Where Do the Neocons Go from Here?

Business Week Online ^ | 5/6/2003

[Utah Girl]

While the Bush Administration struggles to plant the seeds of democracy in the scorched earth of Iraq, the neoconservative thinkers who provided the intellectual firepower for military action against Saddam Hussein are already looking beyond Baghdad. Convinced that as the sole superpower, America has both the means and the manifest destiny to promote democratic reform around the globe, neocons inside and outside the Bush Administration are eager to press forward with their muscular foreign policy. Toppling Saddam, they argue, is just a prelude to large-scale regime change in the Persian Gulf and beyond.

[SunStar]

Where Do the Neocons Go from Here?

Syria? Iran? North Korea?

[Utah Girl]

I think Business Week is a little too bit giddy over the alleged split in President Bush's constistuency and the members of his administration. People will disagree, but President Bush is the boss, and he makes the final decisions. If the various people can't live with that, then they can resign.

[Courier]

The President is under intense pressure from the State Dept?

I could swear that I once heard the State Dept works for the President.

[Utah Girl]

Exactly right. That is why I laugh when I hear Rumsfeld and Powell are at odds. I don't think so, they both work for President Bush, and he makes the final decisions. He encourages people to bring their honest opinions to the table, but in the final analysis, he makes the decisions. I think this is a wedge issue that some of the dim Dems are trying out right now "lookie, infighting is going on in President Bush's administration".

[Nick Danger]

I'm not sure I'd look to Business Week, the New York Times, or any other nest of liberal ax-grinders to tell me what the "neocons" are up to, what they are for or against, or even what the word means.

The "neocon" has become the liberals' all-purpose monster. Almost any manner of horrific policy can be attributed to it. Since no one knows what it is, it can be constructed before our eyes -- red eyes, cloven hooves, horns, a tail, and a deep, unbridled desire for endless war and death. A neocon is a "superhawk." It has no known domestic policy. It is the all-purpose, generic Bad Guy who is constantly moving behind the scenes to advance policies that beggar the imagination in their cruelty.

And this from a guy who starts his article by talking about the "scorched earth of Iraq." You can hear the ax grinder starting up right there. Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

By now, almost everyone has figured out that Bush sees a role for a Bad Cop in international diplomacy. Since no one at the State Department can play that role, Rumsfeld & Co. have been pressed into service as the fist in Colin Powell's glove. As sensible and effective as this measure has proven to be, the concept seems to elude liberals, especially press liberals, who see only a "rift" or "struggle" between clear-headed, rational appeasers at the State Department and these frightening new interlopers, the evil Neocons — spawn of the Pentagon.

This must be the 500th article that liberal deep thinkers have dumped on us in which they claim that now, at last, Bush must choose. Will it be the Good Cops or the Bad Cops?

I hate to tell them this, but the answer is "yes."

[Utah Girl]

Bravo! Well said. President Bush and his people work as a team. Colin Powell is more effective because Donald Rumsfeld oversaw a successful war.

[Mike Darancette]

I think I'll go to the fridge and get a beer, then listen to some good music. This is not my meeting night where we plot to take over the world.

[Texas Eagle]

Where Do the Neocons Go from Here?

Canada?

France?

Cuber?

Ah, hell. Just spin the globe and throw a dart at it.

[Cathryn Crawford]

If you are still alive tonight after your trip to the gallows, here's a neocon ping - to the topic that brought us together. Cheers!

[MHGinTN]

Who is the author of the article? ... If you're not gonna post a barf alert, you have to at least let us be forewarned which neo-lib wrote the piece.

[Mr. Mojo]

there are serious questions about the future of a movement that has denounced Soviet communism and other dictatorships for four decades. Was the victory over Saddam proof that the neoconservatives have arrived?

They arrived with the fall of the Soviet Union.

[MHGinTN]

Well, I'm a neocon. James Carvile and Paul Bagala (for instance) are neocoms (new commies).

[LiberalBuster]

Bush is not an idiot. He dare not pursue the aggressive (preemptive) agenda of the neocons during an election phase. Sure, Bill Kristol, Wolfowitz, et al. will throw a hissy-fit, but such is life.

[Cathryn Crawford]

Neocon ping!

[TLBSHOW]

Thanks!

[ChadGore]

Regarding your #6, you've said it so well, I don't dare distract.

[gcruse]

I don't even know what a neocon is. And now I are one?

[Cathryn Crawford]

No, I thought you were interested; I may have gotten you mixed up...sorry! It's still a good read, though!

[Risa]

>>And this from a guy who starts his article by talking about the "scorched earth of Iraq." You can hear the ax grinder starting up right there. Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrr.<<

Haha. Yes, you can, and the author's writing style sucks. I can't believe the people who are writing for publication these days--what happened to their education?

risa