January 08, 2004
Failure to Communicate?
David Frum and Richard Perle are going to be on Fresh Air tomorrow to tout their new book. Here's the blurb (emphasis added):
Terry talks about the war on terrorism with two self-described "hardliners" within the Bush administration. David Frum is former special assistant to President Bush... and Richard Perle is former chair of the Defense Policy Board. Their new book is "An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror."
Did they forget to pass this by David Brooks?
In truth, the people labeled neocons (con is short for "conservative" and neo is short for "Jewish") travel in widely different circles and don't actually have much contact with one another. The ones outside government have almost no contact with President Bush. There have been hundreds of references, for example, to Richard Perle's insidious power over administration policy, but I've been told by senior administration officials that he has had no significant meetings with Bush or Cheney since they assumed office. If he's shaping their decisions, he must be microwaving his ideas into their fillings.
Do you think that Perle didn't get the message that he really hasn't had any influence and by gosh, it was just a liberal canard to imply that he did? Perhaps Brooks forgot to clue Perle into the latest RNC talking points? Or perhaps Perle is really a clueless lying liberal trying to put the Bush administration in a bad light? I'm sure if we wait long enough, David Brooks will let us know.
Hmmm...I thought 'neo' meant 'new' - what's Jewishness have to do with it? Granted, Perle and Wolfvowitz are Jewish...and?
When we figure out what Brooks was toking, maybe we'll be able to connect that for you. Until then, we remain united in mystification.
Posted by: natasha on January 8, 2004 02:52 AMThe NPR blurb is horribly worded. Neither Frum nor Perle has been "within the Bush administration" for quite some time, else they never would have had the time to write the book. Perle was forced to step down from chair of the defense policy board on the suspicion of a conflict of interests. Frum fell into disfavor after his wife revealed that he was the speechwriter responsible for the term "axis of evil."
Brooks' problem is that he believes "senior administration officials" who no doubt simply tell him that which they would like to see appear in the papers.
Posted by: charles on January 8, 2004 09:57 AM