From Honorable Service to Yellow Elephant Dynasty

The late Irving Kristol, a famous neocon, must be turning over in his grave.

During the Reagan Administration [and pre-Internet], the Village Voice published the seminal article on chickenhawks, "America's War Wimps," by Jack Newfield [as we recall].  Yes, the Voice got fabulous quotes from everyone, including Dick Cheney saying, "other priorities."  Virtually every neocon and prominent Republican in the mid-1980s was shamelessly exposed, including Irving Kristol, then Editor of The New Republic.  'Too bad the article is not easily findable online; this is the best we could do.

Standard Village Voice journalistic practices always include, in the article, that the subject "failed to respond to numerous Voice messages left at his office," and the like.  So, we were quite amused to see, in the following week's Voice, an irate letter from Irving Kristol.  He noted that his biography in "Who's Who" indicated two years in the AUS [Army of the United States]; had the Voice bothered to contact him, he could have told them that.  Mr. Kristol's righteous anger was fully justified.  The Village Voice should have just apologized for their error, stating that, whatever their differences on the issues of the day, Mr. Kristol deserved respect for his service to our country, and moved on.

Typical for the Voice, however, even when they acknowledged their screwup, they still criticized neoconservatism in general and Irving Kristol in particular.  Oh, well.

So what does this have to do with Operation Yellow Elephant?  The Yellow Elephant Dynasty:  From honorable veteran Irving Kristol to non-veteran son William Kristol to the next generation, marrying Yellow Elephant Matthew Continetti as reported in The New York Times Sunday, February 19, 2012:

Anne Kristol, Matthew Continetti

Anne Elizabeth Kristol, a daughter of Susan S. Kristol and William Kristol of McLean, Va., is to be married Sunday evening to Matthew Joseph Continetti, a son of Cathy Continetti and Joseph F. Continetti of Springfield, Va.  Rabbi David Kalender is to officiate at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington.

The bride, who is taking her husband's name, is studying for a master's in secondary education at George Washington University.  She graduated from Washington University in St. Louis. 

Her father is the editor of The Weekly Standard, the political journal, in Washington.  The bride is the granddaughter of Gertrude Himmelfarb, the late historian and author, and the late Irving Kristol, the political commentator and author. 

The bridegroom, 30, is the editor of The Washington Free Beacon, a political website, and works in Washington.  He is also a contributing editor for The Weekly Standard.  He is the author of "The K Street Gang:  The Rise and Fall of the Republican Machine" and "The Persecution of Sarah Palin:  How the Elite Media Tried to Bring Down a Rising Star."  He graduated from Columbia.

His mother is a reading specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools in Fairfax, Va.  His father is a contract specialist at the General Services Administration in Washington.

OYE Comment:
We wish the happy couple well.  Let's just say that we're not worried about a next generation, and leave it at that.