Irving Kristol, 1920-2009

The Weekly Standard is reporting that Irving Kristol has died. Very sad. Still his best one-liner:

“A neoconservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality.”

Wrapped up in the demagoguery regarding the Iraq War — and the desire to turn neocon into a slur — people often forget the genesis of the neoconservative movement: They were hawks on the cold war and progressive on civil rights issues, free-marketers but not religiously so. Those interested in actually learning about the movement (as opposed to those who are content to use the term neocon as a piece of invective) would be well-served checking out Neoconservatism: The Autobiography of an Idea. I realize this is a limited cohort, but still. There might be one or two of you out there.