Sullivan on Kristol on Palin

This (from Sullivan), a response to this (from Kristol), is brilliant:

Memo to Kristol: you may think Palin is sophisticated enough to grasp the high-level fantasies and abstractions that you have devised in your own head to defend the indefensible. But she isn’t, buddy. She has a degree in sports journalism from the University of Idaho, and went to several colleges in several years. She thinks Leo Strauss is a brand of jeans. She doesn’t have a clue what she’s talking about. Remember: she doesn’t know what the Bush Doctrine is and heard about the surge “on the news.”

This is your lipsticked pitbull, buddy. Own it. And all the immense incuriosity, minimal education, and fact-resistant ambition that comes with it.

I especially like the line about Strauss — you know, being myself an ex-Straussian, or liberal Straussian, or Straussian apostate, or heterodox Straussian, or whatever the hell I am now.

Make sure to read Andrew’s post for context. Basically, Palin, like the neocons and warmongers within and without the Bush Administration, is connecting the Iraq War straight back to al Qaeda and 9/11. Even Bush doesn’t do that anymore. This puts Palin right in with the Doug Feith crowd.

It is Palin who comes across as the “stupid or malicious” one, to borrow Kristol’s phrase, not her critics, who are simply pointing out the truth (and how far removed she is from it).