My obsession/involvement with real-life politics — and the fact I didn’t even know about it until Election Day — have made it difficult for me to craft a proper entry for The Politics & Movies Blogathon being held over at Jason Bellamy’s The Cooler. However, since this particular blog is often pretty much it’s own politics and movies blogathon, I could hardly ignore it. So in honor of Jason’s fine ‘thon, I’m dusting off this post from September of ‘07, originally written for Goatdog’s William Wyler blogathon. Enjoy and marvel and at just how irrelevant the term “neocon” is starting to become. 

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It’s silly to look for one-to-one allegories to historical events in most movies. It’s even sillier to see direct parallels to recent events in a western made 47 years ago. But, to wax Rumsfeldian, my goodness gracious but it’s hard to ignore the anti-neoconservative stance of The Big Country. Even if director William Wyler, producer/star Gregory Peck, and a passel of writers had no idea we’d ever be going to war with Iraq, neoconservatism was a going cause even then. The virus may have mutated some since the Cold War, but the disease looks pretty much the same.

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It’s pretty hilarious.

For the most part I think it’s not cool to judge people morally by their politics, but what can you say about somehow who’d say this:

[On his vision of a McCain Presidency] “Less taxes and more war,” he said, smiling. He said the U.S. should “bomb the hell” out of Iran because the country threatens Israel.

Asked by the interviewer how America would pay for a military confrontation with Iran, he said the U.S. should take the country’s resources.

“We should plant a flag. Take the oil, take the money,” he said. “We deserve reimbursement.”

And there’s this:

He said an attack on Iran was needed to protect Israel, and he offered how it could be accomplished through “strategical airstrikes.”

“Hopefully, just bomb the hell out of them from the sky. No troops,” he said.

Just for the record, I’m not now nor have I ever really been a pacifist, but if you think war is a game,  you’re either a child, an ignoramus, a moron, or a sociopath. Choose one. Hard not to sympathize with his no doubt attractive and (assuming she doesn’t get caught) clever thief.

Two notes: What’s a male Republican delegate doing with $4,000 earrings? I certainly didn’t see that much of the punk/Eurotrash look at the RNC on my TV screen. And, Bushian as it sounds, “strategical” actually turns out to be a word. Why?

h/t David Kurtz at Talking Points Memo.

Updated: Via my favorite recovering Republican, John Cole, I have found video evidence of the interview above. Well, at least the guy smiles. Still, I’m disappointed by his earrings. For $4,000, I expect to be dazzled!