Richard Perle denies......
Richard Perle yesterday on the 1996 paper "A Clean Break...."
Or maybe this,
"My name was on it because I signed up for the study group," Perle explained. "I didn't approve it. I didn't read it."
Or maybe this,
Yesterday, however, Perle said Bush's foreign policy had "no philosophical underpinnings and certainly nothing like the demonic influence of neoconservatives that is alleged." He also took issue with the common view that neocons favored using American might to spread democratic values. "There's no documentation!" he argued. "I can't find a single example of a neoconservative supposed to have influence over the Bush administration arguing that we should impose democracy by force.".
posted by mikevotes at
7:26 AM
8 Comments:
"Body? What body?" said the man holding the smoking gun.
By
-epm, at 9:22 AM
They're trying so hard to run away so they can find future employment.
By
mikevotes, at 10:13 AM
They're trying to write their own history.
By
Anonymous, at 11:51 AM
And they're not the victors.
But they do seem to care more.
By
mikevotes, at 1:20 PM
For a President that had 69% support among Republicans a month ago, Bush's stock sure has dropped quickly. The same Party that pronounced any dissension on Bush's foreign policy as "tantamount to treason" is now basically saying that they never supported it.
It's interesting to note that one year ago the Republicans were intensely pushing the idea of a "clash of civilisations" and contending that Islam was the "pre-emininent threat of our time". Now most would probably shrug at the concept. "National security" has been replaced by "fiscal conservatism" as the issue that marks Republicans as superior to those degenerate Democrats, and in a very short period of time.
Less than six months ago, the Party was thrilled to chant "drill, baby, drill!". Now any Republican who did that would be laughed at by their own. And there is no collective memory of these dramatic shifts.
It's really Orwellian: We have always been at war with Eurasia.
Every time there is one of these seismic shifts in the Party, it is always presented as something they always believed in and always will.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 3:16 PM
"And they're not the victors."
I think Richard Perle would argue that they are. The Democrats may have won the election but the US now has permanent bases in Iraq and a strong foothold in Afghanistan.
By
Anonymous, at 6:07 PM
Todd, The Republicans in their current disarray are offering them no cover. (When was the last time you heard a Republican say anything on foreign policy.)
They're just trying to survive as "important" people to be listened to, because their careers require it.
...
And, anon, yes and no. They certainly won the policy battle in the day and got what they wanted, but politically, they have lost the war.
With the Dems in power everywhere, for likely at least four years, there's so few job options for the crazy foreign policy folks, and the ones that are getting in really have to be clear of the neocon/Bush stigma.
By
mikevotes, at 7:06 AM
Mike wrote:
They're just trying to survive as "important" people to be listened to, because their careers require it.
Yes, and that is a vicious circle. As the disparate elements that made up movement conservatism throw each other "under the bus", so to speak, the credibility of movement conservatism itself suffers.
Credibility is absolutely essential to movement conservatism. These were not, by and large, very clever people. The country was merely gullible. Nobody believed that Bush would actually lie to promote a war. People gave conservatives the benefit of a doubt on their entire platform...because movement conservatism had apparent credibility.
The ideological rout is huge. Eight years of Bush have been abandoned virtually overnight: The American Empire ideal, deregulation, torture, War on Islam, The Bully Approach on foreign relations, default Party of patriotism, secrecy, police-state power, Fourth Branch, etc.
It's all gone. Nobody defends it anymore. And this huge portion of the field has been ceded to consolidate strength in neo-Hooverist economic policies. And we may very well yet see the Religious Right thrown under the bus in due time, in order to "consolidate".
It boggles the mind just how quickly the GOP has radically altered their entire premise. And, in political terms, all of these elements that the Party has cast off have nowhere else to go.
By
Todd Dugdale , at 2:42 PM
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