The offspring of the long-callers grew faster, metamorphosed from tadpoles into frogs earlier, and weighed more when they made that transition, than those of the short-callers.
Fifty years later the European Economic Community has changed out of all recognition, having metamorphosed into the European Union and grown far beyond the original six members.
Mr Podhoretz parted ideological company with them as he gradually metamorphosed from a left-winger into a cold-war warrior and Reaganite fellow-traveller, and he cannot now forgive them for failing to follow where he led.