[BluesDuke]

If I remember correctly Irving Kristol, his wife Gertrude Himmelfarb and his fellow neocon's, were big supporters of Ronald Reagan and even managed to get one of their own into the Reagan administration. That would be Jeane Kirkpatrick.

Jeane Kirkpatrick held specific rank in the Reagan Administration, of course, but Reagan, if I recall, was known to call upon Kristol's counsel every so often. Kristol and company had also found sympathetic ears and space at The American Spectator, who frequently published both their works and those of their children (like John Podhoretz and William Kristol). In those years, the American Spectator was one incredibly engaging journal with the kind of wit and thinkability that people associated with the original National Review, but the Spectator was more like National Review's randier cousin.

As for Bill Kristol's spitball antics, I concur. It is quite possible to critique the present Republican leadership without shooting spitballs and trying to pass them off as wit or quickthink. Spitballs belong in baseball games (yes, I favour legalising the pitch - which, contrary to the mythology, is not a dangerous pitch), not political discourse. As for Fred Barnes keeping Bill Kristol in line, well, somebody's got to...

[Reagan Man]

>>>... Reagan, if I recall, was known to call upon Kristol's counsel every so often.

You are correctamundo.

>>Spitballs belong in baseball games (yes, I favour legalising the pitch - which, contrary to the mythology, is not a dangerous pitch), not political discourse.

Actually, I might agree with you about legalizing the spitball, but then some knuckleheads might want to bring back the Dead Ball Era. =^) (For those ignorant of BB history, the Dead Ball Era was pre-1920`s, sometimes labeled the pre-Ruthian Era.)