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Kristol ‘Looks Down’ On Majority Of Americans: Calls Them ‘Feckless’ And Unserious»

kristolnh.jpgIn his New York Times column earlier this week, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol decried Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-IL) now-infamous “bitter” comments as being “disdainful of small-town America.” “What has Barack Obama accomplished that entitles him to look down on his fellow Americans?” questioned Kristol.

But on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show yesterday, Kristol himself appeared quite “disdainful” of the majority of Americans who are weary of the war in Iraq, implying that many of them are neither “decent” nor “serious,” but rather “feckless”:

KRISTOL: Every time there’s a little flare up, even if the flare up turns out to be for the better, which is what happened in Basra over the last few weeks, and none the less they go, “oh my God, can’t we get out of this.” So there’s a real weariness. Even amongst some decent people of just you know, it seems kind of there’s no end, there’s no clear, there’s no clarity. … And are we going to be such a feckless country, frankly, that we’re going to waste the sacrifices that have been made, snatch defeat and retreat out of the jaws of success and victory. … I’m moderately hopeful that the country gets beyond the kind of weariness and annoyance about the war and gets serious about the world we live in.

Listen here:

Screenshot

A poll released today by ABC News and the Washington Post, found that “views on the Iraq war have…turned more negative, with six in 10 now rejecting the notion that the United States needs to win there to effectively battle terrorism.” Apparently to Kristol, these 60% of Americans are “feckless,” which is defined as either “ineffective; incompetent; futile” or “having no sense of responsibility; indifferent; lazy.”

Additionally, the poll — which was conducted “after congressional testimony about the war” by Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker — found that the majority of Americans, including an increasing share of Republicans, “say the United States should withdraw its military forces to avoid further casualties”:

Moreover, while Bush remains committed to keeping more than 100,000 U.S. troops in Iraq through the rest of his presidency, 56 percent of Americans say the United States should withdraw its military forces to avoid further casualties. This has been the majority view since January 2007.

On several measures, the poll finds Republicans inching away from support for the war. Among them, a sense that progress in Iraq has stalled has increased 13 points from early March, and the percentages who prefer withdrawing troops over risking more casualties (30 percent) and who think that the battle against terrorism can be a success without victory in Iraq (39 percent) are each at new highs.

Perhaps the question should be asked: What has Bill Kristol “accomplished that entitles him to look down on his fellow Americans?”

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71 Responses to “Kristol ‘Looks Down’ On Majority Of Americans: Calls Them ‘Feckless’ And Unserious”


  1. Daddy-O Says:

    The New York Times will rue the day they gave this man a nickel to write for them.


  2. Fritz Says:

    Feckless??? I have LOTS of feck!


  3. liberal traitor Says:

    The New York Times? What is that? Ever since BK got on board there I have this cognitive dissonance in my mind where I know that reality says that the NYT exists, but I refuse to acknowledge said reality of existence….OH GOD, I’M BECOMING A RIGHTWINGER!!!


  4. Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre Says:

    Another worthless lying right-wing traitor and all-around idiot…


  5. kasinca Says:

    This flat headed, chickenshit, chickenhawk, warmongering cowared would not recognize an incoming round if he had the opportunity. This is the cowardly fascist who wears a lapel pin but would soil his pants if he had to do what he wishes on the real heroes. Why does he get space to spread his lies?


  6. liberal traitor Says:

    Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    Another worthless lying right-wing traitor and all-around idiot…

    You just described almost every member of the Bush Administration.


  7. lokidog Says:

    >>What has Bill Kristol “accomplished that entitles him to look down on his fellow Americans?”<<

    Well, nothing, BUT….

    ..if you’re always on your hands and knees being mounted by GW from behind, wouldn’t you technically be “looking down”?


  8. Cal Malenky Says:

    Lord Farquaad Kristol:
    “Some of you are going to die, but its a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”


  9. MCMetal Says:

    Kristol ‘Looks Down’ On Majority Of Americans: Calls Them ‘Feckless’ And Unserious

    We , the ‘feckless’ people of the United States of America , were serious enough to realize the folly of illegally invading and occupying a sovereign nation that had neither provoked nor attacked us , Billy Boy ; we’ve also been astute enough to have not made predictions for the better part of a half-decade that are completely erroneous and borderline psychotic .

