Hosni Begat Gamal. Saddam Begat Qusay. And Norman Begat John

One of the best things in Jacob Heilbrunn's new book, They Knew They Were Right, is his analysis of the children of the neocons. Irving Kristol and Norman Podhoretz had struggled to attain prominence. They had varied careers, generally on the outside of mainstream culture, wearing moth-eaten tweeds, and never thought they'd achieve political power, as they did beginning in the 70s. Indeed, Lionel Trilling, one of their mentors, said that instrumentalized intellectuals--intellectuals who served power--were debased. Anyway, Heilbrunn says that the children of the neocons--John Podhoretz, Elliott Abrams, and Bill Kristol, that whole generation--didn't get the life experience and the political development their fathers did. And meantime their fathers placed too much value on filial piety, and wanted the narcissistic pleasure of seeing their kids doing what they did, and having the same politics. So the kids didn't develop the intellectual toughness their fathers had. (Let alone serve in the military, as their fathers generally did!)

A long way of saying: the kids gave us Iraq.

I bring this all up because of the succession at Commentary magazine. Norman Podhoretz is the editor emeritus. As we all know, his son John Podhoretz, whose online handle is Jpod, is due to become the editor of the magazine this year some time. It's a sad moment for a once-noble magazine that led opposition to the Vietnam War. Podhoretz is an impish, tabloid intellectual. And a weak copy of pa. Shouldn't Commentary have threshed the fields a little? Or looked around for a new direction... It feels samey to me; honestly, I don't know if I'm going to renew my subscription ($45 a year.).

Oddly enough, the succession at Commentary is most like those regimes that the neocons so desire to smash: Arab dictatorships. In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak is about to be succeeded by his son Gamal, they say. Over in Iraq, Saddam had groomed Qusay to be the head Fred; and we know how that turned out. In Syria, Hafez el-Assad was grooming his oldest son, then when he died it went to the London son, ophthalmologist Bashir.

Is that any way to run a country--or a magazine?

[Thanks to Dan Swanson for this idea]

Comments

[Jpodlives]

It's amazing that Phil can pull his head out of his ass long enough to type these blog entries! Commentary "led opposition to the Vietnam War"???? Not on your fucking life, Phil. You're as full of shit about that simple historical fact as are about all the analytical details you offer about Jews, Israel, and Zionism!

[liberal white boy]

That's right some of our best and brightest new neocon talent has fallen from rotten crotches. Lucienne Goldberg for example.

[David]

I bet liberal white boy thinks Lucianne (the correct spelling) Goldberg is Jewish. She ain't.

[liberal white boy]

Sorry Dave, I was going by the spelling she used to use when she was trying to pass herself off as a French whore during the Johnson Administration. And Dave, Neocons don't have to be Jews, they just need to be ass holes.

[David]

Then you should have called her Lucianne Cummings, which was her name.

[J. Martillo]

I have a somewhat different take on Commentary's opposition to the Vietnam War.

See http://eaazi.blogspot.com/2008/01/anti-war-1960s-versus-2000s.html .

[liberal white boy]

Who would have known who Jonah Cummings was Dave? Liberal fascism my butt.

[MM]

OT:

One of our dearest friends is in trouble, and needs our help.

http://www.muzzlewatch.com/?p=311

Daniel Pipes' organization is having to steal funds from Jewish organizations to keep the smears and spats flowing.

We can not let this luminary's venom run dry.

Here's what YOU can do to help:

1) Invent the bat-shit craziest Islamofascist Jihadist NGO name you can come up with. Something like "The Wipe Israel Off-the-Map Project", or "Jihadists for Indiscriminate Slaughter"...

2) Now, using your organization's name, write a check for $100 to Campus Watch, Daniel Pipes' organization.

3) Laugh your ass off

[David the First]

from MuzzleWatch: "Because we are a small not-for-profit group based in Israel we sought an American partner NGO in order to help American donors gain tax-deductible status on their donations."

Remember that tax-deductible status for these Israeli organizations effectively means that American taxpayers are paying roughly 30% of their budgets.

M&W explain how this game is played so that donations to the settlements end up being subsidized by you and me (pp. 29-30).

[LeaNder]

Laughing my ass off! Thanks, MM.

Doesn't show:

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/year/2008
http://www.danielpipes.org/art/year/all

[MM]

"M&W explain how this game is played so that donations to the settlements end up being subsidized by you and me (pp. 29-30)."

And Daniel Pipes is charging a commission.

"(3) During the last couple of years the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, under the chairmanship of Daniel Pipes, received small donations on our behalf, taking a commission for this."

Nice gig. Does he have to pay taxes on the commission, at least?

[Charles Keating]

Not to worry, the bankrupt American taxpayors (and their progeny) will continue to fund the settlers.

[Richard Silverstein]

Does anyone know anyone who knows IRS regulations concerning non profits. I'd be curious to know whether what Pipes' did is a violation of 501 c 3 guidelines. If it isn't it should be.

[trouvere]

Richard, Charles Keating has summarized the 501(c)3/4 distinction in this thread -
http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2008/02/neocon-thinktan.html#comments

It sure sounds like Pipes is intentionally subverting the law. Richard Witty is a CPA, maybe he can add more detail.