Neoconned No More

American Conservative ^ | 2010-02-02 | Jack Hunter aka Southern Avenger

[rabscuttle385]

After Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity are the two most popular rightwing talk hosts in America, defining for millions the definition of the term “conservative.” Lately, Beck has focused on attacking “progressivism,” often stressing that the progressive foreign policy of President Woodrow Wilson, who wanted to “make the world safe for democracy,” was identical to that of George W. Bush. Hannity takes a very different view, stating, “You can’t deny that George Bush was conservative on national security issues.” Yet, Beck does deny this, quite regularly. Who’s right? Better yet, who’s “conservative?”

That depends on your definition. The notion of “making the world safe for democracy” is unquestionably a liberal or “progressive” sentiment, but it is also true that it has been standard foreign policy for the mainstream Right for sometime. Self-described conservatives have associated endless military intervention with American “toughness” and viewed those who questioned the government’s wisdom in waging war as “weak” or “anti-American.” This has certainly been the view of Limbaugh and Hannity and for most of Bush’s eight years, it was also the view of Beck.

Yet the notion of America as the world’s policeman is not remotely conservative in the traditional sense, but “neoconservative,” a term most mainstream right-wingers are either ignorant of, embarrassed of, or don’t use because the wholesale takeover of the conservative movement by the neocons has made using the “neo” prefix unnecessary.

Neoconservatives care about one thing—war (and where they can wage it). Says contributing editor to The Weekly Standard, neocon Max Boot: “Neoconservatives believe in using American might to promote American ideals abroad,” a progressive, Wilsonian vision, if there ever was one. As for traditional conservative concerns like limited government, fiscal responsibility and constitutional fidelity, these are ideas neoconservatives will occasionally pay lip service to, so long as none of these principles interferes with their more important task of global military domination. It is no coincidence that George W. Bush—the first full-blown neoconservative presidential administration—did not limit government, was not fiscally responsible and shredded the Constitution, while still implementing the most radical foreign policy in American history. Writes conservative columnist George Will “The most magnificently misnamed neoconservatives are the most radical people in this town.”

Conservatives now seem more willing to question their recent radical past, and a populist rightwing movement consisting of tea parties, town hall protests and states rights’ rhetoric is not conducive to neoconservativism. With traditional conservatism being represented in its modern form most prominently by so-called “paleconservatives” like commentator Pat Buchanan or libertarians like Texas Congressman Ron Paul, Boot recently described such non-“neo”-conservatives to Newsweek: “A lot of them tend to be libertarian cranks: neo-Confederates, really insane, racist, xenophobic types.” “Libertarian cranks” could describe the current crop of constitutionally minded, anti-government protesters, and so-called “neo-Confederates” primary concern has always been states’ right, an increasingly hot topic. As for his portrayal of traditional conservatives as “really insane, racist, xenophobic” types, Boot’s criticism is not unlike the Left’s attempts to portray anti-Obama tea partiers as “racist,” and serves as a reminder of neoconservatives’ progressive inclinations.

Defending his comrades, Boot told Newsweek “Neocons are vilified as being barely human beasts who have to be kept chained in a cage somewhere, lest they start eating babies alive or something, but when you look at the spectrum of conservative thought, they are actually fairly centrist. The people who kind of speak to the rank and file of the Republican Party—the Newt Gingriches, the Rush Limbaughs, the Sean Hannitys…they’re actually fairly supportive of an aggressive foreign policy.”

Until recently, Boot was correct. Being part of the “rank-and-file of the Republican Party” meant being a neoconservative, whether mainstream conservatives were conscious of it or not. But as the grassroots Right continues to revisit conservatism’s limited government roots—this ideological shift is much less fertile ground for neoconservatives, most of whom remain either too busy applauding Obama’s troop escalation in Afghanistan or criticizing the President for not attacking Iran, Yemen or North Korea yet.

Neoconservatives never have been conservative, neither was Bush on “national security,” and these points must be hammered home before the Right can achieve a sturdier ideological footing. Laughably, Boot complains that neocons have been “vilified as being barely human beasts who have to be kept chained in a cage somewhere,” and yet without hesitation slanders real conservatives as “libertarian cranks,” “neo-Confederate” and “racists.” It’s time for the Right take “neo” out of conservative, chain neoconservatism to progressivism, and put these liberal beasts back in their cages.

[Stepan12]

That anti-Semitic rag stews that they are not in power.

How are Pat's books defending Hitler doing these days?

[rmlew]

For this post-conservative, Fusionists are also neocons. Someone should slap him over the head with a copy of the Cosnervative Intellectual Movement since 1945

[iowamark]

“American Conservative” magazine is on the verge of folding and Hitler is still dead.

[Recovering_Democrat]

I wouldn’t necessarily call Beck a pure conservative. More libertarian, no?

