Leading Conservative thinker and FOX News resident right-wing pundit, William Kristol made a daring appearance on the Daily Show last night. While I always love to watch Mr. Stewart grill hypocritical righties with intelligent humor and intensely backhanded compliments, I found it was both satisfying and disturbing at the same time.
For those of you who don’t know Kristol, he’s the son (or spawn) of what many consider to be the Godfather of the modern conservative movement. He rose to his own heights (as a member of the top-tier) becoming editor of The Weekly Standard (ultra conservative rag) and a player in many think-tanks, including the Project for a New American Century (you remember, the guys who said a Pearl Harbor like event could be manipulated to get America into a war with Iraq). He is a self-described Neo-Con who has actively called for a War in Iraq since Bush I called of the dogs in 1991. To me, he is everything that is wrong with America as he represents the war-hawks, the industrialists, the wealthy elite and he gives fuel to the religious whack-jobs as well. He is widely regarded as not only an enemy, but a leader of enemies against Progressives, Liberals, Democrats and common sense advocates of democracy.
Seeing him under Stewart’s seat of heat was not only enjoyable, it was enlightening and telling of the times to come. Kristol defended the Iraq War and Bush with an almost fervor that Jon Jon turned right back in his face. If this is truly a leader of conservative ideology than I feel emboldened. Had I lost my mind and become monstrously wealthy I would be one disappointed and worried Republican. Kristol’s attempts to look decent and human fell flat as his true, backhanded and mean spirited nature came to light. He was caught off guard by Stewart’s bold challenge to the Surge propaganda, even calling his naïve beliefs that the insurgency was joining the U.S. “crazy†attributing the success more to a desire of Iraqi Sunnis to get the U.S. to go home. This not only checks out with the facts on the ground that I see trickling out of Iraq every day, it is far more plausible to believe people will act out of self-interest rather than some ideological embracing of the United States, the same people who have bombed their cities and killed their children. They’ve said stuff like this before remember? “They will greet us as liberatorsâ€.
Kristol is in serious denial, Jon Stewart only made it more obvious. What disturbs however, is the fact these guys will send thousands of people to their graves just to prove a point. They seem out of touch with humanity and reality. How did these whack-jobs ever get into a position of power?
What I love about Jon Stewart is he asks the questions we all wish someone would ask. Kristol, a die-hard defender of Bush and his Iraqi tied legacy, tried to say with a straight face that history will prove Bush right. Stewart said, well isn’t saying that history will be his judge equitable to saying “the present thinks I’m an asshole.†He hammered him on the war, citing the Rand corporations scathing report on the failure of Iraq, hammered him on torture, getting him to speak out against it (especially since McCain is a big anti-torture guy. Being tortured has that effect I guess). Kristol shot off a series of the so-called successes of the Bush Administration. As the audience chuckled and booed, I couldn’t help but fell the same way, that Bush’s great successes sound more like failures.
Another thing I found interesting was Kristol’s embracing of John McCain. While the powerful and influential conservative did not seem very excited about the man, he is clearly towing the line, which I suppose is somewhat expected. It is the phony populists and religious right that are the most upset about McCain and Kristol comes from the aristocratic Republican faction. With mediocre support from the conservatives and anger on the side of the religious, the lack of unity on their side may help to prove what Republicans actually stand for: unbridled capitalism and oligarchic rule. They may pretend they care about the people when it suits them; however the true heart and soul of the Republican Party lies in maintaining power in the hands of the few.
Watching Kristol up there last night made me hopeful. His weak and tired logic was as unconvincing as it was flat out wrong. As the whacko right-wing faction collapses under the weight of its own failures, a new Progressive movement is gaining momentum, reaching out to the independents and realigning the American political process away from the industrialists and towards the vast majority of disenfranchised and upset Americans. A period of great reform is upon us.
It’s about damn time!
Bill Kristol hit in the face with a pie.