Wednesday, March 29, 2006

The Ballad of Chuck And Frank

Via Retardo at Elementropy we find Charles Krauthammer, in the mode of a character in a second-rate Mario Puzo knock-off, complaining that Francis Fukuyama "fabricated" a statement - the one which caused Francis to become a neo-former-neo-con. It's not just a fabrication , mind you, but as CK writes:

A convenient fabrication -- it gives him a foil and the story drama -- but a foolish one because it can be checked.

I don't understand. What's one more nobel lie between neo-friends? I thought convenient fabrications - especially ones which provide necessary drama (or, if you ask David Brooks, "poetry") - were an essential part of the program. Guess once you leave the inner-party they revoke your dramatic licence and you're stuck judiciously studying - and accurately reporting - the events in which history's actors engage. Poetry for the privileged but reality for the rubes. And when you leave the party you can bet you're just a rube. Someone explain to me (again) how these guys were such stalwart anti-communists.