Mr. Sunshine: William Kristol

Uber-neocon William Kristol writes in the Washington Post why history will favorably judge the Bush presidency:

George W. Bush's presidency will probably be a successful one. Let's step back from the unnecessary mistakes and the self-inflicted wounds that have characterized the Bush administration. Let's look at the broad forest rather than the often unlovely trees. What do we see? First, no second terrorist attack on U.S. soil -- not something we could have taken for granted. Second, a strong economy -- also something that wasn't inevitable. And third, and most important, a war in Iraq that has been very difficult, but where -- despite some confusion engendered by an almost meaningless "benchmark" report last week -- we now seem to be on course to a successful outcome.

PAF vaguely remembers this kind of euphoric sense of well-being from the 1970s. But Kristol isn't stoned, he's just full of shit (as he has been all along). Let's take his major points one at a time:

1) No terrorist attack on US soil. While none has been successful since 9-11, Bush's policies have alienated and radicalized huge swaths of the Muslim world, and led to the widespread metastasization of terrorist cells across the world, making future attacks on US soil more rather than less likely. As if that weren't bad enough, the original al Qaeda is making a comeback and poses an increasing threat to the US. The fact that we've been lucky so far doesn't mean the threat has diminished.

2) The economy is great. Sure: for rich people, defense contractors, and right-wing think-tank mavens funded by right-wing rich people and defense contractors. Looking at, you know, the broad forest, we see that levels of economic inequality in this country are at near-record levels. But things look great from Richistan.

3) Iraq. Please. Even the admninistration's own report claims no progress on the crucial political benchmarks which are the only real paths toward a successful resolution of this increasingly monstrous disaster. Americans and Iraqis are dying every day to preserve a status quo in which Americans and Iraqis die every day. Is that progress, or a treadmill?

What a shameless charlatan this man is. Have some more pie, Bill.



UPDATE: David Corn on why Bush is a loser and William Kristol is a monumental douchebag.

UPDATE2: Further Douchebaggery.