You may have heard that William Kristol has called for Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele to step down after the latter's comments regarding the war in Afghanistan. I will be saddened if Steele takes this advice, as his mouth is the gift that keeps on giving.
I doubt Kristol realizes how much he shares with Steele in this respect. I listen to Fox News Sunday primarily for the entertainment value Kristol provides during the panel discussion. Here he is on yesterday's program confirming his position on Steele in response to a question from guest host Major Garrett (cue spit-take):
And I think one thing as a Republican I think Republicans can be proud of is that we don't politicize foreign wars ...
And here is the same William Kristol a few minutes later, in his very next comment:
And [Obama will] have to win [the war in Afghanistan], unfortunately, over the doubts and opposition, almost, right, of almost two-thirds of the Democratic members of the House who voted late last week for a timetable to get out, which is really astonishing.
Nine Republicans voted against the president on this. Like 165 or something supported the president. A hundred sixty-five Republicans supported the president and General Petraeus in the attempt to win this war. Sixty percent-plus of House Democrats said, "No, Mr. President, we just want to get out."
Congressional Democrats seem never to have met a war that, when it gets tough, they don't want to get out of.
This is, presumably, an example of a Republican proudly not politicizing a foreign war. To quote Jon Stewart, "Oh, Bill Kristol, are you ever right?"
Posted by cradle at July 5, 2010 1:13 PM