Ramesh Ponnuru

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Ramesh Ponnuru
Image:Ramesh Ponnuru.jpg
Born August 16, 1974 (1974-08-16) (age 33)
Birth place Prairie Village, Kansas
Education B.A. Princeton University
Circumstances
Occupation Columnist & Editor
Title Senior editor
Spouse April Ponnuru
Ethnicity Indian American
Religious belief(s) Roman Catholic
Notable credit(s) The Party of Death

Ramesh Ponnuru (born August 16, 1974) is a Washington, D.C.-based Indian American columnist and a senior editor for National Review magazine. He has also written for several other newspapers and publications, including The Weekly Standard, Policy Review, The New Republic and First Things.

Ponnuru was raised in Prairie Village, Kansas. He attended Briarwood Elementary School and Mission Valley Middle School in Johnson County, Kansas. After graduating from Shawnee Mission East High School at the age of 15, he went to Princeton University, where he earned an B.A. in history and graduated summa cum laude. He is of Asian Indian descent and has converted to Roman Catholicism.[1]. He is married to April Ponnuru.[2]

A conservative pundit, Ponnuru has appeared in many public affairs and news interview programs. He is perhaps best known for his 2006 book, The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life, published by Regnery Publishing. In response to questions about and criticism of the provocative title, Ponnuru has explained in interviews that the term is intended to define a political movement that has taken over control of the Democratic Party through abortion and other death-related issues.[3]

Contents

[edit] Dispute with Andrew Sullivan

Ponnuru has had an on-going disagreement with blogger Andrew Sullivan, with Sullivan accusing him, among other things, of not speaking out on what he believes to be Bush Administration human rights abuse, being a "Christianist", [4] hyperbolic attacks on the Democratic Party, and abandoning conservative principles.[5] Sullivan was very critical of the title and inner flap of Party of Death, purporting that they were "too overtly partisan." [6] The two have also debated the state and nature of contemporary conservatism. [7]

[edit] Dispute with John Derbyshire

Ponnuru has also had disagreements with fellow National Review columnist John Derbyshire. Derbyshire panned Ponnuru's book, Party of Death in a review written for the New English Review in 2006, in an article titled "A Frigid and Pitiless Dogma". Derbyshire remarked that Ponnuru's Right-to-Life philosophy "seems to some degree (depending on the observer’s temperament and inclinations) nutty; to some other degree (ditto) hysterical; and to some yet other degree (ditto ditto) a threat to liberty. My own ratings of RTL [Right-to-Life] on those three degrees are 2, 6, and 4 out of a possible ten each."[8]

Derbyshire later expressed regret about writing those comments[9]

[edit] On the 2006 U.S. Elections

On September 13, 2006, speaking of the 2006 election, Ponnuru wrote in the New York Times that "a straight loss...would make the Republicans hungrier and sharpen their wits."

[edit] References

  1. ^ On Point : The Party of Death - The Party of Death
  2. ^ http://votenote.aol.com/mygov/bio/staff/?id=357
  3. ^ Ramesh Ponnuru on The Party of Death on National Review Online
  4. ^ The Daily Dish
  5. ^ The Daily Dish
  6. ^ The Daily Dish
  7. ^ The Corner on National Review Online
  8. ^ A Frigid and Pitiless Dogma - New English Review
  9. ^ John Derbyshire on Party of Death on National Review Online

[edit] External links