Exit Kristol, Pursued by a Bear
Bill Kristol's closing words in his close-out sale column:
Can Obama reshape liberalism to be, as it was under F.D.R., a fighting faith, unapologetically patriotic and strong in the defense of liberty? That would be a service to our country.
It's touching, Bill Kristol's long-deferred solicitude for our battered faith, the one whose promise and prowess have not been exactly improved during the many years he and his mates have spent flaying liberalism as synonymous with cowardice, surrender, elitism, moral squalor, and flagrant near-treason, all for refusing to sign up with the swaggering, know-nothing, ruinous policies and assorted crusades of his heroes Ronald Reagan, Dan Quayle, George W. Bush, John McCain, and oh, by the way, that snappy lady from Wasilla.
Kristol coms to the end of his appointed year on the Monday breakfast table, and an anxious world looks toward the succession. It's probably too much to ask that Pinch Sulzberger now replace him with (a) a interesting writer (b) who isn't a predictable party hack and (c) brings to bear some special knowledge about the world rather than a surfeit of attitude. But note: there are conservatives who fit the bill--CATO's Brink Lindsay and the NYT's own Christopher Caldwell, to name two. Economic knowledge being so much at a premium nowadays, there's also the paper's own Pulitzer-winning libertarian-investigative reporter David Cay Johnston.
If I were running the page, I'd invite applicants to submit a sample column in which they acknowledge a serious error they've made in recent years, and account for it.
Caldwell's columns in the Saturday FT mislead concerning US events about which the actual facts are less known abroad than here.
With the space of a couple of months I had two letters published there refuting him. Given the odds against any letter being published-never mind two- I took that as the paper's implicit acknowledgement they owed their non US readers the correction.
Since I then stopped reading him I can't say whether he continued as factually challenged.
January 26, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Neocon == Trotskyite == Renunciant
January 26, 2009 10:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wish we could see him leave in a helicopter like bush.... It's the applause that's missing here.
The sound of one hand clapping.
I love it!
January 26, 2009 11:12 AM | Reply | Permalink
I assume since BK has never made a mistake, he would be disqualified.
I attempt in good faith to entertain a multiplicity of perspectives on most issues. Kristol is one of a handful of conservative bloviators who test that faith weekly.
It was the toxic cloud smarmy self-confidence as much as the liberal-bashing that kept me from visiting the Times' op-ed page on more than one Monday.
Good bye and good riddance.
January 26, 2009 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
I too have noted Chris Caldwell's factual errors in the Financial Times. But I have a broader question - why does the NYT need another conservative columnist? Why not just get somebody with training in an important substantive area - such as foreign policy or the environment - regardless of ideological background? What makes Krugman worth reading is his detailed knowledge of economics, not his liberalism. The two are often related, but they do not always work in lockstep - consider his general support for free trade, which often conflicts with the left.
January 26, 2009 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
I assume it is penance for being in the starting backfield of the Liberal Media. Sit in the corner and self-mutilate weekly as you renounce your transgressions.
January 26, 2009 12:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
At least for the immediate future, Kristol, neo-con and Conservative ideology are being relegated to the dust bin of history. They had their day in the sun and they failed miserably. The NYT sees this as does any rational person.
Kristol and his ilk will bore back into the woodwork and wait until an opportune moment when they can then produce a fresh message which can be used to again sway an unsuspecting and shallow public.
January 26, 2009 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good idea, now lets get Tom Friedman to do this as a way of justifying his employment.
January 26, 2009 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I don't agree with Mort Kondracke, but I don't think he's nearly as delusional as a lot of conservative talking heads. At least, I've heard him say things that sounded plausible.
January 26, 2009 3:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Mort Kondracke"
Oh, please, Dear Lord, no! Not Morton! Please! I beg!
January 26, 2009 8:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
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March 23, 2011 2:35 PM | Reply | Permalink