Irving Kristol, whose views helped shaped modern conservatism, died yesterday at age 89 in Washington D.C. from complications of lung cancer.
The NY Times' obituary says that he "helped revitalize the Republican Party in the late 1960s and early ’70s, setting the stage for the Reagan presidency and years of conservative dominance... He was commonly known as the godfather of neoconservatism, even by those who were not entirely sure what the term meant. In probably his most widely quoted comment — his equivalent of Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame — Mr. Kristol defined a neoconservative as a liberal who had been 'mugged by reality.'"
Kristol was born in Brooklyn, attended City College where he became a Trotskyist, questioned liberalism in the 1960s and founded the magazine Public Interest and then fully embraced conservative ideals in the early 1970s. He once said, "Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a neo-something: a neo-Marxist, a neo-Trotskyist, a neo-liberal, a neo-conservative and, in religion, always a neo-orthodox, even while I was a neo-Trotskyist and a neo-Marxist. I’m going to end up a neo. Just neo, that’s all. Neo-dash-nothing." Kristol's son William is the editor of The Weekly Standard and cheerleader of Sarah Palin.





Who the fuck gets mugged by reality? Is this Mother Russia? This is like blaming everyone else for your problems.
Good riddance jerk.
I mean, RIP and all that... but I hope this is a sign of the beginning of the dying off of neoconservatism. I wouldn't call it a "movement". Its more like a force for social stagnation. Doubletalking corporate ass-kissing stooges. Pretending to have a social philosophy. Yech.
Isn't "modern conservatism" an inherent contradiction?
Yaaaar, Hes gone ta join the ranks of Davey Jones locker! Thar be more rum for the lot of us now!
"Neo-dash-dead".
ye best get him on the flotsam. OK, enough with speak like a pirate day, I suck.
89 years old, huh. yet patrick swayze dies at 57.
Good riddance.
There goes the myth of the liberal jew.
Joe Lieberma- oh never mind.