    The question is : Why haven’t you and your PNAC group ?

    Moron………….


  10. Zimzone Says:

    FECK YOU, Billy Krisco!

    Note neither Hannity or Krisco were wearing flag pins in today’s photos.

    That must mean they’re both traitors, right?

    This little shitball has got to be called out by someone. Hate Radio is bad enough, but Krisco & Hannity get WAY too much TV.

    Neocons suck…most anything.


  11. cmac Says:

    Oh, what? An elitist who isn’t a Democrat? I’m shocked.


  12. liberal traitor Says:

    Let’s see, if we assume for a moment that that 6 out of 10 figure applies to all 300 million americans (which it doesn’t, children and all that etc), that means that Bill Kristol thinks his opinion matters more than 180 million people.


  13. PatrickW Says:

    I’m waiting for the day that the citizens of the USA grow enough testicles to purge the neocons. The neocons have not succeeded in their attempt to control our government from the inside. The neocons think their wishes are more important than those of “we the people” and “we the people” allow this little parasite to exist on his bully pulpit. The propagation of change is in line with this country’s beliefs. The attempt to change our policy’s outside the rule of “we the people” is a crime. Let Mr. Kristol get what his ilk so rightly deserve.


  14. moondancer Says:

    How this idiot is held up as an expert even on conservatism is beyond me. One could get very rich betting on the opposite of his pronouncements.
    The highlight of his punditry was getting a pie in the face. He is a walking advertisement against legacy degrees and nepotism.


  15. Leporello Says:

    Obama’s an elitist because he has the nerve to point out the fact that people cling to religion during troubled times. Mr. Kristol, on the other hand, is obviously not an elitist, just a member of the privileged elite. Now I Really understand why people grab torches and farming implements and storm the centers of power! The most nauseating part of this is just how much attention the Liberal Media will pay to it.
    Impeach Cheney and Bush and Save the Constitution!
    Abu Ben Hussein Leporello.


  16. vat694848 Says:

    Americans are weary of the Iraqi war because we were “LIED” too by chicken hawks like YOU. Whatever credibility you had, is long-long gone. Just go away Kristol.


  17. po Says:

    there, my friends, you have real elitism. now let’s get back to making fun of Obama.


  18. RUCerious Says:

    Kristol is wrong. Always wrong. All the time.

    snatch defeat and retreat out of the jaws of success and victory. …

    yeah, like for the last five victorious years. Geebitz, somebody play back a tape recording of his last five years of incorrect assumptions, predictions, pundrity and sheer stupidity to this moron. Or his producers. Please.


  19. RUCerious Says:

    Then, again, he’s not wearing a pink or mauve tie, so he must be correct.


  20. --Blue Girl Says:

    Okay - anyone else having problems posting?


  21. Max-1 Says:

    Bill Kristol: I’m moderately hopeful that the country gets beyond the kind of weariness and annoyance about the war and gets serious about the world we live in.

    Wha, wha, wha…?

    .


  22. --Blue Girl Says:

    last try -

    If there is one thing this foam-flecked “feckwit” knows from, it’s fecklessness.


  23. Max-1 Says:

    #19 RUCerious Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    Kristol is wrong. Always wrong. All the time.

    snatch defeat and retreat out of the jaws of success and victory. …

    They were saying that mantra about three years ago… NO?


  24. boreas Says:

    I can’t stand Kristol or any of his Neo-con brethren but, by reading the quote above, I can’t see where he actually said any of the things you attribute to him in the headline. The “looks down on” reference is to something he accused Obama of, the “feckless” comment was a question he tried to put in the mouths of those who oppose our adventure in imperialism and, lastly, the “unserious” bit. This is as close as you guys got to something Bloody Bill actually did say, even if only by implication, when he said that he hoped the country would “get(s) serious about the world we live in.”

