In Kristol's mind he is never wrong. In the reality-based world he is never right.

Only the Republicans and the Roman Catholic Church, under this benighted Pope (actually they are all benighted) think their institutions become stronger if only the true believers remain.

I suppose if there is only one Republican left, Kristol perhaps, he will think he has won the hearts and minds of the country.

"Not entirely for the reasons I speculated on in the op-ed, I turned out to be right."

This reinforces one of my longtime observations about conservative pundits. They think their readers/listeners are either uninterested in, or too dumb see through them. And in the case of their regular conservative fans, they are correct.

Regardless of one Senator switching, we have three effective parties in Congress today:

(1) The Progressive Democratic Party - for universal healthcare WITH public plan, for energy bill WITH cap-and-trade.

(2) The Conserva-Dems - for private universal healthcare WITHOUT public plan, for energy bill WITHOUT cap-and-trade.

(3) Republican Party - NO! Government = fascism!

The debate between parties 1 and 2 is an essential one, and hopefully will deliver the best solutions for the country.

You could select at random any name from any comment thread on this blog and that person would be a better and more interesting pundit than Bill Kristol. Where's rRk1's newspaper column? When does reidmc get to be on TV?

Mike

For a party that equates government with fascism, why do the RepuGs still have their banners of "Credere, Obbedire, Combatlere" at every RepuG rally?

Shhhhhh! Don't you know that conservatives are trying to make people forget that Sept. 11 happened on Bush's watch? After all, it does no credit to conservatives that the greatest terrorist attack on US soil in US history happened when one of their's was in power. No!

So Kristol "neglects" to mention it. As will dozens of other right-wing pundits. And before you know it, Bill Clinton was president throughout 2001!

"this benighted Pope (actually they are all benighted)" Pope Celestine V may not have been benighted--he was selected because of his reputation for piety and humility and, after only a few months on the job, abdicated because the papacy demanded politcal maneuvering that did not match how he wanted to live. His successor, Boniface VIII, had him imprisoned. Essentially, he was "too holy to be Pope." But not really "benighted."

George W. Bush - The "Edsel Presidency"

The Edsel was introduced amidst considerable publicity on "E Day"—September 4, 1957. It was promoted by a top-rated television special, The Edsel Show, on October 13, but it was not enough to counter the adverse public reaction to the car's styling and conventional build. For months, Ford had been circulating rumours that led consumers to expect an entirely new kind of car, when in reality, the Edsel shared its bodywork with other Ford models.

There is no single reason why the Edsel failed, and failed so spectacularly. Popular culture often faults the car’s styling. Consumer Reports cited poor workmanship. Marketing experts hold the Edsel up as a supreme example of corporate America’s failure to understand the nature of the American consumer. Business analysts cite the weak internal support for the product inside Ford’s executive offices. According to author and Edsel scholar Jan Deutsch, the Edsel "The Bush" was "the wrong car at the wrong time."

Kristol cracks me up. I love how he forgets that the GOP won control of the Senate in 2002 by screaming that Democrats were more interested in politics than in defending America. Kristol was, of course, one of the loudest screamers.

This post reminds me about what happened during the '02 midterms. Post 9/11, Bush and "small-government" Republicans were accusing Dems of being against The Homeland Security department (and pro Osama bin Laden)--a department that Bush and associates actually fought against until they needed to change the subject when the Ken Lay stuff was coming to a head in the media. The cynicism was off the charts, but it worked. Fortunately, such Republican nonsense doesn't seem to have the effect it once had.

Ol'Wrong-Way Kristol is at it again - making water out of wine! -Kevo

Everybody forgets Sept 10th 2001. Conventional wisdom at that time was:

1 - Bush hamstrung by low approval ratings, a hostile congress and a lack of leadership skills.

2 - Consensus was Rumsfield was on his way out the door and would be the first cabinet secretary to resign. The military brass hated him, congress was not fond of him and the press was already writing his political eulogy.

3 - World opinion of the US was declining as Bush pulled out of treaties and treated the rest of the world as provinces of the US.

Absent 9/11 George Bush would have gone down in history as a failed one term President who accomplished very little.

With 9/11 George Bush will go in history as a failed two term President who came closer than anyone since the Civil War to destroying America.

Let's not go overboard here. He did have some early accomplishments. Are we forgetting his noble push for tax breaks to folks that didn't need them?

"George Bush will go [down] in history as a failed...President who came closer than anyone since the Civil War to destroying America."

That's wonderfully put.

under this benighted Pope (actually they are all benighted)
Posted by: rRk1

John XXIII, benighted? You paint with far too broad a brush.

Not entirely for the reasons I speculated on in the op-ed, I turned out to be right. -- Wm Kristol

It's the perfect encapsulation of the story of his life: whenever he happens to be in the vicinity of being right, it's always by accident. If I were to make a film of his accomplishments in this area, it would go something like this:
Little Billy gets in his car, planning to go to X, which, he had been told, is about half an hour away. After driving in circles for about 4 hours and never asking for directions (because he knows where he's going) his car runs out of gas. He calls AAA for help (thankfully, the cell battery is still showing some signs of life). They send someone to tow him to the nearest gas station. As he's pumping gas, he looks up and, across the street... *there is X!!!* He was right! He knew where he was going! He got there, didn't he?

So Kristol "neglects" to mention it. As will dozens of other right-wing pundits. And before you know it, Bill Clinton was president throughout 2001!

Just like they blamed Ruby Ridge on Clinton and Reno.

And don't forget, the late 1990s boom was the result of Reagan's tax cut in 1981! The tax increase of 1993, on the other hand, created the 2001-2003 recession.

As my dad would say, when you keep throwing a whole bunch of horseshit at the wall, eventually some of it will stick.

“If [Hillary Clinton] gets a race against John Edwards and Barack Obama, she’s going to be the nominee. Gore is the only threat to her, then. … Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single Democratic primary. I’ll predict that right now.�
—William Kristol, Fox News Sunday, Dec. 17, 2006

"At the end of the week, the Commerce Department announced that economic growth in the third quarter had been 3.8 percent, suggesting that, thanks in large part to Bush's supply-side tax cuts, our economy may remain strong enough to overcome the twin hurdles of high energy prices and rising interest rates."
-The Weekly Standard, 11/07/2005, Volume 011, Issue 08

"Just four weeks after the Iraqi election of January 30, 2005, it seems increasingly likely that that date will turn out to have been a genuine turning point. The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, ended an era. September 11, 2001, ended an interregnum. In the new era in which we now live, 1/30/05 could be a key moment--perhaps the key moment so far--in vindicating the Bush Doctrine as the right response to 9/11."
-The Weekly Standard, 03/07/2005, Volume 010, Issue 23

It's important to keep in mind that William Kristol is more than a mere pundit or even public intellectual. He is an unindicted co-conspirator.

"Not entirely for the reasons I speculated on in the op-ed, I turned out to be right."

This man is a sociopath. I mean that seriously. He is making the argument that the deaths of 3000 Americans validated his political judgement of months before. Man what a lucky break!

As of course it was for Cheney. It was widely reported that his first demand on Sept 12th was "Gather everything up on Iraq, related or not"

I think there was good evidence Bush and Cheney expected some trigger would allow them to get their war on, that they didn't dismiss 'Bin Laden determined to attack target in US' entirely, but I suspect they were thinking something more on the scale of the Kenyan Embassy bombing. But either way they didn't hesitate to seize the moment..

But at least Bush and Cheney had a goal in mind beyond self-puffery (and world domination is a goal), Kristol is displaying some serious mono-mania here.