I dunno...he is to the right, for sure...Hannity is too bombastic and Beck too emotions-driven.

They’re both good guys, but Limbaugh is da man.

[wmposh]

I do not care which ideology anyone buys into from liberal to conservative all of them will fail to deliver at one point or another. It is our need to make sense of the world. We will always look for another.
Bush was forced into Afghanistan and then through risk assessment to the US and the world went into Iraq. You see the people of Iran rising up in this dynamic, if the Iran fell into the hands of their people we would have a more manageable world.

[ChrisInAR]

That anti-Semitic rag stews that they are not in power.

Yawn. Here we go again w/ the "anti-Semitism" label....kinda like Je$$e Jack$son hollering "racist!" @ the mere thought of criticizing affirmative action of Tim Tebow's upcoming Super Bowl ad being "anti-woman".

Give it a rest....that phrase is becoming very old & stale.

[Jonestown Punch]

Glenn is admittedly a socially/fiscally Conservative Libertarian.

[Stepan12]

Let's see. Neo Con is an anti word meaning Jews who are Conservative. And according to the article, Jews/neo cons are pushing us toward war.

It's like Hitler saying in the Reichstag that the Jews are inciters of war.

Give that idea a rest. It is stale and destructive.

[Huck]

The article is correct--modern "conservative" foreign policy is Wilsonian democracy in action. One interesting name left out of this article was Ronald Reagan. Reagan, it seems to me, was a neoconservative (wasn't he a New Dealer who converted along the way?)

Modern conservatives, especially the paid talkers, simply ape Reagan's philosophy. If paleoonservatism wants to win the day, they'll need to score some Reaganesque electoral victories. Deliver up a paleocon president who can get 400+ electoral votes, and you'll hear all those talkers on the radio suddenly change their tune.

[Liz]

SO WHAT ELSE IS NEW? New York Times columnist, pukeneo David Brooks, is dumping on Beck and other conservative activists. This is yet another chapter in the pukes religious cleansing of the Repub Party and kicking conservatives to the curb if they don't salute smartly.

Now if you destest Brooks, you will despise this media prostitute. Announcing the Winner of the 2008 Best Election Night Performance Award in the category of: "Neos Know Nothing About this 2008 Republican Disaster."

Billy Kristol (pukeneo chieftain and McCain campaign mastermind)

"Thank you very much. But I could not have done it without the help of all the
punkeos--David Frum, Michael Gerson, David Brooks, Richard Perle.....and
my Dearest departed Daddy."

"Sniffle---my Dearest Daddy (who was Giuliani's foreign policy advisor) said,
"The historical task and political purpose of neoconservatism is.....to convert the
Republican Party and American conservatism in general, against their
respective wills, into a new kind of conservative politics suitable to
governing a modern democracy."

"Sob."

"I especially want to thank punkneo Douglas Feith for faking documents on his
home computer so we punkneos could dupe our lapdog, President Bush."

"Without Doug we would not have been able to transfer trillions of US dollars
into the Mideast, into the pockets of war profiteers, which enabled Richard Perle
to startup an oil business in Iraq with his cut."

Kristol smirked: "Making Iraq safe for Perle's oil business with US tax dollars was truly a noble punkneo effort."

==============================================

AS FREEPER TADSLOS COGENTLY POSTED: "People forget that candy-a** Kristol, and his crony, metro-sexual David Brooks, are the original makeover artists for McCain post-2000. They are McC's original groomers and media switch operators.....obsessed with religious cleansing of the party. Kristol at his most smirkiest---urging McCain to fire his 2008 staff, to start all over at the 11th hour, as McC's numbers tanked. Shows how how ill-conceived, advised, equipped and poorly managed McC's campaign was. But then, what else to expect from a Republican candidate made up of neopunks Kristol and Brooks."

Watching Kristol smirking and squirming in his Fox seat election night as McC lost was a consolation prize to this abortion of a losing 2008 election cycle.

===========================================

COMMENTS The 2008 political entrail readings showed the crucial conservative base stayed home. Too bad the pukes "forget" to tell McC that would be one outcome of the punkneo-RINO bi-partisanship. Be aware that many senior neocons are rank opportunists who squatted in the Repub Party for stealth purposes-----they are actually former Trotskyites that flew the coop when Stalin executed their hero.

The pinkneos blow whichever way the Beltway Winds are blowing-----spewing their elitist Endless War thingy, co-opting whoever's in power. Obama’s sex life is really improving as the pukeneos line up under the Oval Office desk. Rahm is installing a Take-A-Number machine to control the neo traffic. Here's hoping Obama's got the stamina for all the lewinskys coming his way (/snic).

=============================================

BTW, there is a reward out for anyone who can determine what the pukes actually does for a living. None of the pukeneos have any visible means of support --- unless you count (1) media prostitution, (2) infiltratng the US government, (3) endless think-tank pontificating on how nice it is to invade foreign countries, (4) squatting in the Repub Party, hoping to destroy it from within, and (5) kicking so/con Repubs to the curb.

