a longstanding friendship, but I can not accept telling someone else, before telling you, that you had suddenly become radioactive to him. I regret he paid the price for his principles. I also regret that he has been worn down and can't tell you to your face, or, at least, over the phone, why the friendship has ended. It's not like it slowly, over years, ended because of loss of contact, or differing paths in life that slowly cause loss of contact. This is moral cowardice, and is never worthy of respect. I celebrate what Sobran was. I mourn what he has become.