Quote from AAAintheBeltway:
How many times do we have to go through this? I am soooo tired of liberals lumping everyone they oppose as "neocons." Neocons are a specific subset of the traditional republican coalition. Most of them were jewish intellectuals who had been liberals but moved to the republican party because of the democrats' refusal to confront communism. The Soviet Union's oppression of jews was a major factor.
They gave a certain intellectual respectability to the Reagan administration, but schisms became apparent after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. Neocons strongly supported war to free Kuwait, but traditional conservatives, led by Pat Buchanan, were more skeptical, seeing the neocon agenda as being dictated by Israel. The same split developed over the Iraq war, with neocons being the loudest voices in favor of war and Buchanan, Ron Paul and a few other republicans counseling caution.
Neocons are nothing if not adaptable. Their credibility was pretty much destroyed in the wake of the Iraq fiasco, but look who is the Republican nominee for president: John McCain, a reliable foot soldier for the big brains behind the neocon movement.
Neocons have never been particularly comfortable in the republican party. They are typically social liberals and are contemptuous of the evangelical/social conservative wing of the party. As noted, they also have issues with the paleoconservatives of Pat Buchanan, who they dismiss as anti-semites.
In terms of the media, the Weekly Standard could be called the Neocon Standard. The editor is Bill Kristol, son of neocon godfather Irving Kristol. Fox News is heavily slanted to neocons, which explains their total blackout of Ron Paul.
