Those who remain mystified by this, who like the leftist New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd cannot understand how the neocons "slithered back", should also consider the alternative world views. That is, what theories is neoconservatism defeating in the fight for influence?

Here a bit of history helps. Neoconservatism emerged in the Democratic Party as a reaction against two evils (as seen by hawkish Democrats). The first was the Nixon-Kissinger version of realpolitik, which was seen as an amoral policy — the kind of thing that led President Ford to refuse to receive Alexander Solzhenitsyn at the White House. The second was "McGovernism" in their own party, with its urgings to "Come Home, America" and avoid foreign entanglements, based on the view that America would only make things worse by extending its history of supporting repressive, right-wing regimes. As Vaisse correctly put it, because neocons wanted a foreign policy that was both muscular in promoting American interests and moralistic in promoting freedom, "They found themselves battling not only the left wing of the Democrats but also Nixon and Kissinger's realist policy of détente, which included de-emphasising ideological concerns."

Neocons find themselves in the same battle still, and still in both parties. In the GOP, the enemy is the Scowcroftian or Kissingerian realpolitik as well as the new Ron Paul, Rand Paul libertarian isolationism (though Rand Paul protests that he is more a very careful internationalist than a true isolationist). In the Democratic Party, the enemy is the Obama version of McGovernism: the reluctance to use American power, the apparent view that American influence and intervention will always make things worse, the fear of American nationalism, and the almost contemptuous dismissal of democracy-promotion. 

Then there is the "Jewish question". It is clear that many neocon founders were Jews, but equally clear that many who were over the years champions of neoconservative ideals, from Henry M. Jackson and Jeane Kirkpatrick, to George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, were not. A look at the newest generation of neocons (of this, more below) — some of them lesser -known today, but give it five or ten years — also shows people like Liz Cheney, Jamie Fly and Christian Brose who, whatever else they may be, are not Jewish. It is also clear that one of the most unattractive things about the opposition to neoconservatism is its inability to stay away from anti-Semitism. Two of the most frequent and acerbic critics are Pat Buchanan and Steven Walt. Among other things Buchanan's long history of defending Nazi war criminals and denying aspects of the Holocaust led the late William F. Buckley Jr. to write in his magazine National Review: "I find it impossible to defend Pat Buchanan against the charge that what he did and said during the period under examination amounted to anti-Semitism." That judgment stands. Walt is a Harvard professor and co-author of The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, which says American support for Israel cannot be explained except by pressure from Jews who cleverly manipulate American foreign policy; not coincidentally the same charge made against neocons.