[Condor51]

I found this about two of my 'favorite' neocons: Richard Perle and Doug Feith.

Ricard Perle
He is a member of ... the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). Which led to..

The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA)
is a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit think-tank focusing on issues of United States and Israeli national security.

JINSA's stated aim is threefold: to ensure a strong and effective U.S. national security policy; to educate American leaders on what it views as the vital strategic relationship between the United States and Israel

annnnnd this

JINSA's advisory board includes ... former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith

Douglas Feith
Feith joined the administration of President George W. Bush as Undersecretary of Defense for Policy in 2001. ... he supervised the Pentagon Office of Special Plans, ....The office, eventually dismantled, was later criticized in Congress and the media for analysis that was contradicted by CIA analysis and investigations performed following the invasion of Iraq.

In February 2007, the Pentagon's inspector general issued a report that concluded that Feith's office "developed, produced, and then disseminated alternative intelligence assessments on the Iraq and al Qaida relationship, which included some conclusions that were inconsistent with the consensus of the Intelligence Community, to senior decision-makers." The report found that these actions were "inappropriate" though not "illegal."

Richard Perle is pure SCUM. Wherever he goes he leaves a slime trail.

And Doug Feith was so 'pro Iraq war to save Israel' that neocon Condi Rice told him at one meeting:

"If I want to hear from the Israeli's, I'll call their embassy.".

Feith got so bad that Condi Rice couldn't take it anymore and she banned him from meetings.

NOW. Israel has every right to defend itself. But NOT from inside the Government of the USA by shaping US foreign policy that benefits only or mostly them. And when Israel practically has its agents working IN our government, Houston - we have a problem.

And if Israel would kindly STOP SPYING on us, that would help things a little bit too. (Allies DON'T SPY on fellow Allies)

[Liz]

.....if Israel would kindly STOP SPYING on us, that would help things a little bit too. (Allies DON'T SPY on fellow Allies).....

Yeah, but let's not forget how "loyal" Israel is to the US. One of the key provisions for Israel getting trillions in US foreign aid... is that they share all of their Mideast intelligence with the US.

Man, the day after 9/11, the US was crawling with Israelis (and 20,000 Mossad agents already in the US on a permanent basis). Checkout the airline manifests, if you don't believe me. My God, those flights were booked way in advance.....they were THAT concerned about the US.

ITEM When he died recently, the coffin of neocon Irving Kristol (a US citizen), was “nestled between the American and Israeli flags.”

ITEM During the Gore/Bush recount, Sheldon Schorer, a leader of the Israeli group. "Democrats Abroad," estimated there are 5,000-8,000 Floridians among Americans in Israel, including about 4,000 eligible voters. He said as many as 2,800 may have voted, based on previous elections. No accurate count was available, because there are several different ways to vote by absentee ballot. Some approached the Association of Americans and Canadians or the local groups, Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad, for absentee ballots. Others turned to the US Embassy, while many registered directly with their home states and received ballots by mail.

It was impossible to know how many absentee ballots would be coming into Florida. An informal survey of 61 of the state's 67 election supervisors found that they had mailed out more than 18,500 overseas ballots.

And this ITEM:

GIULIANI BANDWAGON BRANCHES OUT TO ISRAEL
By MAGGIE HABERMAN, NY Post, April 21, 2007

EXCERPT A group of Israelis has launched a grass-roots effort to get people living in the Jewish state who are eligible to vote in the United States to line up behind Rudy Giuliani, it was reported yesterday.

The group, Giuliani Supporters in Israel, was launched by Mordechai Twersky, a onetime candidate for state Assembly in The Bronx in the early 1990s, according the Jerusalem Post. Twersky has established a Web site, giulianisupportersinisrael.org, with background information including Giuliani's famed eviction of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from a Lincoln Center concert in 1995. "I did this as a private personal initiative, as a proud American and Israeli citizen, and I am confident that it will catch on," Twersky told the paper.

He said the campaign hadn't set up his group, but that he's been in contact with Team Giuliani since he got started. Giuliani has historically been popular with Jewish voters, and took a hard pro-Israel line when he was in office. Giuliani's campaign didn't return The Post's calls for comment. In some past elections, planeloads of Israelis with American citizenship have flown to the United States to vote.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04212007/news/nationalnews/giuliani_bandwagon_branches_out_to_israel_nationalnews_maggie_haberman.htm

ITEM And remember that Harvey Schwartz, chairman of the nonprofit American Israeli Action Coalition (AIAC), an organization based in Jerusalem that represents more than 250,000 US citizens living in Israel, lobbies the US government.

[Jean S]

You posted this, do you plan on defending it or did you post it only to instigate?