Batfink's Beep -- 11-23-05

Archive: All Hands on Deck

November 23, 2005

Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard does guest commentary on TV. A lot. He's on Fox as a guest talking head so much that they actually named, and made a splash graphic for, his segments: Kristol Clear. But something is starting to seem wrong about Bill -- to be blunt, somewhere along the way he seems to have become a Bush hater.

I know that it does no administration any good for its supporters to be a bunch of yes-men. Being able to point out problems is what makes us strong as a party and as a nation. But for a supposedly loyal Republican, Bill hasn't had a positive word for the Administration since before the Myers flap, and it's getting to be time someone asked 'What gives?'

Today he was griping because Condi Rice made a statement that we will probably be able to start bringing the troops home soon, what with the final election in December and all. Seems ol' Bill thinks that it is poor tactics to seem to 'agree' with the Dem calls to pull out. Never mind for the moment that she did no such thing, of course; never mind that what she said is such a no-brainer that it hardly needed saying in the first place; and for God's sake, NEVER mind the utter repudiation of the cut-and-run option represented by the House vote in response to Rep. Murtha; Bill's beef was that Bush should have formally announced this important proof of nation-building success, the coming hand-off of the security function to the Iraqis, at the next SOTU.

Are you kidding me? THAT'S worth getting on TV to complain about?

Maybe Bill is just worried that the administration is so on the rhetorical ropes with all the Democrat lies about the walk-up to the war, that every little announcement has to be micro-callibrated for absolute maximum effect. I guess that would be the most benign explanation for this snit. But if he believed that, is getting on TV every 20 minutes to air his gripes to the world the answer? No, that can't be it - Bill's smarter than that.

Maybe Kristol has been a right-wing staple for long enough that he fears he's becoming too predictable, so he's going out of his way to say things that will be seen as boldly independent and contrarian. But if so, he's over-reacting a bit, I think, as well as timing things pretty poorly himself -- mixing it up every now and then to keep folks guessing is one thing, but becoming a consistent basher of your own side's president in wartime, and when he's already facing unprecedented dishonest partisan attacks from the outparty, is quite another.

Actually, what I really fear is going on, is that Mr. Kristol may have learned an entirely wrong lesson from the Myers withdrawl. After the Bush reversal on Myers, facilitated (some say 'forced') by a concerted effort on the part of the right wing punditocracy and grassroots to make clear that Bush was passing up too important an opportunity here, the major pundits could be forgiven for taking it as a personal victory. After all, it was a stunning and magnificent show of political will by the Bush base, to hold the President to the first principles of the conservative cause. It was a smashing success. But successful shows of force often have the unfortunate side-effect of encouraging the power-hungry. Bill seems to have gotten the impression that he can keep the victories coming by riding herd on the administration 24/7. In other words, he sees it as an opening to raise his own profile as a power-pundit. I hate to say it, but I think that this is what's driving Kristol.

At almost any other time, it wouldn't matter so much, but at a time, as I said earlier, when there is a concerted, and very nearly successful effort to pull off a big-lie strategy against a wartime administration, we could use his help. Even if his heart is in the right place, Mr. Kristol might want to give some thought to his own tactics, and re-join the fight. Now's not the time to be an irritant.

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