A long time ago I wrote a piece for the New York Observer arguing that the famous talking-points memo was the work of Bruce Lindsey, and Bill Safire mentioned my piece in his Times column, saying it was "brilliant." My editor Peter Kaplan teased me about it. "You know why he thinks you're brilliant, don't you? Because you agree with him!" Ha!
Today Bill Kristol has a brilliant column in the Times. He attacks the new moveon.org ad against McCain that features a pretty blonde mom talking about her son, Alex, where she says McCain can't have him.
The MoveOn ad is unapologetic in its selfishness, and barely
disguised in its disdain for those who have chosen to serve — and its
contempt for those parents who might be proud of sons and daughters who
are serving. The ad boldly embraces a vision of a selfish and
infantilized America, suggesting that military service and sacrifice
are unnecessary and deplorable relics of the past.
And the sole responsibility of others.
I agree with Kristol almost entirely. The truth is, that woman's child is in no danger at all of serving. I know the children of the privileged: they're in no danger. And that woman reads privileged to me. The privileged must begin to serve. As George Bush's father served. As Bill Kristol's father served. There should be a draft. It would energize the opposition to the neocons and the neolibs, and help to turn their ideas about the exercise of military power into just what they really are, armchair notions.
