-By Warner Todd Huston
William Kristol, Editor of the Weekly Standard, seems to have decided that retreat is the way forward for the Republican Party. In a new editorial that approaches a meltdown, the Fox commentator and consummate Washington insider essentially advised the GOP to just throw in the towel on these fiscal cliff talks and more or less accept Obama’s terms.
In the piece, a dour Kristol detailed all the shock and depression that Republican insiders feel after losing an election they’d all thought was in the bag for team Romney and then went on to complain that the GOP’s legislative scene isn’t any better than its failed electoral scheme.
Even the fact that the Republicans still control the House is cold comfort for Kristol.
Worst of all, Kristol grouses, the GOP has no “proposal for averting the fiscal cliff.”
So, what to do, what to do? Maybe just “acquiesce” to Obama and be done with it?
Might it be prudent for Republicans to acquiesce, for now, to a modified version of Obama’s proposal to keep current income tax rates the same for 98 percent of Americans, while also insisting on maintaining the reduced payroll tax rate of the last two years and reversing the dangerous defense sequester? That deal would be doable, wouldn’t wreck the country, and would buy Republicans time to have much needed internal discussion and debates about where to go next.
I am sure President “I won” would heartily agree.
But Kristol thinks he knows why this won’t happen. It’s Grover Norquist’s fault. Without giving Norquist the satisfaction of actually naming him, Kristol blames Mr. “pledge-master” for preventing the GOP from caving in to President Obama on a timely schedule.
“There’s a pledge, you see, enforced by a stern and precise pledge-master who would be very, very upset if members of Congress were to have the presumption to unshackle themselves,” Kristol grumbles.
Darn it, why can’t our Republicans unshackle themselves from their principles and just sign onto team Obama?
Kristol even took a paragraph to engage in some class warfare ginning up some good old fashioned hate for Mitt Romney because he’s rich.
The Standard’s editor finished up his piece hoping that the GOP could “turn lemons into lemonade” and produce some “moments of opportunity” for 2013 and beyond.
“It’s always darkest before the dawn,” Kristol helpfully reminds readers. I have a feeling that Barack Obama can’t wait for Bill Kristol’s “dawn” to arrive.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that he wrote articles on U.S. history for several small American magazines. His political columns are featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com, BigHollywood.com, and BigJournalism.com, as well as RightWingNews.com, RightPundits.com, CanadaFreePress.com, StoptheACLU.com, AmericanDaily.com, among many, many others. Mr. Huston is also endlessly amused that one of his articles formed the basis of an article in Germany’s Der Spiegel Magazine in 2008.
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