it will same them uncountable pain, suffering, and money.

No, much of the Old Left were essentially Puritans, and when the New Left and the Counterculture came along in the 60’s, they found it most off-putting. These guys would never have been caught dead with a string of hippy beads or a beard. They wanted to be or join the establishment, though their particular cohort did not have easy access because they were, for the most part, the sons and daughters of poor Jewish Immigrants in a sea of similarly situated young men and women. Had they been ten years younger, they would have reached adulthood when some of the old Quotas were falling away, after restrictive covenants in real estate limiting where Jews could live were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. But they came to adulthood before World War II, they were depression survivors, The were drafted into service, for the duration. They were gifted, but their opportunities were limited.

What always struck me as interesting about this crowd was how difficult it was for them to empathize with the somewhat parallel circumstances of Black Americans, particularly in the 50’s and early 60’s when the Civil Rights movement really became a significant cause and movement. Conventional Wisdom would suggest clear recognition of that similarity, but in many cases, it did not occur. Their younger siblings and many of their own children got it — and joined in various parts of the movements, but that Old Left generation that dated adulthood prior to World War II rarely did. Why? Something to ponder.

And yea, Irving was a pretty common name in this crowd. It was usually shortened to Irv. I think lots of them were named after Irving Berlin, who was a most successful Broadway musician and pop composer about the time they were born.

“But Bill Kristol didn’t get noticed much at all till he became chief of staff to VP Dan Quayle. His job was to make Quayle look a little brighter than he was.”

And in that, he was remarkably similar to George W. Bush, in that he was an epic failure. Bill hasn’t changed a bit ever since. Just about everything I’ve ever seen the man say or do has either turned out to be a lie, an incorrect prediction, or a massive lapse of judgment. He more than anyone else is probably responsible for foisting Sarah Palin on us all. The crush he developed on her after that summer cruise made her simply irresistible to him.

Bill, and a lot of other lizard-brained hetero neocon males.

It’s exactly as Barney Frank said: Dining room tables. That’s what they are. Mentally.

Your son is a complete fucking moron.

Look, Irving Kristol was NOT a Communist. He was a Trotskyite in an
American faction that became part of the Socialist Party — now known as the Democratic Socialists of America. We reproduce the Right Wing nut jobs when we don’t use the language carefully. Communist and Socialist are just not interchangable terms.

The one common term you can use is “Marxist” if the sense is that one’s political theory is founded on the writings of Karl Marx. Most Communists would use the term Marxist-Leninist to distinguish themselves from all the variations of Social Democrats, which are at the core of the Labor and left of Center parties in Europe.

Given the nut jobs calling Obama a Socialist the least we can do is get the terms and concepts straight.