    You guys at TP do a good job most of the time but at others you do a decidedly bad one. This is the sort of distortion and invention I expect from the herd over at Fox Gnus but not from you.


  25. McWars Says:

    Kristol is not an elitist, he just wants to spread the word about Shopping ™.


  26. j swift Says:

    He is right and the primary evidence for his position is still sitting in the f**king WH.


  27. nofltwlt Says:

    Strange comment coming from a person who is always wrong - look it up.

    “Feckless’ And Unserious?”, possibly, but they are still superior to chicken-hawl warmongers who have squandered the health, wealth and security of this nation.


  28. RUCerious Says:

    boreas
    Definitions of Feckless on the Web:

    lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or ineffective
    highschool.concord.k12.in.us/lwirt/Expos%20List%203.doc

    not fit to assume responsibility
    generally incompetent and ineffectual; “feckless attempts to repair the plumbing”; “inept handling of the account”
    wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

    If Kristol is choosing his words carefully, he is accusing me of being a person as defined above.
    I would characterize that as condescending, elitist behavior.
    That’s just me though.


  29. bernarda Says:

    “feckless” is indeed a word you would associate with Kristol’s character. Remind me again just what Kristol’s qualifications on war strategy are.


  30. mary Says:

    “And are we going to be such a feckless country, frankly, that we’re going to waste the sacrifices that have been made, snatch defeat and retreat out of the jaws of success and victory.”

    Where are these “jaws of success and victory” of which you speak? Eh Billy boy? Can you please point them out to me?


  31. Fan of Man Says:

    will someone please punch this a$$hole in the face next time you see him walking down the road.

    thanks.


  32. McWars Says:

    I have to ask, what have conservatives done for small town America anyway? I don’t mind responsible gun ownership and religion not taken to extremes, but that’s all conservatives have left people in these places. Also, in Obama’s plan where does he leave out small-town America in his vision for economic improvement?


  33. paleolib Says:

    Amazing to hear a Bushbot cajoling others about getting “serious about the world we live in”. These clowns were talking about creating their own reality a few years ago. Had their heads been in the real world in 2002-03 instead of up each others’ a$$es we could have wiped out most of the Al Qaeda leadership at Tora Bora and avoided Operation Complete F*@&ing disaster in Iraq.


  34. pluege Says:

    gets beyond the kind of weariness and annoyance about the war and gets serious about the world we live in.

    that is just breathtaking in its arrogance and its callousness for the real suffering that many Americans have been subject to and real hardships that all non-rich Americans are shouldering so pompous insecure immature blow hards like kristol can look down their bilious noses and pass judgment while enduring exactly zero hardships. kristol and his ilk are beyond barbaric in their callousness, they’re psychotically sick and they’re very, very dangerous.
    .


  35. JBaddo Says:

    So? echoing emperor cheney’s contempt.

    Too bad lazy americans are unwilling to adopt the attitude of 1789 French citizenry and simply overthrow their taskmasters and abusers.


  36. dbadass Says:

    lessfree Says:
    ——————————————————————————–
    This has nothing on Fox news.

    Did you mean “there is” rather than “this has”?


  37. Bobwurst Says:

    ——————————————————————————–

    lessfree Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    “He didn’t call anyone Feckless or Unserious.

    Feckless-having no sense of responsibility; indifferent..

    Did you mash the Heavy Spin Button when writing this article? This has nothing on Fox news. Toilet Paper just lost its right to bash any other news organization for spinning a story!! DAMN!!!
    Lester the molester”

    Actually, Lester, when he says”

    “oh my God, can’t we get out of this.” So there’s a real weariness. Even amongst some decent people of just you know, it seems kind of there’s no end, there’s no clear, there’s no clarity. … And are we going to be such a feckless country,..”

    He’s saying anyone who is dismayed by the bush disaster that is Iraq is feckless. idiot.

    And when he says ” I’m moderately hopeful that the country gets beyond the kind of weariness and annoyance about the war and gets serious about the world we live in.”

