No one is more media savvy than Bill Kristol (even if he did land a big belly-flop at the NYTimes). Last night he was Jon Stewart’s guest on The Daily Show:

Bill Kristol bets that Sarah Palin will come on The Daily Show and admits the government can provide first-class health care.

The televised interview was cut. Here, then, the unedited version:

Think Progress watches and finds Kristol saying that the government can run a first-class health care system, “sure it can.” And that the military “deserves it,” but the American people do not.

Ezra Klein says Kristol said things that are the opposite of true:

“One reason the price of health care is going up so fast is because of government programs,” says Kristol. “The price of Medicare and Medicaid have gone up faster than private insurance. That’s well-documented.”

It is true that the growth rates of Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance are well-documented. But the documentation shows the opposite of what Bill Kristol says it shows. The price of Medicare and Medicaid have gone up much more slowly than private insurance. [READ ON]

ADDED LATER — When Kristol talks, people listen parrot. Bill Moyers:

BILL MOYERS:Back then, one of their chief propagandists, William Kristol, urged his party to block any health care plan for fear Democrats would be seen as, quote “…the generous protector of middle-class interests.” Now he’s telling the G.O.P. to “Go for the kill…throw the kitchen sink [at it]…drive a stake through its heart… we need to start over.”

So in lockstep are the Republicans that when strategist Alex Castellanos issued a memo on the battle plan, party chairman Michael Steele echoed it word for word in a speech at Washington’s National Press Club.

Castellanos: “Slow down, Mr. President. We can’t afford to get health care wrong.”

MICHAEL STEELE: “Slow down, Mr. President. We can’t afford to get health care wrong.”