For what reason I have no idea, I ended up tuning to Fox News Sunday this afternoon while I was playing on my old 486 computer (those ancient games are still fun!). Chris Wallace was surprisingly mediocre (rather than horrible) in speaking with one of the right wing hacks... er, Swift Boat Veterans for the Truth. Although he was not nearly as inquisitive as Chris Matthews the other day when he demolished both Larry Thurlow and Michelle Malkin, he did manage to point out the many contradictions in the Swiftvets claims.

At the end of the program, a traditional Fox News panel (a neoconservative, a conservative, two non-partisan reporters and the moderator) was featured. I usually turn the program off before getting to this type of segment (nothing frustrates me more than the combination of moderate reporter Mort Kondracke and extreme right wing partisan Fred Barnes on a similar program, "Beltway Boys", or wimpy quasi-liberal Alan Colmes and uber-conservative Sean Hannity on "Hannity and Colmes"), but as I was engrossed in a rousing game of "A Train" (a 1993 Maxis release), I decided that I would be able to bear listening to the partisan drivel, perhaps for a few minutes at least.

The main topic that they spoke about, of course, was the "controversy" over the Swiftvets (I still don't understand how a few obvious liars attempting to rewrite history is a controversy). While most agreed that John Kerry's service was admirable in Vietnam and that the record that has stood for 35 years speaks for itself, the interminably idiotic William Kristol emphatically proclaimed that Kerry's account of saving Jim Rassmann has been obviously contradicted.

I stopped playing for a moment, because I thought I had heard Kristol misspeak. Perhaps he had mistaken this event for another, or the obviously contradicted accounts of some Swiftvets with the real memories of John Kerry and his actual crewmates. Kristol, never to be outdone in naked partisanship (maybe afraid to have his role usurped my Malkin given her "stellar" performance on Hardball), repeated the claim again, so I'm guessing it was no mistake.

I have no problem with people cashing in on the fame and prestige of their relatives, as everyone--from regent to pauper, aristocrat to peasant, Republican to Democrat, Bush to Kennedy--has done it in the past. Where I take offense, however, is when someone as obviously unintelligent as William Kristol attempts to carry on the mantle of his father, Irving Kristol.

Although I may not have agreed with much the elder Kristol opined, at least he carried true clout, having been one of the founders of the neoconservative movement along with others like Norman Podhoretz. A reformed Trotskyite, his ideas fundamentally reshaped American politics (whether you agree with them or not).

The younger Kristol's record is far less impressive. His main accomplishment in life has been creating The Weekly Standard (I know... The Weekly sub-Standard) with another neocon using his own father's credentials, John Podhoretz. Also included in Bill's second-rate resume (from Wikipedia):

• Running Alan Keyes tremendously ineffective 1988 run for Maryland Senate.
  
• Being "dubbed 'Dan Quayle's brain' by The New Republic upon being appointed the Vice President's chief of staff." (I think that one really hurts)

Now that I've gotten all of this frustration off of my chest, hopefully I will remember in the future never again to watch Fox News (even while playing on an antiquated computer). What is more, I hope you will pay heed to this warning: If you wish neither to be aggravated nor to lose countless brain cells by watching mind numbing "discourse," DO NOT WATCH FOX NEWS.

PS: Perhaps under the Kerry Administration, the new Surgeon General will require such a warning to be placed on all Fox News content, like what is mandated for all tobacco products.