More

David Latt

David Latt

Posted: September 29, 2008 12:38 PM

William Kristol Grasps at Straws


In today's New York Times (9/29/08), William Kristol writes a provocative article titled "How McCain Wins". The fix for McCain's obviously-faltering campaign is simple: jettison the advisers who are restraining you from attacking Obama. Fire the handlers who have been holding back Sarah Palin. Go on the offensive. Attack, Attack, Attack!

To William Kristol that means naming names: Obama is a "liberal" and Obama used to praise Reverend Wright. That's it. No policy discussion. No laying out of coherent corrections of the Bush Administration's failures or a clear articulation of McCain's policies compared with Obama's.

Unlike his conservative colleagues, David Brooks and George F. Will, William Kristol still regards Sarah Palin as an asset. If he argues that Palin has been held back by fuzzy-thinking handlers, then he still believes she is a force to be reckoned with. She is as first advertised: confident, qualified, politically astute.

Both McCain and Palin, according to Kristol, need to be unleashed. But that doesn't mean set free to constructively debate the important issues of the day. No. All Kristol wants is ad hominen vitriol. Bluster, unsubstantiated accusation, labeling, smearing....

The truth is talking about Kristol isn't worth the effort. He clearly can't argue policy issues any better than the candidates he supports. And, in truth, in the last 8 years, William Kristol has been wrong about virtually every issue he spoke out about.

So who cares what William Kristol thinks? He's obviously as irrelevant to what the country needs as is John McCain.

Follow David Latt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/davidjlatt

In today's New York Times (9/29/08), William Kristol writes a provocative article titled "How McCain Wins". The fix for McCain's obviously-faltering campaign is simple: jettison the advisers who are ...
In today's New York Times (9/29/08), William Kristol writes a provocative article titled "How McCain Wins". The fix for McCain's obviously-faltering campaign is simple: jettison the advisers who are ...
 
 
  • Comments
  • 24
  • Pending Comments
  • 0
  • View FAQ
Comments are closed for this entry
View All
Recency  | 
Popularity
Page: 1 2  Next ›  Last »  (2 total)
07:25 PM on 09/30/2008
Kristol is just being a realist. He knows Mccain has no policies, and no ideas for the future. There's no alternative but to go the "Karl Rove" path.
05:47 PM on 09/30/2008
Kristol is the guy who said that the Iraq war would cost a total of $75 billion. It costs that every couple of months. He is also still waiting for the discovery of WMD in Iraq... His father, Irving Kristol, is sometimes referred to as the father of neoconservatism. The elder Kristol believes that there are different levels of truths for different "levels' of people. Of course the "level" of people who are actually fighting the war his son is so fond of is well below the level of the Kristols, who are free to sit in their ivory towers and call for more treasure, more blood.
photo
MajorKong
If the pilot's good, see, I mean if he's reeeally
02:38 PM on 09/30/2008
At least a broken clock is right twice a day. Kristol can't even match THAT record.
This user has chosen to opt out of the Badges program
09:07 AM on 09/30/2008
Here is a guy, Kristol, who is watching everything he helped create through the Bush Presidency go down the sewer. He is in denial of the repudiation of neocon domestic and foreign policy.
07:11 AM on 09/30/2008
William Kristol ALWAYS grasps at straws.
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
MmeFlutterbye
Mmeflutterbye
02:13 AM on 09/30/2008
David Brooks and George Will care about their reputations whereas Bill Kristol wants to be known as a nasty piece of work. What does he mean that McCain must "begin" to attack Obama? That's all he's been doing for months. It's his only talking point...that and "Noun-Verb-POW"...and other cheap demagoguery..
01:23 PM on 10/02/2008
Yeah but Kristol can get $50,000 speaking fees from rightwing organizations. This was his fee for at least one address he gave to Enron!
Will and Brooks might not get this kind of fee from some of these foundations and entities anymore.
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
dadw5boys
Disabled Vietnam Vet
01:24 AM on 09/30/2008
YOU MEAN THE EX MARINE / EX NAVY CORPMAN WITH 4 PHD'S ? That Rev Wright.

The man who cared for President Johnson as his Pulmonary Care Nurse ? That Rev Wright?

The Preacher will balls to use the Freedom of Speech he has earned ?
photo
egal
Reality disagrees with Conservative assessments
03:40 AM on 09/30/2008
Yeah, see, the problem is, we're not allowed to have black people speak out about the problems in this nation and with certain groups and environments because that means they're unpatriotic.

As opposed to the free pass given to white prachers who condem national leaders as evil and lambaste the Jewish faith and people while being racist, sexist, and selfish.

Wright made th mistake of being born black, and thus all the good he did is washed away, in the eyes of the white, by a few soundbytes the candidate hadn't heard before.

It has to be a color issue; people like Rush Limbaugh flaunt their prejudice and hate and end up with huge audiences of people who believe they are separate and sperior.
HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
WorkingClass
12:34 AM on 09/30/2008
Smirking little punk. He should be in prison.
09:20 PM on 09/29/2008
Wasn't Kristol Dan Quayle's Chief of Staff or something??

THAT really gives him a lot of credibility, doesn't it?????

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
11:28 PM on 09/29/2008
The main thing know William Kristol for is heading the neocon PNAC, and advocating for war with Iraq long before 9-11.
06:36 PM on 09/29/2008
September 29,2008. Can you say President Obama? If the people of this country don't get it now, they never will. There's a group of 500 millionaires attempting to destroy the middle class, led by the House Republicans. My 401k disappeared today. I'm unemployed with serious health problems. My health insurance is gone as of October 31. Obama is my only hope.
06:25 PM on 09/29/2008
This is coming from Dan Quayle's chief of staff, after all.
04:42 PM on 09/29/2008
Kristol is a corporate communist punk who should have been incarcerated for treason years ago but, instead, the establishment makes a media hero out of him.

Archaeologists are going to laugh their asses off at our brain-dead autocratic culture.
04:42 PM on 09/29/2008
Bill Kristol's advice:

RACE
RACE
RACE
RACE
RACE
MUSLIM
MARXIST
RACE
RACE

24/7

Just you wait and see!
04:18 PM on 09/29/2008
How much do you want to bet that William Kristol doesn't work at the New York Times after the election?
photo
HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Egalitare
04:17 PM on 09/29/2008
Kristol advised his fellow Conservatives to oppose "HillaryCare" even before the "Listening Tour" started because if it had even marginal success, it would essentially prove Government could work and begin to rollback the Reagan Revolution.