Bill Kristol = George Costanza

Methinks that Hillary Clinton's unexpected surge in New Hampshire is attributable entirely to Bill Kristol's inaugural column in Monday's New York Times. Call it the "Kristol factor." He's always wrong. Once again -- it took only a day -- he proved that his powers of prognostication are just not very keen:

Thank you, Senator Obama. You've defeated Senator Clinton in Iowa. It looks as if you're about to beat her in New Hampshire. There will be no Clinton Restoration. A nation turns its grateful eyes to you.

How should we make sense of Kristol's blustery blundering? With respect to his infamous warmongering campaigns gone awry, one should probably draw upon classical sources: his tragic moral blindness is surely Oedipean. To explain his recent emergence as a bungling Times columnist, one is first tempted to look to Marx's Eighteenth Brumaire ("Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce."). But then again, Kristol surely doesn't rate such high-minded treatment.

Rather, lowbrow and irreverent comedy seems now to be the right register by which to make sense of Kristol's unwittingly self-parodic place on the national stage. Remember the Seinfeld episode "The Opposite," in which George Costanza realizes that all of his instincts in life have been wrong? The current parallel to that script is striking in another way as well: George miraculously snares his dream job with the Yankees (though he eventually botches that, too).

Don't expect Forbes Magazine to be hiring Kristol as a stock analyst anytime soon.

Comments

[poopdeck]

Sir. All exit polls indicate that it was the women of New Hampshire who, in their infinite wisdom, stopped the Obama tank. Kristol Schmistol, my foot.

[adzeman]

I would love to take Kristol to the track, have him make his pick and make a field bet on the rest. Small return sure, but guaranteed money.

Love the article, but comparing him to Costanza is giving him too much credit. While his self-image is of some sort of patrician fascist, in reality he is only a well spoken Archie Bunker.

[magen]

It's not even possible for Kristol to ACCIDENTALLY get something right.

There should be a superhero action figure of him called: WRONGMAN!!!!!!!! The only man in history to be wrong about everything 100% of the time.

[Joseph A. Palermo - Huffpost Blogger]

Well said!

[realpolitic]

And so sad - on Fox News he is viewed as an oracle. He, as other conservatives, always stay on their feet as long as they remain ideologically pure. Scooter Libby remained ideologically pure and is coasting toward a pardon. Rabid conservatives are an incestous breed.

[speakeasy]

I think Kristol, Faux News and the repubs are doing everything in their power to make sure that Hillary wins the nomination. Reverse phsycholgy, empathy, whatever it takes. They know that Hillary is unelectable and want her on the ticket.

[nonbeliever]

100% correct to say Kristol has been wrong every single time. But not George Costanza wrong. George Costanza messed up his own life and at least a few times did realize that he was wrong about everything.
Bill Kristol helped America go to war. How many dead Americans? Iraqis? Bill Kristol has never been wrong in his own mind, and never right in anything he has said or predicted. I don't laugh when I see Kristol. I just think of the death and destruction he has so happily help occur.

[cw9580]

HA! George (Costenza/Kristol) has a bi-polor twin - Mr. Oblivious. How else can you explain a total screw up sporting a SH....eating smirk as though he's smarter than everyone while being so wrong. the NYTimes continues to lose cred - not just that Kristol's ideas are offensive - they are dangerous. Kristol's neocon philosophy is based on lies too numerous to count.

Get the hook!

[JimSullivan]

Hi John:

I wish all of these pundits were required to publish prognostication scorecards next to their columns.

The idea that Kristol is worthy of anyone's attention, least of all that of the NY Times readership, is more than horrific than farcical.

Jim

[TAC]

Just yesterday I was thinking about Bush and "The Opposite". ALWAYS wrong...