Snark attack

At National Review Online's The Corner, Ramesh Ponnuru has a complaint:

THE ECONOMIST has a snotty comment about National Review in its latest issue. I will repeat the offer I made to Adrian Wooldridge, The Economist's Washington editor, the last time this happened: I'm sorry my review of your last book hurt your feelings, and I promise to write a rave of your next one if it's any good.

But he doesn't tell us what the comment is, and it's behind subscription. So as a service to our readers, here it is, within the context of an article of praise for the Weekly Standard (which raises other issues, but anyway):

Why has [Weekly Standard] succeeded? One reason is Mr Murdoch, who continues to support a loss-making publication for ideological reasons ... Another reason is a relative decline in the intellectual feistiness of the main conservative organ, the National Review, some of whose articles read as if they were dictated by Tom DeLay's office.

If they'd said "dictated by Karl Rove's office" it would be more accurate, but who cares -- it stung, so it's a good line.