Kristol is displaying a rapidly declining marginal utility in these NYT op-eds, which is saying something given how bad they have been. Each one has been more asinine than the last, and today's, with that most condescending of closing lines, makes me begin to wonder how much longer he will grace the NYT backpage.

Personally, I'd say that Obama's list of of accomplishments makes his more qualified than a man known for killing universal health care, running failed campaigns of such luminaries as Alan Keyes, and cheerleading the biggest foreign policy disaster of the last 100 years.

Obama and his ilk can't explain to the masses in the manner you have just displayed. I know the "buying public" in America is not able to discern nuance but, unfortunately, it's always going to be that way. So, what they'll be able to discern from Kristol's harangue is: Karl Marx/Obama/Communism/Obama is a bad man/commie rat fink.

Bet on it.

why is this guy still getting paid? Does ANYone consider him to be a credible voice?

oooh! Obama's a Marxist! Please, that's an insult to Marxists everywhere ;)

p.s On a more humourous tip:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/31365

... someone ought to forward this article to the Obaman campaign and ask if they are paying attention.

The lesson learned when dealing with the right wing: be control of your message, or they will control you.

Unfortunately, Obama used "some clumsy language" about a group of people who have been willing to vote against their own interests in recent years. Its a group the Republicans have successfully leveraged with fear mongering and bigotry. Barack Obama's comment were dead on accurate, but his "clumsy language" may have doomed his chances.

Obama can't win.

Billy Kristol, who's been wrong on EVERYTHING so far (o.k., I admit to a slight exaggeration -- but can't think of anything where he's been correct). . .

Billy Kristol now resorts to the 50s/60s/70s/80s slur: "Communist."

When the Soviet Union fell, I was SO happy because now right wingers could no longer call everybody they didn't like a communist.

Billy Kristol, the man who's always wrong, has to resort to calling somebody a communist.

LOL!

Lets see, William Kristol is the son of Irving Kristol. Irving Kristol is one of the founders of the whole Neocon debacle. Before he helped begin neoconservatism, he was a diehard Trotskyite. The whole neocon movement is littered with ex-Stalinists and Trotskyites. The Right loves to say that the parents determine the children's political leanings (witness the nonsense Elephantman was spewing about Cokie Roberts to insist she's a Liberal).

I guess this means Will Kristol's neoconservatism is as founded in his dad's hardline communism as the rest of the neocons are.

It is kind of funny when you think about it. The Right Wing was the scourge of the communists back in the 1950s, so the communists took over the Right Wing. Kristol should be careful about calling people Marxists.

Kristol is totally off the mark here, but strangely enough Obama did echo a Marxist idea, one which I agree with. That is, the source of most social coflict is economic. People who have food on the table and enough money in their pockets to live comfortably can learn to get along with others. The anti-Obama statement Joan Walsh made that the black upper class has more in common with the white upper class then poor blacks only proves the point. Unfortuantely the working class in this country has suffered for the last 40 years under presidents that favored corporate wealth over individual needs, and Carter and Clinton are certainly part of that. As Obama stated, this makes them more tenecious and afraid of changes that would make our society more inclusive.

in houses as nice as Obama's. Everyone knows that.

...and I say that Sen. Obama can win.

Personally, I think the GOP Kristol-types will have an easier time getting the least informed voters to believe things that aren't true about Obama than Clinton, particularly in the South, but I know he can win. Never before has the dishonesty of the current Republican party been more glaringly obvious and directly harmful to the majority of Americans.

As long as people like Kristol still dominate the public debate with bull s**t like this Marxist nonsense then there will be an uphill battle to get unhappy voters to see who is really on their side.

If both Obama and Clinton can't make this case in the current environment then Kristol and his ilk will continue to be the gatekeepers of the political debate in this country. That can not be allowed to happen.

Seems to me that Obama has a much better understanding of the people he's talking about than Bill Kristol, or Steve Benen for that matter.

There is a common notion among the so-called elite that it is condescending to call people "bitter". But the deeper question is whether people are actually bitter or not. If you want to answer that question, it is irrelevant to simply dismiss the notion as impolitic. If it is not only true that a wide number of people are bitter, and that they are willing to acknowledge it, then the Beltway critique of Kristol and Clinton is not going to convince anybody.

The widespread disgust among Americans for their ruling class is palpable these days. Dismissing this sentiment as elitist, as Kristol tries to do, is pathetic. By now, it's pretty clear who the real elitists are - it's the people who put all their efforts into serving rich people.

...he's left-handed! That's the hand they use... well, never mind.

No ideology, no matter how "noble" its stated goals, can avoid being corrupted by human nature once it is given too much power.

The Soviets proved that; So have the Republicans.

Dumbasses who believe either party or any of this election hogwash should be looked down upon. Kristol is a con artist and the public is his mark. Why should a con artist regard a mark with anything other than contempt?

If someone tells the public that they are not dumbasses and compiments them on how erudite and perceptive they are, it is a con.

Show me a politician that respects the public and the voters and I will show you someone who is unelectable. Show me a television journalilst that respects his audience and I will show you a television journalist who has no air time and no audience.

Huzzah for Kristol! The only thing that will wipe that smile off of his face is a good tarring and feathering. When that happens, the public will get some respect.

Go ahead, hold your breath, fools.

Three war stooges to choose from:

ObaMOE

HiLARRY

McCURLY.

That is how much respect the public gets. They don't even get the joke.