Grrr... 'Bill Kristol’s Appalling Attack on Occupy Wall Street' - Eliot Spitzer/Slate

[WillyT]

Bill Kristol’s Appalling Attack on Occupy Wall Street
His despicable TV ad tars OWS as an anti-Semitic movement.
By Eliot Spitzer | Slate
Posted Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, at 12:28 PM ET



<snip>

Is that the best Bill Kristol can do? Kristol, the Fox News commentator, founder of the Weekly Standard, and instigator of much of President George W. Bush’s foreign policy, is behind the “Emergency Committee for Israel,” an entity that’s leveling cheap, base, and demagogic attacks on those supporting Occupy Wall Street . ECI is running a television ad on cable news networks and YouTube featuring President Obama, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and me making statements supportive of OWS. My view, just to be clear, is that OWS has focused our attention on numerous economic issues that had somehow been lost because of the recent, single-minded focus on deficit reduction. The issues of joblessness, poverty, the growing plight of the middle class, and the inequitable distribution of wealth had all been essentially ignored. Several decades of misguided libertarian/neo-con policies bred not only the economic cataclysm of 2007-08 but also equally damaging long-term social problems.

But ECI says supporting Occupy Wall Street is to support “hate.” Try that again? By splicing hate-filled anti-Semitic statements that may or may not come from individuals hanging out on the fringe of the Zuccotti Park protests together with Nancy Pelosi’s, President Obama’s, and my supportive statements, ECI and Bill Kristol are trying to argue that Occupy Wall Street equals Obama and Pelosi equals anti-Semitism. They’re insinuating that support for OWS is the same as support for hate. (Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch—a recent ally of Kristol on Israel issues—has also written supportively of OWS: Why doesn’t he appear in the ad?)

What Kristol and ECI are doing is the oldest and cheapest game played by those who have nothing to say that actually responds to the real issues. They try to change the topic. And in this case, they don’t just try to change the topic, they do so in a way that attributes venomous and heinous views to those with whom they disagree. To associate sentiments such as those shown in the ECI ad with President Obama and Nancy Pelosi (or me) ought to be beneath even Bill Kristol.

So why are they using such tactics? Because they really can’t confront head-on the concerns articulated by OWS and shared by a significant percentage of the population: the concerns that our social contract is broken, that we bailed out the wrong folks and got nothing back, and that we are now being told by a self-satisfied and enriched plutocracy that the crisis is past. OWS supporters know something is wrong when banks have been bailed out but mortgage reform is still not being embraced meaningfully by the administration; when corporate profits are at a record level but joblessness is stagnating at 17 percent of the population; and when median family income has fallen 6.7 percent in just the past two years even as CEO compensation is reaching near-historic levels. These are complex issues: Addressing them head on in a serious way, as supporters of OWS want to do, is admirable and necessary. (To see a powerful presentation showing the demographic and economic shifts over the past several decades that have caused this growing frustration, visit Henry Blodget’s Business Insider.)

<snip>

More: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_best_policy/2011/10/bill_kristol_and_occupy_wall_street_his_despicable_tv_ad_tars_ow.html

:mad:

:kick:

[Warpy]

1. It's probably why they all got together and planted that LaRouche nut

out on the fringes of the park in the first place. Since OWS has been superior to anything their packs of dummies have come up with, they had to tar them from the outside.

I knew they'd all see the picture of that scum sucking shitbag and tar the whole protest with him and his stupid signs.

[WillyT]

2. I Don't Know If It's The Same Guy, But...

according to Cenk Uygur, that guy has been downtown spewing that crap for the last ten to twenty years. I guess he's sort of a fixture, and a couple cans short of a six-pack.

:shrug:

:hi:

[underpants]

3. I want to take Kristol to Vegas

Any time I am a little hesitant about what to bet on I would ask Kristol.
Whatever he said to do I would do exactly the opposite - that legacy asshole hasn't been right about anything his entire life.

Dick Morris would also be great but the ladies tend to get dressed up in Vegas and that means open toed shoes....so Dick wouldn't be all that focused.

[underpants]

4. .

duplicate post

[DaveJ]

5. Well he is almost right about the "hate" statement

What is he, like the East Coast Limbaugh? I'd say hate comes pretty close to how I feel about the likes of these types of people.

I'm surprised Slate even bothered giving this much thought to the guy. It is obvious, everything about him, his career, education, even his photo, that he only cares about himself. Jeesh, in his photo he's even pointing to himself.

[ThoughtCriminal]

6. There is one absolutely certain way to know if you're right

about anything. Find out what the "Amazing Kristol" thinks and assume the opposite.

[Chih]

7. "So why are they using such tactics?" Because this is business as usual on

all sides of the political spectrum.

Teabaggers and Republicans are racists, Libertarians are dope-smoking anarchists, OWS and Democrats are anti-Semitic.

It's all about influencing ignorant and apolitical individuals.

[Prometheus Bound]

8. Bill "warmonger" Kristol -- Libyan war cheeleader

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/03/13/150322/kristol-war-libya/

[Whisp]

9. scum sucking lizard.

waste of human skin.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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