WashPost reader asks Bill Kristol: "why should anyone pay attention to you"

[sabra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2007/07/13/DI2007071301490.html

<snip>

Greenbelt, Md.: You have been wrong about every important prediction you have made about the outcome of this war and this presidency -- why should anyone pay attention to you now?

William Kristol: Feel free not to!

...

Alexandria, Va.:"First, no second terrorist attack on U.S. soil -- not something we could have taken for granted."

Ever since I bought this tiger-repelling rock I have not been attacked by a tiger, hence the rock is clearly working.

William Kristol: How about, ever since we started more aggressive surveillance and interrogation, and took the war to the enemy, we haven't had a second 9/11. BUT, I do want to make clear the threat is real, and presumably there will be at some point another attack that gets through...Still, I think it's simply true that if you went back and looked at what experts said after 9/11, they would have predicted more success for the terrorists by now.

...

Arlington, Va.: I presume that you give President Clinton full credit for "keeping America safe" from a terrorist attack in the homeland for the duration of his term, following the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center?

William Kristol: I think neither President Clinton nor the GOP Congress (nor the Bush Administration in its first several months) did enough to go after al Qaeda abroad nor to strengthen us at home. But I certainly supported Clinton's aggressive actions when he took them, e.g., in Sudan and against Saddam in 1998.

...

Alexandria, Va.: Do the anthrax letters not count as a terrorist attack because the targets mostly were Democrats or because you wouldn't be able to use the disingenuous argument of no terror attacks on U.S. soil since 9/11? And as a follow-up, when there is another terrorist attack on U.S. soil, will you use it as an argument to advocate attacking some other countries, or as proof that the Bush administration is incompetent?

William Kristol: I don't think we know the source of the anthrax attacks. If there is another attack--and there are and have been, after all, attempted attacks, I would advocate responding by attacking that group and denying them sanctuary if we haven't done that already. No one can stop all attacks--and my defense of the Bush Administration doesn't turn on this--but I think if Bush has made basic mistakes, it will turn out to be that he wasn't aggressive enough in going after terrorists and their sponsors, not the opposite.

[Mandate My Ass]

1. LOL. Spin, Billy, spin.

Where do these people get the nerve to open their pieholes anymore?

[sabra]

2. seems like the WP allowed some good q's to get through...

[Mandate My Ass]

11. Yes they did. It almost sounds like some DUers got through.

The snark level was right up there but the questions were certainly valid. His answers were the same predictable pap about carrying a big stick.

Too bad the GOP Congress second-guessed everything Clinton ever did or tried to do. I remember them howling about how he was trying to scare everyone about terrorism to deflect from his personal life, yet they were the ones that put his personal life on the front pages.

[NewJeffCT]

15. Orrin Hatch decried terrorism as a "phony threat"

I always wanted to call into Imus when Hatch was on there to see if he stood by that comment after 9/11...

[driver8]

8. This guy either has the biggest set of balls or the smallest brain of any of

the RW mouth pieces. He acts like his shit doesn't stink, but he has not been right on anything!!

[Phredicles]

3. I like how he didn't even bother trying to come up with a counterexample of

an accurate prediction he's made, presumably because he knows there isn't one. And this point Billy Crystal has more credibility as a geopolitical observer than Bill Kristol.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Or Gerson.....nt

[C_U_L8R]

5. Billy needs to go back to selling Pocket Fishermen

and Vegematics

[BonnieJW]

12. That's Ron Popeil

Although they DO look remarkably alike.

[C_U_L8R]

18. ;-))))

[driver8]

6. Why does this idiot still get space in newspapers??

He has been wrong on EVERYTHING!!

[Subdivisions]

7. Suit the mofo up, give him a weapon, and turn him loose on 'em. n/t

[pepperbear]

9. and of course we'll be able to blame the majority dem congress for this...

but I think if Bush has made basic mistakes, it will turn out to be that he wasn't aggressive enough in going after terrorists and their sponsors, not the opposite.

[kenny blankenship]

10. Because it's dangerous to take your eyes off PNAC provocateurs

[Amonester]

13. Decid'Herr busche made many basic mistakes...

But they were not really mistakes for his benefactors/beneficiaries (and that includes Cheney, KBR, etc.). To the contrary, they've all made a gazillion more cash than they'd ever dream to make by robbing the taxpayers blind!

Why is this war criminals' enabler (to say the least) not locked up behind bars already?

[Yavin4]

14. Once People Like Kristol Move Away From Their Fox News Bubble

Their arguments and their logic get torn apart easily and quickly. Fox News is dumbing down conservatives.

[EFerrari]

16. I don't understand why anyone bothers to engage him.

He's an idiot with nothing to contribute to a reasonable discussion.

[BurtWorm]

17. We haven't been attacked so the plan works. But we will be attacked eventually.

Therefore...the plan works?

:wtf: