Fred Barnes (journalist)
{{short description|American political commentator|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Fred Barnes
| image = Fred Barnes by Gage Skidmore.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Barnes at CPAC, March 2016
| birth_name = Frederic Wood Barnes Jr.
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1943|2|1}}
| birth_place = West Point, New York, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Journalist
- Political commentator}}
| education = University of Virginia (BA)
| spouse = {{marriage|Barbara Beatty|1967}}
| children = 3
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Frederic Wood Barnes Jr. (born February 1, 1943){{cite web|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2588200024.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161018212830/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2588200024.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 October 2016|title=Barnes, Fred 1943-|date=1 January 2007|publisher=Contemporary Authors|via=www.highbeam.com}}{{cite book |last1=Kondracke |first1=Morton |last2=Barnes |first2=Fred |date=2015 |title=Jack Kemp: The Bleeding-Heart Conservative Who Changed America |location=New York |publisher=Penguin Random House |page=ii |isbn=978-1-59184-743-4 |quote=...by Frederic Wood Barnes, Jr...}} is an American political commentator. He was the executive editor of the defunct news publication The Weekly Standard and regularly appears on the Fox News Channel program Special Report with Bret Baier. He was previously co-host of The Beltway Boys with Mort Kondracke, which previously aired on the Fox News Channel. Barnes remains a prolific writer on presidential and many other political topics as well.Terry Eastland, ed. Forbes Media Guide Five Hundred, 1994: A Critical Review of the Media (1994) p 275
Early life and education
Barnes was born in West Point, New York. He earned a B.A. degree from the University of Virginia in 1965.
Career
After spending several years as a journalist with The Charleston News and Courier in Charleston, South Carolina, he became a reporter for the Washington Star. He covered the Supreme Court and the White House for the Star before moving to the Baltimore Sun, where he was the national political correspondent.{{cite web |title=Fred Barnes |url=https://fedsoc.org/contributors/fred-barnes |website=fedsoc.org |publisher=The Federalist Society |access-date=1 January 2025}}
From 1985 to 1995, he was senior editor and White House correspondent for The New Republic. He also wrote the "Presswatch" media column for the American Spectator. He was a panelist on the public affairs show The McLaughlin Group from 1985 to 1998, where he was often referred to by the show's host as Freddy "the Beadle" Barnes. Barnes hosted the radio show What's the Story for Radio America.{{cite web|url=https://www.aspenideas.org/speaker/fred-barnes|title=Fred Barnes|website=Aspen Ideas Festival|access-date=2017-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190402073854/https://www.aspenideas.org/speaker/fred-barnes|archive-date=2019-04-02|url-status=dead}} He is currently a moderator for the Voice of America show Issues in the News.{{cite web|url=https://www.voanews.com/z/1452|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209100106/http://www.voanews.com/z/1452|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 9, 2017|title=Radio program - Issues in the News|website=VOA}}
In 1984, Barnes was chosen to be one of three panelists quizzing then-President Ronald Reagan and challenger Walter Mondale in the first nationally televised debate of the 1984 presidential campaign.
Barnes has made cameo appearances in the Hollywood films Dave, Getting Away with Murder, and Independence Day. He has thrown out the first pitch for a Boston Red Sox baseball game at Fenway Park.
In 2006 Barnes wrote a favorable biography of President George W. Bush titled Rebel in Chief. Reviewing it in The Washington Monthly, Isaac Chotiner called it "fawning and at times unintentionally amusing", revealing its author as a "perfect Bush hack".{{Cite web |url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0603.chotiner.html |title="Fred Barnes delivered the talking points" by Isaac Chotiner |access-date=2012-08-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130119000741/http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0603.chotiner.html |archive-date=2013-01-19 |url-status=dead }} He is a member of the board of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. As a member of The Falls Church, he and his family voted to disaffiliate the congregation from the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.{{Cite web|url=http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/12/special_report_roundtable_dece_9.html|website=RealClearPolitics|title=Special Report Roundtable - December 18}} He is a member of the board of trustees of The Fund for American Studies, in which he also serves as a senior fellow.
In the days leading up to the 2008 United States election, Barnes was the only political pundit out of 27 catalogued by the Huffington Post (including Karl Rove, Alex Castellanos, Matthew Dowd, Ed Rollins, and George Will) to predict a John McCain victory for U.S. President (286 to 252 electoral votes).{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/02/election-predictions-pund_n_140149.html|title=Election Predictions: Pundits Weigh In|first=Rachel|last=Weiner|date=3 December 2008|publisher=|via=Huff Post}}
Personal life
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20101012053616/http://www.weeklystandard.com/author/fred-barnes Column archive] at The Weekly Standard
- {{IMDb name|0055594}}
- {{C-SPAN|1558}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Fred}}
Category:American magazine editors
Category:American political commentators
Category:American political writers
Category:The American Spectator people
Category:The Baltimore Sun people
Category:American male biographers
Category:The New Republic people
Category:Journalists from Alexandria, Virginia
Category:United States Army soldiers
Category:University of Virginia alumni
Category:The Washington Star people
Category:The Weekly Standard people
Category:Voice of America people