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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAgreeing with Bill Kristol is not good for my mental well being, but...
... he is not wrong...
Link to tweet
Exactly this.
Buckle said, in his dogmatic way: Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas.
Heh. Lowest class indeed...
Wounded Bear
(58,442 posts)The petty vindictiveness of Trump has infused the entire Repub party, it would seem.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)and punitive than moderate cons and far more than liberals, the stronger the conservative personality the more extreme. And today's Repub governments are full of strong conservatives.
Those in power have a very long, documented record of going after those who cross them. Not just as a political deterrent, but notably to meet their own need for vengeance and to feed their "red in tooth and claw" voters. Remembering W/Cheney's treasonous "outing" of Valerie Plame after her ex- ambassador husband reported no WMD; she ran undercover agents in African nations, and we'll never know how many died or are in living-hell prisons to this day as a result.
Others less visible have been railroaded into prison here, and insiders are concerned that could happen to the whistleblower if the Trump admin decided to go after him/her with the espionage laws.
Maxheader
(4,366 posts)Military..Business..politicians..theater...Tellin it like it is..the leader of the free world is batshit insane..
But stumpy gives the 1%ers huge tax breaks..so all that other stuff is just lib talk..
It just slides off its back...kristols comment will too..
Cary
(11,746 posts)Bill is new to the realization that he was part of a fascist movement. I do not forget. Bill's heart may be in the right place but his head was up his ass. Did he object to The Southern Strategy? Did he object to "creation science?" Did he condemn Iran-Contra? Whitewater? Pizzagate? Birtherism? The Reagan welfare queen myth? Willie Horton? Swiftboat Liars?
It is a problem when a group is unconstrained by facts and logic. Does Bill own his role in that?
Arkansas Granny
(31,484 posts)not_the_one
(2,227 posts)He wanted, and helped, another Pearl Harbor type event to happen.
He may be saying critical things of the turd now, but, more than likely, we wouldn't HAVE the turd if he and his group had not been successful.
I will NEVER forgive him for that. NOR Cheney.
wisheswerehorses
(1 post)Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin!
Cary
(11,746 posts)The last three elections show us that we don't need Bill Kristol.
If he is going to contribute in a constructive way that's great and I do applaud his efforts. But first of all we need to know that we can do it without him, because we must be confident and strong. And he needs to have humility and to know that we know that we can achieve our goals without him. He needs to know that because it is the truth.
Bill Kristol needs to commit to the truth for his own soul, not ours.
As long as we have our confidence and he has his humility I can believe that perhaps he has evolved.
Roy Rolling
(6,856 posts)Sometimes ex-smokers become powerful forces for reducing tobacco use. Not everyone will quit and some who quit take up the habit again.
But mocking and ostracizing ex-smokers from the tobacco reduction conversation isnt ever useful.
For now, Kristol gets my praise and I withhold my words of judgement and condemnation about his past.
Because he is speaking in coherent, evidence-based sentences. He has obviously been thrown out of the Trump and right-wing camp. There will be many others, lets be more welcoming but vigilant for troublemakers.
Cary
(11,746 posts)I have questions as to who he really is now. Yes I welcome him and others. He now speaks truth and the value of that cannot be over stated. But actually trusting this man is something I am not yet ready to do.
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)He's an asshole. Men like him helped build the electoral environment that gave us Trump. He and David Brooks deserve eternity together in a sulfuric pit surrounded by demons with hot pokers and distressing notions of where to put them.
He can say whatever he wants but he doesn't get to join Team Humanity just because he had a brief moment of enlightenment.
empedocles
(15,751 posts)No?
Act_of_Reparation
(9,116 posts)Not all of them are equally annoying.
Farmer-Rick
(10,072 posts)Now on to getting my son to quit smoking.
Response to Farmer-Rick (Reply #9)
Cartoonist This message was self-deleted by its author.
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,790 posts)Cary
(11,746 posts)Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)Perseus
(4,341 posts)KG
(28,749 posts)yellowcanine
(35,692 posts)pecosbob
(7,511 posts)eppur_se_muova
(36,227 posts)Pluvious
(4,278 posts)maxsolomon
(32,992 posts)Stigginit is central to the Conservative mindset.
Welcome to reality. Stay a while.
DFW
(54,059 posts)Der Zauberlehrling (The Sorcerer's Apprentice), after wailing about being unable to control all the mayhem he has let loose, cries in despair, "Die ich rief, die Geister / Werd ich nun nicht los (The spirits I have summoned, I can now no longer rid myself of them)."
Guys like Kristol never understand what destructive forces they have helped install until it is too late to stop the disaster they have unleashed. Unlike Goethe's Sorcerer's Apprentice, we do not have a head Sorcerer to come help us banish them. Anyone who thinks our next president, whoever it is, can undo the damage with a wave of their magic wand, is about as realistic as Trump's coal miners who thought he would preserve their jobs for eternity and clean up their water to boot.
Skittles
(152,967 posts)and KRISTOL had a big part in making the Greedy Old Pig party what it is today
OAITW r.2.0
(23,862 posts)He has spent decades being a douche bag and lying about the Organized Crime Party? Now, he can't stand to smell the stench he helped create? Fuck him.