Rumsfeld Prompts Intra-Murdoch Feud

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The New York Sun

Are two neoconservative houses, both alike in dignity, feuding over the fate of Secretary Rumsfeld?


The conflict in question has been fought not with swords, as in Shakespeare, but with columns in the newspapers.


In the Washington Post on December 15, William Kristol, editor and founder of the Weekly Standard, raised eyebrows when he wrote that American troops “deserve a better defense secretary than the one we have.”


In the New York Post on Tuesday, under the headline “Beltway Blunder: Why ‘fire Rummy’ crew failed,” the columnist John Podhoretz responded with a spirited defense of Mr. Rumsfeld, which criticized “in-the-know” journalists who “say things in op-eds” and others who seek the defense secretary’s ouster.


To some, that seemed more than an ordinary case of disagreeing pundits.


William is the son of Irving Kristol, and John is the son of Norman Podhoretz. The elder Messrs. Kristol and Podhoretz are considered the founding fathers of neoconservatism, a philosophy to which their sons subscribe – and of which the sons have themselves become luminaries.


There are close philosophical and personal ties between the Kristols and the Podhoretzes, and together William and John started the Weekly Standard, which, like the New York Post, is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.


Complicating matters, Mr. Podhoretz’s mother, Midge Decter, is an enthusiastic supporter of Mr. Rumsfeld – as evidenced by her appreciative book published last year, “Rumsfeld: A Personal Portrait.”


Regarding the op-ed exchange, Ms. Decter said: “I love my son very deeply, and I’m fond of Bill Kristol – but that has nothing to do with this particular disagreement.”


In her mind, it was an intellectual, not a personal, dispute, fed by a misguided view of battle.


“There’s something very academic and naive about the way the people in the Weekly Standard discuss this war,” Ms. Decter said, “as if all wars aren’t full of errors and messes and screw-ups and every other kind of thing … that is the nature of it.”


Mr. Kristol said his opinion of Mr. Rumsfeld was informed, in part, by military and other sources who possess intimate and first-hand knowledge of the Iraq conflict, and of the nature of battle generally. For his part, Mr. Podhoretz denied the column was directed at Mr. Kristol. “Bill’s a dear and close friend of mine, and I clearly disagree with him about Rumsfeld,” he said.


The column, Mr. Podhoretz said, was “not a response to his op-ed – it was more about McCain and Hagel and a general ethos within Washington bloggers.” The reference was to the Republican senators of Arizona and Nebraska.


Despite Mr. Podhoretz’s amiable tone, a columnist at the liberal Nation, Eric Alterman, described the dispute as a tribal matter: “Podhoretz’s mother wrote a book that’s basically a love letter to Rumsfeld. You have to think about neocons as the mafia – it’s all about loyalty.”


To Adam Bellow, son of writer Saul, family loyalty is nothing to be ashamed of. Mr. Bellow, author of “In Praise of Nepotism: A History of Family Enterprise from King David to George W. Bush,” said: “Partisan commitments run in families, like everything else.” Mr. Bellow said he thought the dispute was exaggerated.


So did Mr. Kristol, who said his criticism of Mr. Rumsfeld is nothing new, as it predates September 11. Nor was it a sign of any personal trouble between him and Mr. Podhoretz. “I respect John, and always enjoy reading his columns,” Mr. Kristol said.


The managing editor of National Review, Jay Nordlinger, said the debate gave the lie to the very notion of neoconservatives – or conservatives, generally – as a unified cabal. “Bill Kristol and John Podhoretz are old friends and allies. And now they disagree, sharply, on this issue,” Mr. Nordlinger, who worked for Messrs. Kristol and Podhoretz at the Weekly Standard, said. “Hey, I thought all the neocons were manipulating things together. What must the conspiracy theorists on both left and right make of this?”


The New York Sun

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