The end of a generation of faux conservatives

Neocon columnist Bill Kristol, George Packer writes in his New Yorker blog, "has become a member of what Orwell called a 'permanent and pensioned' class of critics, and ... 'the quality of [his] thought deteriorates accordingly.'"

But then Kristol has disintegrated along with the "conservative movement".  I think it's fair to see him as one of the causes of its disintegration.

"The degeneration of the conservative movement from William F. Buckley and Milton Friedman to Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin is a subject that will require more than one book (Mark Lilla got a start in this fine Wall Street Journal column). Kristol’s performance on the Op-Ed page during the most interesting election in a generation is a historical symptom, not merely a personal failure. He wrote badly because his world view had become problematic at best, untenable at worst, and he had spent too many years turning out Party propaganda to summon the intellectual resources that a difficult situation required. Now the Times owes it to its readers to find someone better."

Right.  I've been calling Kristol lazy and superficial, but Packer really nails it.

At some point, real conservatives will be heard.  The "old right" is out there somewhere.  Take Andrew Bacevich.  He knew how to respond to Barack Obama's climb to the presidency. When the voices of real conservatives gain volume again, an awful lot of people who thought Bush & Co. were conservatives will experience an interesting awakening.