Re: Blame It On Neo

There is an interesting op-ed piece on the Wall Street Journal Website. Here's the first paragraph to whet your appetite and hopefully you'll click on the link to read the rest.

Last week Pat Buchanan appeared on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," and liberal host Jon Stewart bonded with his paleoconservative guest over their mutual opposition to the liberation of Iraq. Mr. Stewart smiled and nodded while Mr. Buchanan derided "neoconservatives" four times in the course of the six-minute interview. In his efforts to promote his and his guest's common agenda, Mr. Stewart didn't ask Mr. Buchanan what he meant by "neoconservatives." It was clear that the Jewish Mr. Stewart didn't realize that Mr. Buchanan was using what has become an epithet for "Jews"--an epithet employed most often by the left.

I was aware of the pejorative association of "neocon" with "Jewish conservative" and can see the original intent of using "neocon" to describe former liberals who have seen the light. However I usually employ it the same way as mentioned in the article: as an "interventionist Republican". In this way, I've been thinking of *myself* as a neocon, albeit one who is Catholic and sympathizes with traditionalist Catholic agitprop. I flatter myself to see myself in the company of Kristol, Perle, Krauthammer, et al. I am glad to associate myself with them and continue to think of myself as a neocon.

It Must Really Suck to Be Dan Rather Right Now

There is a possibility that Dan Rather has let himself be duped by pathetic forgeries in an effort to discredit President Bush's National Guard service during the Viet Nam war era. The best summary at the time of this writing can be found on the Powerline blog. We might be watching the process of Dan Rather (and John Kerry, for that matter) learning what the Soviet authorities learned during the 1991 coup attempt: Either get your facts straight or cut off access to the Internet. If John Kerry loses this election, whether or not it is close, it may not be so unreasonable to say that blogs brought him down to earth. Heh.