Bolton and “Conservatism”

By Ken Silverstein

I mentioned the other day that I was taking part in a debate/conversation at TPM Book Club about Peter Scoblic’s new book, “U.S. Versus Them: How a Half-Century of Conservatism Has Undermined America’s Security.” From my latest post:

Peter ends his most recent post by saying that conservatism at times has been “marked by distaste for humanitarian interventions.” and quotes John Bolton, who he calls a “wonderful example of conservatism,” as being an enemy of “nation-building and democracy promotion. Last year, Peter writes, Bolton told him “how he would have managed the invasion of Iraq: ‘My thought was–and this is exaggerating–we hand ‘em a copy of the Federalist Papers, say good luck, and then we’re out of there’.” Which primarily demonstrates to me that Bolton, whether he is a “wonderful example of conservatism” or not, is first and foremost insane.