    He’s calling everyone who is weary, and “annoyed” (which is pretty understated for most of the country) not serious. Which means “unserious”. Furthermore When TP says

    “Kristol himself appeared quite “disdainful” of the majority of Americans who are weary of the war in Iraq, implying that many of them are neither “decent” nor “serious,” but rather “feckless”: TP is connecting the dots for those readers who don’t have high cognative abilities, (you).


  38. robbez_92107 Says:

    Just something else Billy Boy is wrong about. YAWN.
    How much blood is enough for you and your PNAC buddies, Billy?


  39. wmhogg Says:

    What *is* the opposite of feckless - fecked, befeckeled, feckelicious? Where is Funk and Wagnall’s when I need it.


  40. RUCerious Says:

    wmhogg ~ could it would it be feckfull?


  41. peaceweaver Says:

    I look forward to the day that Mr. Kristol is jobless as well as feckless.


  42. JBaddo Says:

    and also kristol is a radical and a jihadist in the eyes of the average Iraqi whose country is being brutally occupied


  43. dbadass Says:

    RUCerious Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    wmhogg ~ could it would it be feckfull?


    Is not fect derived from effect?
    Still this ill advised Iraq adventure has left us totally “fecked”


  44. ConcernedParent Says:

    Bill Osama Reilly for president!!


  45. republicanSScareme Says:

    When the truth about 9/11 is finally revealed, we’ll be hanging thugs like Kristol from telephone poles.


  46. misshusseinmolly Says:

    wmhogg Says
    April 18th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
    What *is* the opposite of feckless - fecked, befeckeled, feckelicious? Where is Funk and Wagnall’s when I need it.
    __________________________________________________________

    Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper:

    feckless

    1599, from feck, “effect, value, vigor” (1470), Scot. shortened form of effect; popularized by Carlyle, who left its opposite, feckful, in dial. obscurity.

    - - - - - - - - - - -

    So, I guess “feckful” would have been the opposite, but it died out. Since “feck” is a Scottish abridgement of “effect”, perhaps the opposite of “feckless” would be “effective”? Kristol may be suggesting that our country isn’t “effective”, but that would be an apt way to describe the people leading it.


  47. JBaddo Says:

    Why doesn’t Bill attend a funeral of one of our fallen service men in Iraq and show a real interest in the heart beat of the country ? Nope, we are all feckless and victims of his grandiose “thinking” and somehow his anointed status on these affairs.


  48. JBaddo Says:

    Do ya think Clinton, Mc Cain or Obama would have the balls to go down to the airport and pay respects to our dead service men on their return to the country the chose to serve. Now that would get attention and a LOTS of votes. But no…it aint gonna happen…..


  49. dbadass Says:

    lessfree Says:
    ——————————————————————————–
    Keep on name calling and spinning the truth!!

    Who called you a name? I read someone implying you aren’t too bright but I didn’t see any name calling. Feeling outgunned and overly sensitive maybe?


  50. freedom lover Says:

    essfree Says:
    He didn’t call anyone Feckless or Unserious.

    Feckless-having no sense of responsibility; indifferent..

    Did you mash the Heavy Spin Button when writing this article? This has nothing on Fox news. Toilet Paper just lost its right to bash any other news organization for spinning a story!! DAMN!!!

    we understand your embarrassment, but your defensiveness is really too obvious. try again, spinmeister.


  51. StratRat Says:

    Lessfree and the other right side losers are watching the death knell of the republican brand.They are embarrassed, angry, afraid, and frustrated that their call for an American king will go down in flames. Serves them right. Hanging your star onto the wagon that is the Bush administration will test anybodies mental abilities.


  52. Magic Dog Says:

    Someone tell me if I am alone with the following thought: Every time I see William Kristol, I can’t help but think of Billy Crystal in Mr. Saturday Night.


  53. L. Hussein Annie Says:

    Kristol, Krauthammer, Gingrich et. al…

    These are the people who truly hate America.


  54. Prytania Says:

    republicanSScareme Says:
    ——————————————————————————–

    When the truth about 9/11 is finally revealed, we’ll be hanging thugs like Kristol from telephone poles.

    April 18th, 2008 at 4:54 pm Recommend (1) | Report Abuse

    Really? What is Kristols direct involement in 9/11 that would justify hanging him? We should be hanging the actual perps who commited the crime. You know, the real bad guys over in the Middle East. But it makes more sense to hang Americans you don’t agree with.

    And do tell. What is the real truth about 9/11?


  55. RUCerious Says:

    Ya know, this is probably OK for Kristol to say, since the vast majority of hard working Americans think BillyK is a feck.


  56. Hawkeye Says:

    Pretty amazing coming from a guy who’s been wrong about almost every major issue facing this country the last 10 years. The guys so arrogant that he thinks everyone else must be wrong because he never is himself.


  57. Freedom Rebel Says:

    What in the world was the New York Times thinking when they hired you Bill? He is even more vile and repugnant than he was before. Bill actually thinks people care about his opinion. He looks down on Americans because they want their husbands, sons and daughters home. They don’t want the entire country mortgaged to China.

    Yes Bill, people are weary of being lied to on a daily bases. Gee, can you blame them. “Waste the sacrifices that we have made” we being the operative word. We made the sacrifices not you Bill, I haven’t heard that you have a family member that went over to Iraq and was killed or wounded. You don’t have the right to judge anyone unless you have walked in their shoes for at least a day and made the sacrifices they have made.

    What makes me angriest of all, is that the media keeps giving you airtime to spew your opinion and your lies. Your idea of success and victory is too high of a price to pay in my opinion. You call us a feckless country. Meaning we have no sense of responsibility. I beg to differ with you on that point also. The people who aren’t taking their sense of responsibility seriously is the whole Bush Administration, the people you praise all the time. You are truly as rotten on the inside as you are on the outside.


  58. Castelcomerkid Says:

    This putz isn’t worth one moment more of anyone’s time. Nor are the putzes at NYTimes who hired him. Out fear of infection, I wouldn’t wipe a dog’s butt with his column.


  59. Buckie Boy Says:

    Well, Kristol Balless, my I suggest you join up you “fcukless feckwit”.


  60. Keith Says:

    Two-thirds oppose the war?

    So?


  61. scytherius Says:

    Is it still illegal to beat him with a baseball bat?


  62. theswan Says:

    The New York Times bought a has-been. Hope they don’t choak on the fleesing.


  63. Zooey Says:

    Feck off, Kristol.


  64. Fool Zero Says:

    KRISTOL: Every time there’s a little flare up, even if the flare up turns out to be for the better, which is what happened in Basra over the last few weeks, and none the less they go, “oh my God, can’t we get out of this.”

    Not me. Flare ups or no flare ups, I’m much more interested in how we ever let Bush (and Kristol) get us into it.

    I’ve tried looking down on Kristol but it was an awfully long way and there wasn’t much to see.


  65. MapleStreet Says:

    The funny thing is that I look at 50% voted Shrub in for a second term and 25% still think he is doing one heck of a job.

    And that leads me to conclusions similar to Kristol.


  66. danejaneiro Says:

    Typical republican — born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.


  67. Brain From Planet Arous Says:

    Will somebody make this smirking hyena Kristol walk the plank.

    On second thought, even sharks don’t deserve to be poisoned like that.


  68. familyman Says:

    And are we going to be such a feckless country, frankly, that we’re going to waste the sacrifices that have been made,

    This argument is so stupid, and apologists for this war have been using it for years now. The argument seems to be that the only way to honor the sacrifice of the who have died is to let more soldiers die.

    Aaaaaauuugh!



  69. COProgressive Says:

    Billy boy doesn’t consider himself as one of “We The People”. He’s much too good to be consider one of the rabble.

    “Among conservatives there’s been too much pseudo-populism, almost too much concern and attention for, quote, ‘the people’… After all, we conservatives are on the side of the lords and baronsWe…are pulling up the drawbridge against the peasants.” - Billy Kristol


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