Sons of the pioneers

By now, I'm sure everyone has read the stories about the way the Bush administration selected people to work in Iraq. In a profile of "11 jet-lagged, sweaty, idealistic volunteers who had come to help Iraq along the road to democracy," the Washington Post's Ariana Eunjung Cha revealed that all 11 had posted their resume to the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation's website.

A quote from an administration official made it clear that this was not mere coincidence.

Cha gave a lot of attention to Simone Ledeen, daughter of neocon journalist (and Iran-contra figure) Michael Ledeen. Anyone following the news over the past year or so often sees references, in fact, to young and politically connected Republicans from prominent families working on the ground in Iraq.

So why am I mentioning this? Well, I suggest that the left side of the blogosphere start calling these "kids" the "sons of the pioneers."

George W. Bush, of course, calls his $100,000-level fundraisers "Pioneers." If you missed it, Rolling Stone profiled some of them back in April.

Sons of the Pioneers. Sounds good to me.

It's a catchy phrase that people already vaguely know**, and it readily conveys the political meaning.

As a bonus, it suggests the "cowboy" nature of the Bush presidency, and all that it entails.



**Note: You can find the bio of the original Sons of the Pioneers from the All Music Guide as featured on Country Music Television's website:

The Sons of the Pioneers were the foremost vocal and instrumental group in western music, and the definitive group specializing in cowboy songs, setting the standard for every group that has come since.

The group has been together 70 years, doing the same classic western music, and finding replacements from among the "family" of similar musicians.