In this week's Weekly Standard, Bill Kristol takes the opportunity to tell us that everything's right with the world that George Bush made. The war in Iraq is going great, the economy is just super-duper, and all of George Bush's policies are working.
And Clarence Thomas is the happiest guy in the world.
Praise the Lord!
Back in the real world, Clarence Thomas is still a broken guy who drinks deeply from the well of bitterness.
Likewise, the war in Iraq is going almost as badly as ever. The big positive news from the combat zone is that American casualties fell to June 2006 levels last month which would be great if the mission hadn't been failing in 2006 as well. Former Gen. Ricardo Sanchez claims that the surge is a matter of "staving off defeat." But it would be more accurate to say that Petraeus is trying to prevent failure from becoming disaster.
In a sense, that's what William Kristol is trying to do, prevent the current failures of the Bush administration from becoming a disaster for the Republican Party and the conservative movement.
Right now though, I'd have to say that Gen. Petraeus is having more success in staving off disaster in Iraq than William Kristol is having in staving off disaster for the Republicans.
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8 comments:
This is off-topic, but can I get credit for chasing JD away? A simple pat on the back will do. I don't mind dissenting voices or people who disagree with me (my wife can attest that I am not always correct), but JD had shown such a talent for never arguing a point, for belittling and insulting everyone, for being a sensitive hysteric whenever he felt someone was calling him a name, or for exposing himself as a hypocrite on...well, almost everything.
I think I deserve a kudo from someone.
PS Bill Kristol is an infuriating man.
I don't agree with the "chasing JD away" point. I've always thought that it is important to engage the right, partly as a matter of keeping up with the opposition and partly as in the hope of eventually finding some accommodation. I was surprised and glad that some of the conservatives from PW stuck with Red State Impressions after the "weenie boy" debate last summer. It's been a plus for the blog.
So, no kudos?
I agree that having dissent is important and interesting (and often fun), but JD had devolved into an abusive parrot. He rarely engaged in any debate. He made snarky comments and called Todd names.
If he was "engage-able", why didn't you engage him more often?
Mostly a matter of time. I've barely been able to keep up with daily blogging this semester let alone respond to many comments. In fact, I'd like reply in a positive way to more of your comments which are often sharply formulated. I think we disagree about JD. Sure, he did a lot of name-calling and was pretty insulting. But that's pretty much the standard right-wing mode and there were times that he did express the conservative position in a useful way.
Okay, here's what I will do. I grew up in an evangelical home. I was a dyed in the wool Republican until I went to a small liberal arts college near Madison, Indiana. My father still listens to Rush. I listen to Hannity almost everyday and I read Protein Wisdom almost daily (as well as several non-crazy blogs). I also, since the Reds season is over (happened on May 3rd this year, right on schedule), I listen to Michael Savage for a few minutes on my ride home. I am fascinated with the schmucks and keeping them as far away from power as possible.
For all those reasons, I can pretty predictably say what they were gonna say.
Give me the word and I will become the snarky right dissenter (the dissenter role played to perfection on PW). It will be a public service!!!
Bill Kristol is "shrooming" if he really believes what he is saying/writing. It is as if he has created his own little world inside his head where only his words are read and only his will is done.
Perhaps he has done that but the rest of us have to live in the world of facts and you set them forth already Ric:
"The war in Iraq is going great, the economy is just super-duper, and all of George Bush's policies are working. And Clarence Thomas is the happiest guy in the world."
Nice summary of the world Kristol describes. If he uses enough psycidelic substances, perhaps he'll take up permanent residence in "Kristol-World" and stop inflicting his poison of the rest of us.
WOOPS...I MEANT NICE SUMMARY OF BILL KRISTOL'S WORLD..
TIM, MY COMPLIMENTS IF YOU RID US OF THE REDOUBTABLE "JD". MEGA-KUDOS. DEBATE IS ONE THING, THIRD-GRADE INSULTS AND PERSONAL ATTACKS ARE ANOTHER. HE NEVER SEEMED TO UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE.
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