When the Times took him on a little over a year ago, smart people freaked out. This was of course cited as the secret intolerance of liberals for differing opinions. But actually, it was mostly because in pursuit of a post-William Safire conservative the NYT mistook “wrong-about-everything” for “right-of-center.” Worse than Kristol’s track record of bombastic inaccuracy is how his father, Irving Kristol, was buddy-buddy with Abe Rosenthal, the father of Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor who hired Bill.
Everyone knows how conservative the Times can be, but clubbiness trumps even that. New York is the Nepotism State.
As his final thought, I love how Kristol said
“It’s been fun,” he said, adding, “It’s a lot of work.”
Yeah, having the choicest perch in all of opiniondom sure is tough! You’re even expected to be right on occasion. Better go back to writing for wingnuts only, because nobody there calls you out when you’re comically incorrect.
Like from April:
But a surprising number of Democrats with whom I’ve spoken expect a McCain victory. One told me he was struck by the current polls showing a dead-even race, suggesting both a surprising openness to McCain among Americans who disapprove of Bush and a striking hesitation among the same voters about Obama.
Then there’s the fact that we’re at war. As a Congressional staffer put it, “Here’s something to consider: Although Hillary will be out in May, she may determine the outcome in November. McCain’s secret weapon — among Clinton supporters — may be Hillary’s 3 a.m. national security ad.”
And an experienced Democratic operative e-mailed: “Finally, I think [McCain’s] going to win. Obama isn’t growing in stature. Once I thought he could be Jimmy Carter, but now he reminds me more of Michael Dukakis with the flag lapel thing and defending Wright. Plus he doesn’t have a clue how to talk to the middle class. He’s in the Stevenson reform mold out of Illinois, with a dash of Harvard disease thrown in.”
Or September, in a column titled “A Star is Born?”
Thursday night, after Barack Obama’s well-orchestrated, well-conceived and well-delivered acceptance speech in Denver, Republicans were demoralized. Twenty-four hours later, they were energized — even exuberant. It’s amazing what a bold vice-presidential pick who gives a sterling performance when she’s introduced will do for a party’s spirits…
I spent an afternoon with Palin a little over a year ago in Juneau, and have followed her career pretty closely ever since. I think she can pull it off.
And this is just amazing:
It’s also hilarious that his final column heralds the end of the era of conservative dominance. What a coincidence. He stops writing for the Times the moment conservatism died. Nothing too egomaniacal about that. Now all that needs to happen is for a plane carrying Michelle Malkin, Sean Hannity and the Big Bopper to crash.
Full disclosure: I have a friend who was expelled from college for being part of a group that pied Kristol. But it’s not like my father and his father baked the pie.
Suck the Rainbow 