womzilla | A political word: "neo-conservative"

Over the weekend at NYRSF, I was in a digressive discussion with

redbird about a mutual non-friend and the moment I lost all respect for him as a political thinker. Sure, I said (*), he was an open bigot, an avowed fan of inappropriate violence and collective punishment as a solution to all political problems, and a sluggard who refused to respond when people refuted his points, but I'd had a grudging respect until the day that he labelled himself a "neo-conservative".

As nearly as I can tell, in modern discourse, "neo-conservative" means "one who will stand behind any lie, no matter how egregious, as long as it leads to killing more people we don't like, especially towelheads." This person was openly allying himself with the group who said that the occupation of Iraq should go more smoothly than US operations in the Balkans, because Iraq doesn't have the religious and ethnic divisions that mark the Balkans. No honest person can believe that; no honest person should have anything to do with the people who said that.

So, remember, if you hear someone call himself a "neo-conservative", you can save several letters and syllables by substituting "liar". Or, if you're slightly more charitable than I am, "dupe".

*Okay, I wasn't nearly that articulate at the time. But if you can't improve the past on the re-telling, what good is a memory?