Kristol tries, in vain, to discredit Fitzgerald

April 10, 2006

Every once in a great while, when Patrick [tag]Fitzgerald[/tag]’s criminal investigation becomes a little too embarrassing for the [tag]White House[/tag], some of [tag]Bush[/tag]’s media allies will roll out a half-hearted attack on Fitzgerald’s credibility. It never works, and the criticisms are usually pretty pathetic, but it appears some conservatives feel the need to go through the motions of criticizing the prosecutor. It’s just what they do.

The latest is from Weekly Standard editor and Fox News contributor Bill [tag]Kristol[/tag].

You know, the leak story is absurd, but I now think the whole prosecution is absurd. And I have hesitated to say this, because I have friends who respect Fitzgerald, but I now think it’s a politically motivated attempt to wound the Bush administration. … He is now out to discredit the Bush administration. He has bought the argument that there is something improper about the Bush administration responding to Joe Wilson’s charges.

First, the White House did more than “respond” to [tag]Wilson[/tag]. The Bush gang outed an undercover CIA agent, [tag]leak[/tag]ed [tag]classified[/tag] information, and disseminated “intelligence” that they knew to be false. Kristol believes there’s nothing “improper” about this. Why? Apparently because Bush is a [tag]Republican[/tag].

Second, it’s way too late in the game to try and smear Fitzgerald. Attorney General [tag]Alberto Gonzales[/tag] has sung Fitzgerald’s praises; RNC Chairman [tag]Ken Mehlman[/tag] has said he has “complete confidence” in Fitzgerald; and Bush personally praised Fitzgerald for the “dignified way” in which he’s run his investigation. Kristol’s a day late and a dollar short.

And third, Kristol’s attack is revealing. If Fitzgerald wasn’t making the Republican establishment nervous, Bush allies like Kristol would see no need to go on the offensive.

I’m amazed that anyone can take Bill Kristol seriously at all anymore. He was among the original neocons who, nearly a decade ago now, urged us into the quagmire which is Iraq.

  • Bush, Mehlman, and Gonzales would look a little bit too self-serving if they were to criticize Fitzgerald themselves. Kind of like the way DeLay did when he criticized Earle. So they send their attack surrogates instead.

    Of course, Kristol neglects the fact that Fitzgerald did not initiate or ask for the investigation–the CIA did. Fitzgerald is just doing what he was asked to do, and he happens to be competent at it. So, obviously, it’s the CIA that hates America. (Which is quite possibly true).

  • Kristol is still capable of real astute thinking and commentary. But his political side — his partisan neo-con side — has turned him into a buffoon. Often, when listening to him or watching him, it’s hard not to come to the conclusion that he’s also playing the buffoon quite deliberately with a kind of genial defensiveness.

  • Kristol is a lap-dog. Period. ‘Nuff said.

    Fox is obviously pulling out all the stops, trying to salvage their own credibility, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them start losing points in the ratings war. They’ve been peddling the same, inflammatory message for years now. Their gloom-‘n-doom, scream-preaching version of “hard-hitting news” isn’t selling so well these days…so they’ll scream even louder at the masses, trying to foist all the administration’s problems on a select few who choose to put their money somewhere else than the GOP coffers.

    All Fitz has to do is keep the pressure on, The people are starting to see the cracks in this administration, and there’s just not enough icing to make a lemon look and taste like an angel-food cake….

  • And lest we forget, Patrick Fitzgerald didn’t just decide to go after the Bush Administration; it was the CIA who referred the Plame matter the the Justice Department after determining that someone inside the WH has done something really stupid and dangerous.

  • I saw Fox Sunday, and while Kristol was being a neo-con jerk, Charles Krauthammer was boot-licking Bush and denigrating everybody else ( the press, the Democrats, etc.).

  • and fourth, it’s Libby’s defense motions that are bringing all this stuff out into the open.

  • Kristol wants this all to go away so he can get back to important issues like gay adoption and flag burning.

  • Kristol hands are not clean in this matter. He was received a selective leak from Stephen Hadley around the same time that was the basis for the Weekly Standard’s “Case Closed” article. It was chock full of discredited and spun information. Here is the LA Times article published yesterday that details that …

    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-leakculture9apr09,0,7435898.story?coll=la-home-headlines

    If the Congress ever gets a damn backbone and examines how this war was sold to the American people … Bill Kristol should go right to jail.

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