Acrobatics

Poulos gets meta on Kristol:

For Kristol to win the day, he must convince Republicans that Joe Lieberman both is and is not a Republican, or that he is not a Republican yet 'actually' is. Because it's impossible to convince anyone that Joe Lieberman is a Republican, period, unless he switches parties, at which point it will be impossible to convince anyone that he is, full stop, a conservative. In order to do this, Kristol must create an ontological crisis in the Republican identity.

The point of Lieberman is the Middle East: a clear sign that neoconservatism's worldview will not just survive the last eight years but actually become even more ascendant. A Lieberman pick would be a way of ensuring that the US never withdraw from Iraq and use it as a base from which to attack Iran. It would also be an indication that the next administration will treat Russia as a global enemy, as if there were any doubt about the new Cold War that McCain is eager to start. And China, of course. The Chinese are enemies as well.

Kristol understood a long time ago that the social issues are critical to bringing evangelicals into a grand alliance with neoconservative foreign policy machers. Issues such as abortion and gay rights are instrumental to neoconservatism. They are domestic means to foreign policy ends. The end is war - and the restoration of national greatness to a great, and always extending, neo-empire.