Kill This Word

I WAS recently listening to a BBC radio program called World Have Your Say. A fascinating example of globalization at work, it’s a worldwide call-in show where the global IQ regresses to the mean and keeps regressing. From every corner of the globe, Michael Moore-style liberals convene like a reunion of resistance members to bemoan the global hegemony of George W. Bush. It’s reassuring to know that the French and Balinese can get together like old ladies around the global village well to chit-chat and agree on so much.

Anyway, on the segment I heard, a caller from Ohio with an oddly British accent explained that Hillary Clinton was too conservative to get the Democratic nomination or some such. His proof consisted largely of the fact that she was long associated with the Democratic Leadership Council. He went on to explain, like an Oxford don explaining the pluperfect tense in some dead language, that the DLC is a “neoconservative” institution. And by neoconservative, he meant (I’m quoting from memory) “believing America has a sacred right to hydrocarbons, wherever it might find them around the globe.”

About the Author

Jonah Goldberg

Jonah Goldberg is a National Review contributing editor.

Featured Tags

I WAS recently listening to a BBC radio program called World Have Your Say. A fascinating example of globalization at work, it’s a worldwide call-in show where the global IQ regresses to the mean and keeps regressing. From every corner of the globe, Michael Moore-style liberals convene like a reunion of resistance members to bemoan the global hegemony of George W. Bush. It’s reassuring to know that the French and Balinese can get together like old ladies around the global village well to chit-chat and agree on so much.

Anyway, on the segment I heard, a caller from Ohio with an oddly British accent explained that Hillary Clinton was too conservative to get the Democratic nomination or some such. His proof consisted largely of the fact that she was long associated with the Democratic Leadership Council. He went on to explain, like an Oxford don explaining the pluperfect tense in some dead language, that the DLC is a “neoconservative” institution. And by neoconservative, he meant (I’m quoting from memory) “believing America has a sacred right to hydrocarbons, wherever it might find them around the globe.”