Something a little different: Kritol's NYT op-ed

First: I generally disdain commenting on the media - there's already way too much navel-gazing withn both mainstream and alternative media. The country has real problems; Bill O'Reilly & Wm. Kristol aren't among them!

But today I'm making an exception to this rule, in part just because I think it'll be fun, but also because I want to make a larger point.

The fun? Kristol's NYT op-ed today (Thoroughly Unmodern McCain, 21 Jan 2008). He starts by quoting from McCain's SC victory speech: "We are the captains of our fate.". He notes that this is from a 19th-century poem, William Ernest Henley’s “Invictus”, and that McCain, "comes from a generation that, in its youth, was made to memorize poetry."

From here we learn (?) that McCain having had to memorize poetry as a schoolboy, and that his remembering a 19th-century poem, implies that McCain is more "Victorian" than the other candidates... and thus, somehow, better suited to the demands of the Presidency than his "thoroughly modern" rivals.

Okay - I don't quite follow the logic, but there it is.

Fun stuff for the Gilbert & Sullivan fan: Kristol demonstrates his own Victorian cred with riffs on "The Modern Major-General" song from The Pirates of Penzance to make a "witty" point:

Mitt Romney is the very model of a modern venture capitalist.
Mike Huckabee is the very model of a modern evangelical.
Rudy Giuliani is the very model of a modern can-do executive.

Here endeth the commentary. Now for the larger point.

When the NYT hired Kristol, all hell broke loose in the progressive blogosphere. This decision was roundly panned as giving a neocon W-enabler more exposure than he deserves.

Me? I believe in the dicta, "Know your enemy" and "Forewarned is forearmed." Many of us (me among them) don't regularly read The Weekly Standard, so most of the time don't know what Kristol is saying. With Kristol on NYT op-ed page, I can now keep up with neocon W-enabling "logic" and "argumentation." Knowing what Kristol is saying, what premises he adopts for his arguments, and what arguments he frames based on those premises, helps me formulate a better progressive defense against his inanity! Knowing what I'll be likely to face in the realm of political arugmentation and discourse better prepares me to parry attacks!

Kristol's regular appearance on NYT op-ed page should be welcomed: we can now better know our enemy, and with the forewarning, forarm ourselves.