Letters to the Editor
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Bill Kristol: Nepotism in action
Bill Kristol is where he is because of his dad, and his own abilities, meager and lacking as they are, have nothing to do with it.
Robert and Frederick Kagan, who pushed and continue to push the Iraq war, have a father Don, who got them started.
Jonah Goldberg would be running a convenience mart if his mother were not Lucianne Goldberg.
It's amazing how much of the right-wingnut "intellectuals" who are so into "personal accomplishments" are there because of Mommy and Daddy.
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Simple correction is all that is needed!
I can't find a single recent instance of a candidate who ultimately became the Democratic party's nominee in the 2008 primary post Feb 5 losing a primary by this kind of margin.
What's the big deal, people? Get off his back!
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Frightening Liberals
Is it so frightening to Liberals that one of their own-The NYT-should have an espoused conservative on staff? Even a conservative who is 2nd tier? The NYT picked a 2nd string conservative so he would be less a threat and Salon still feels it must have a column condemning the very idea of opposing views. The irony of Liberalism is its need to not hear disagreement.
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While you and James65 spar over whether your charactrerization is accurate...
If Obama believes all this, he's not just a Jimmy Carter-style liberal. He's off in Noam Chomskyland." Obama then had to call Brooks, demonstrate his commitment to hating Hezbollah, and was cleared by Brooks (for now) of the charge of insufficient devotion to fighting Israel's enemies
attention is drawn away from the larger point which is that there is a minimum amout of belligerence necessary in order to avoid complete condemnation from the pundit class. Obama passes the test, but the fact that there is a test and a script that it is necessary to follow in order to pass muster and be allowed to run for the office points to the degree to which we are being controlled by a small, self-interested group that certainly fails to have our country's best interest at heart (let alone that of humanity as a whole.)
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I remember a line from Empedocles of Akragas (windy today)
`Foolish are they who lack farsighted thoughts,
thinking what never was can come to be,
or anything die out and be destroyed.
Whatever age ;~ It's proper character,
and humans who function,
in turn, prevailing as time circles round.
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Glenn @ James65
Glenn, doesn't James65 have a point? Brooks' piece was shockingly pro-Obama, but your column today doesn't really lend that impression.
Sure, Brooks starts the piece by making some points critical of Obama, but these turn out to be like batting-practice pitches that he rather helpfully allows Obama to blast out of the park. I also didn't see anything about Barack having to call Brooks - but I may have missed something?
(I don't disagree BTW that the NYT op-ed page has an appalling lack of diverse outlook.)
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hawkery vs. hackery
"In the short time since he was named an Op-Ed columnist at The New York Times, Bill Kristol has written a series of sloppy, error-plagued and incomparably hackish columns."
So true. Somebody oughta let Kristol know that "hawk" is spelled with a "w" and not with a "c".
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"The irony of Liberalism is its need to not hear disagreement."
...could be more truly said about this administration. One that has brooked so little dissension that we have entered into two ill-advised wars, the second of which was based on lies, and required abandoning the first before it was "won." And yet, they are still not satisfied even after two invasions have not lived up to their promise, and wish to start a third war, just in time for the election, and, for fun, to add one more thing to the list of messes that the next president must face and clean up.
Kristol, for all his mediocrity as a writer, and his lack of prescience as a pundit (as well as his notable errors of fact), still carries quite a bit of weight as an adviser, especially in the GWB administration, where neoconism has truly run amok. Unbelievable, that he still has any foreign policy cred, but it's true.
"Liberals' need" to expose Kristol's limitations is comparable to a Public Health service message.
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siempre the dumbshit
"Is it so frightening to Liberals that one of their own-The NYT-should have an espoused conservative on staff? Even a conservative who is 2nd tier? The NYT picked a 2nd string conservative so he would be less a threat and Salon still feels it must have a column condemning the very idea of opposing views. The irony of Liberalism is its need to not hear disagreement."
Gezus, clown. You demonstrate the requisit stupidity of today's conservative.
For 30 years, prior to 2004, moron, Bill Safire was the staff conservative. He was a good writer, and not a hack. Of course, there are no conservatives today who are not hacks. And of course for the rest, there are no conservatives who are not stupid. You yourself demonstrate this fact.
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they would not see...
What does truth or fact have to do with being right?
When you are 'right' as William Kristol surely thinks and believes he indeed is then truth and fact are very bendable if not simply disposable.
Such malpractice in most American commerce would be seen and acted upon as criminal in conduct.
Buying a car or house,renting a car or house or seeking out many services from legal to healthcare to lodging in USA present/hold more respect for fact and truth then what Willy Kristol seems capable of or offers with/in his comments,punditry and politics.
That NYTs chose to put this foolish cartoon cutout missionary of 'American neoconism' on the payroll and give him space on NYTs Op-Ed page surely fully illustrating depths to where NYTs has fallen.
It is this arrogance of American ignorance that more and more leads one to conclude that American Empire can not/will not succeed on terms it seeks to employ in this 21st century.
Iraq Debacle fully illustrates where this ignorance seeks to go and be.
That Iran is openly being suggested as next American Militarism target by American neocons should be setting off many alarms yet strangely/oddly is being feted by far too many in too many places. Sample 'Sunday AM News Shows' to see how easily this arrogance of ignorance floats in and about.
Being made blind they would not see.