After having given the McCain campaign lots of advice during the past few months, Bill Kristol today—with only 20 days to go until elections—tells McCain that it’s time for him to fire his campaign, to “junk the whole thing and start over.”
Now, if McCain hasn’t been paying attention to Kristol’s advice, that doesn’t reflect well on Kristol’s influence with McCain. And, if McCain has been paying attention to Kristol, and his campaign is still in such a mess, that doesn’t speak well of Kristol’s political savvy.
Some of Kristol’s past “advice” that comes to mind:
When the $700 billion financial “bailout” was being discussed, Kristol was “not convinced” about the appropriateness of such a plan, and, in considering alternatives for McCain, Kristol mused in “A Fine Mess”:
Or McCain — more of a gambler than Obama — could take a big risk. While assuring the public and the financial markets that his administration will act forcefully and swiftly to deal with the crisis, he could decide that he must oppose the bailout as the panicked product of a discredited administration, an irresponsible Congress, and a feckless financial establishment, all of which got us into this fine mess.
Critics would charge that in opposing the bailout, in standing against an apparent bipartisan consensus, McCain was being irresponsible.
Or would this be an act of responsibility and courage?
As it turned out, McCain supported the bailout—sort of.
During the same period of frantic political posturing, Kristol claims in “How McCain Wins,” that
McCain’s impetuous decision to return to Washington was right. The agreement announced early Sunday morning is better than Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s original proposal, and better than the deal the Democrats claimed was close on Thursday. Assuming the legislation passes soon, and assuming it reassures financial markets, McCain will be able to take some credit.
As it turned out, McCain’s “impetuous” return to Washington (after canceling his appearance with David Letterman, and after having a leisurely interview with Katie Couric); his “suspension” of his campaign; and his threat not to show up at the second Presidential debate, did not seem to go over very well with the voters.
Whether McCain was able to “take some credit” for the bailout package, is debatable.
In the same column, Kristol urges McCain to “liberate” Sarah Palin “to use her political talents and to communicate in her own voice.”
Kristol writes:
She should spend her time making the case for McCain and, more important, the case against Obama. As one shrewd McCain supporter told me, “Every minute she spends not telling the American people something that makes them less well disposed to Obama is a minute wasted.”
The “liberated” Palin did indeed start to vilify Barack Obama, using the guilt-by-association technique and, referring to Bill Ayers, accused Obama of “palling around with terrorists.”
Well, we know how well that has worked. It has worked so well that loud, angry McCain-Palin supporters forced McCain to calm the crowds down and to reveal to them that Obama is not a terrorist, not a Muslim, not an Arab—just a decent American who differs with McCain on the issues.
Not satisfied with Palin’s use of Ayers for her guilt-by-association campaign, Kristol, in the same column, also urged both Palin and McCain to use yet another smear card:
The most famous of these is the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and I wonder if Obama may have inadvertently set the stage for the McCain team to reintroduce him to the American public.
A week later, in “The Wright Stuff ,” Bill Kristol writes:
I pointed out [to Sarah Palin] that Obama surely had a closer connection to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright than to Ayers — and so, I asked, if Ayers is a legitimate issue, what about Reverend Wright?
She didn’t hesitate: “To tell you the truth, Bill, I don’t know why that association isn’t discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country, and to have sat in the pews for 20 years and listened to that — with, I don’t know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn’t get up and leave — to me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up.”
Kristol also writes, “And I guess we’ll soon know McCain’s call on whether he wants to bring Wright up — perhaps at his debate with Obama Tuesday night.”
I guess Kristol was very disappointed last Tuesday night that McCain did not listen to him—again.
And we now have come full circle to Kristol’s “junk the whole thing and start over” exasperation and desperation.
In this latest Mother of All Advice, “Fire the Campaign,” Kristol now advises McCain and Palin to drop the nastiness, ugliness and grouchiness—drop the attacks on Obama—and start “running as a cheerful, open and accessible candidate. Palin should follow suit. The two of them are attractive and competent politicians. They’re happy warriors and good campaigners.”
And, of course, Kristol regurgitates his protect-the-wildlife-sounding “Set them free.”
Kristol also advises:
“McCain should stop unveiling gimmicky proposals every couple of days that pretend to deal with the financial crisis. He should tell the truth.” (Wow, why hasn’t Kristol suggested such a novel approach before?)
And finally, the shocker:
At Wednesday night’s debate at Hofstra, McCain might want to volunteer a mild mea culpa about the extent to which the presidential race has degenerated into a shouting match. And then he can pledge to the voters that the last three weeks will feature a contest worthy of this moment in our history.
Note to Bill Kristol: McCain hasn’t paid much attention to your suggestions in the past. Don’t hold your breath on this one.
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.