Kristol Reveals Repug's Secret Plan - Raise Petty Objections, Distract, Break Obamamentum

[jefferson_dem]

Kristol Reveal's GOP's Secret Plan

Remember when Mike Shaffer wrote that Bill Kristol's column was "immensely useful" because he was "shunning the responsibilities of a public intellectual and instead writing an amoral column that might have been drafted by a paid political operative of the sort Kristol used to be"? This is the kind of thing he was talking about:

should do their best not to permit Obama to rush his agenda through this year. They can't allow Obama to make of 2009 what Franklin Roosevelt made of 1933 or Johnson of 1965. Slow down the policy train. Insist on a real and lengthy debate. Conservatives can't win politically right now. But they can raise doubts, they can point out other issues that we can't ignore (especially in national security and foreign policy), they can pick other fights -- and they can try in any way possible to break Obama's momentum.

Here Kristol is reprising his role in the 1994 health reform debate, when he urged Republicans to oppose reform "sight unseen" rather than work toward a constructive alternative. His current advice is equally disingenuous. Kristol is saying that Republicans should raise objections about the speed of legislation, pick fights, point to foreign policy -- but not because they actually care about the speed of the legislative process or the other fights they're going to pick. It will all be a pretext to stop Obama's agenda.

Is this the kind of thing he should be admitting in public?

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2009/02/26/kristol-reveal-s-gop-s-secret-plan.aspx

[MannyGoldstein]

1. Excellent Strategy

For us.

The polls clearly show that the public is simply disturbed by the Rethuglican bullshit. The more they do, the more they disturb the voting public. The Rethugs keep throwing hand grenades straight up into the air and blowing themselves up.

Great stuff.

[rocktivity]

7. DING DING DING! MannyGoldstein, you're our grand prize winner!

The polls clearly show that the public is simply disturbed by the Rethuglican bullshit...

Or as Obama himself put it, "ENOUGH!" The more "doubts" they raise about Obama, the more they raise about they themselves being better qualified replacements! Go, Rethugs, go, go!


rocktitivy

[tularetom]

2. Actually Boner has more or less stated this publicly from the gitgo

They don't have the votes to stop the programs but they can undermine them by picking them apart and creating fake outrage over things that may or may not actually be in the spending programs (high speed rail from Disneyland to Vegas, millions for mice in San Fran).

Kristol as usual lacks the gene for original thought. He's just parroting the policy already in practice by repuke congressional "leaders". As if these are the best role models he can select.

[lunatica]

3. That Secret strategery again?

The one that we saw through from the beginning and that sunk their asses in the last two elections (2006 and 2008)?

That secret stealth activity?

Bill Kristol = :silly:

[Jennicut]

4. He did such a bang up job picking the VP candidate for the Rethugs

in 2008. He can plan strategy for the Rethugs all he wants...its kind of fun to watch how much he will screw them up.

[demokatgurrl]

5. What secret? That's their modus operandi.

Totally transparent, business as usual.

[bunkerbuster1]

8. Perhaps we can let them think it's really secret?

nah, too complicated. never mind.

[zulchzulu]

6. The Repigs knew they were going to lose big in 2008 last spring

They have been gunning for 2010. They will have a willing mainstream media to help them, but I don't think people will be fooled.

[Arugula Latte]

11. The difference between 1994 and 2009 is: Widespread Internet access

We're not unquestioningly swallowing the mainstream corporate propaganda anymore.

[madinmaryland]

9. Funny, but that is the only strategy they have left and what the entire

repub party has been reduced to. Completely devoid of any initiative.

[ProSense]

10. More

KRISTOL'S ADVICE SOUNDS FAMILIAR....

In his for the print edition of the Washington Post, Bill Kristol offers some advice for his Republican brethren: obstruct as much as humanly possible.

...Obama's aim is not merely to "revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity." ... Conservatives and Republicans will disapprove of this effort. They will oppose it. Can they do so effectively?

Perhaps -- if they can find reasons to obstruct and delay. They should do their best not to permit Obama to rush his agenda through this year. They can't allow Obama to make of 2009 what Franklin Roosevelt made of 1933 or Johnson of 1965. Slow down the policy train. Insist on a real and lengthy debate. Conservatives can't win politically right now. But they can raise doubts.... Only if this happens will conservatives be able to get a hearing for their (compelling, in my view) arguments against big-government, liberal-nanny-state social engineering -- and for their preferred alternatives.

It seems like an odd thing for Kristol to put in writing. Generally, Republicans say they want to at least try to have a constructive role in public policy. Kristol counsels the opposite -- Obama is poised to "make history," so Republicans need to "obstruct and delay." The GOP, Kristol insists, needs to "find reasons" to do. Obstruct for obstruction's sake, and figure out the rationale later.

What's striking is how predictable Kristol's advice has become. This was the strategy Kristol recommended during the fight over the economic recovery package, and more importantly, it was the advice he offered Republicans in the early 1990s, when they confronted the Clinton White House. Indeed, in December 1993, Kristol wrote a strategy memo to congressional Republicans, urging them to "kill" any effort at healthcare reform -- "sight unseen" -- because it would help the Democratic Party.

Jonathan Chait noted this morning, "His current advice is equally disingenuous. Kristol is saying that Republicans should raise objections about the speed of legislation, pick fights, point to foreign policy -- but not because they actually care about the speed of the legislative process or the other fights they're going to pick. It will all be a pretext to stop Obama's agenda. Is this the kind of thing he should be admitting in public?"

more

I like it! The end of the GOP is appealing.

[AtomicKitten]

12. Great! Because that has worked out so nicely for them so far.

:rofl: