The Pillsbury Dough Boy Speaks

The Pillsbury Dough Boy (PDB) said:

... for the love of all that is holy, keep your children out of political debates. It's dishonest and exploitative, and it makes complex policy arguments needlessly personal.

For once PDB makes sense and I agree wholeheartedly. Ripping the filthy scabs called Pods, Kristols, Kagans, and Goldbergs off the flesh of American political journalism would be the place to begin this noble cause. As Andrew Sullivan points out:

Conservative Meritocracy Thrives

JPod, son of NPod, to edit Commentary. Bill, son of Irving, edits The Weekly Standard. Jonah, son of Lucianne, got to edit NRO. Thank God we left the country-club Republicans behind.

Evidently in neocon circles meritocracy arises from the fact that they merit their current job because a family member gave it to you. Glenn Greenwald continues:

Andrew neglected to mention the sprawling Kagan family -- whose neoconservative patriarch, Donald ("a beloved father figure of the ascendant neoconservative movement") has spawned warmonger Robert Kagan (PNAC co-founder with Bill Kristol), and Fred Kagan (Bill Kristol co-author, AEI "Scholar," Surge architect and co-writer of a war-mongering book with his dad). They're now joined by Fred's wife, war supporter Kimberly Kagan, frequently found in The Weekly Standard explaining how her husband's Surge strategy means We're Winning.

Certainly one can argue that they are continuing on in the "family business", and I say good on'ya. But scoring in the game of life does not mean you hit a home run when you start out on third base. Meritocracy is a fantasy. NO ONE is completely self made. NO ONE. Everyone of us got a lot of help along the way. A little more introspection is in order. A super majority of the pants wetting necon elite are in the jobs they currently hold because it is the family business, not because they worked hard and pulled themselves up by the boot straps. Most of these slobs couldn't bend over far enough to grab their boot straps if they were wearing knee-highs.