Bill "PNAC" Kristol isn't nuts. He just exists in some kind of parallel universe where the world isn't necessarily a "globe". Kristol's opinion piece in the October 22 issue of the Standard was strange indeed -- reading it, I was alternately squinting ("Huh?") or shaking my head ("Unreal..."). Republicans are too gloomy, he says, when the future's so bright they oughta be wearing shades:
"Republicans are downcast, depressed, and demoralized. Bush is unpopular. Cheney is even more unpopular. Scandals continue to bedevil congressional Republicans, and it's hard to see the GOP taking back either the House or Senate in 2008. History suggests it's not easy to retain the White House after eight years in power (viz. the elections of 1960, 1968, 1976, and 2000). And the Republican presidential candidates seem problematic, each in his own way.""...And then Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize. It's too much to bear. Well, fellow conservatives--grin and bear it. And cheer up!" [...]
"Have you noticed we're winning the war in Iraq--despite the assurances of Democrats, including their Senate leader, that the war was already lost?"
So, that's in spite of everything retired General Rick Sanchez recently said about Iraq (and he was there), where he tore everyone in sight a new one using uplifting, optimistic phrases like "No end in sight" and "endless nightmare". In BK's parallel universe, where "no end in sight" apparently means "We won! We won!" and "endless nightmare" means "Victory, time to start the next war!"
It would actually be pretty funny if this guy didn't for some bizarre reason have some influence. But he has a point about the depression of his "fellow conservatives" -- it would certainly explain the seething rage that makes them to think it's okay to beat up on 12-year-olds.
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