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Paleo Palin

Richard Spencer offers two theories as to why William Kristol can be so supportive of the new darling of paleos, crunchies and traditionalists everywhere: In 2004, Kristol said that he’d vote for John Kerry over Pat Buchanan, and that the Weekly Standard “has as much or more in common with the liberal hawks than with […]

Richard Spencer offers two theories as to why William Kristol can be so supportive of the new darling of paleos, crunchies and traditionalists everywhere:

In 2004, Kristol said that he’d vote for John Kerry over Pat Buchanan, and that the Weekly Standard “has as much or more in common with the liberal hawks than with traditional conservatives.’’ But then Palin’s support for Pitchfork Pat in ’96 and ’00 doesn’t seem to have damaged her much in Kristol’s estimation.

Your typical paleo curmudgeon might speculate that one of two things is at play:

1) Kristol knows something we don’t and that behind that “hokey mom” persona, there’s an inner Joe Lieberman just waiting to get out. Highly unlikely

2) Or else Kristol simply views Palin as someone uninterested in foreign affairs who wouldn’t much challenge McCain & Friends on these issues (Creating the reverse of the Bush-Cheney relationship, in many ways.) … Much more plausible.

My theory is that Palin is in no meaningful sense a Buchananite, if the term is to mean something more than social conservatism; and dissident conservatives are simply grasping at straws.

I have nothing against Palin– I’d be much more comfortable having her a heartbeat away from the presidency than with Lieberman or Romney in that position, but I worry much more about who would be in the oval office should she be become Vice President. I also suspect that she is in over her head.

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