William Kristol famous quotes

I've always rebelled a little when people say, 'My Jewish values lead me to really care about the poor.' I know some Christians who care about the poor, too.
-- William Kristol

#Christian #People #Care

The liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures.
-- William Kristol

#Powerful #Media #Conservative

Shouldn't Democrats insist that Sen. Durbin step down as their whip, the number two man in their leadership?
-- William Kristol

#Leadership #Men #Numbers

In any case, decisions on troop levels in the American system of government are not made by any general or set of generals but by the civilian leadership of the war effort.
-- William Kristol

#Leadership #War #Government

Lest conservatives be too proud, it's worth recalling that conservatism's rise was decisively enabled by liberalism's weakness.
-- William Kristol

#Proud #Weakness #Liberalism

Since Ronald Reagan's election in 1980, conservatives of various sorts, and conservatisms of various stripes, have generally been in the ascendancy. And a good thing, too! Conservatives have been right more often than not - and more often than liberals - about most of the important issues of the day.
-- William Kristol

#Issues #Stripes #Important

[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 barons.... We...are pulling up the drawbridge against the peasants.
-- William Kristol

#People #Political #Attention

All defense secretaries in wartime have, needless to say, made misjudgments.
-- William Kristol

#Defense #Wartime #Made

Bush is no conservative.
-- William Kristol

#Conservative

Conservative policies have on the whole worked - insofar as any set of policies can be said to 'work' in the real world. Conservatives of the Reagan-Bush-Gingrich-Bush years have a fair amount to be proud of.
-- William Kristol

#Real #Years #World

Conservatives shouldn't count on the Supreme Court to do our work for us on Obamacare. The Court may rule as it should, and strike down the mandate. But it may not. And even if it does, the future of health care in America - and for that matter, the future of limited government - depends ultimately on the verdict of the American people.
-- William Kristol

#Government #Obamacare #America

Whenever I hear anything described as a heartless assault on our children I tend to think it's a good idea.
-- William Kristol

#Children #Thinking #Ideas

The trouble with politics and political coverage today is that there's too much liberal bias.... There's too much tilt toward the left-wing agenda. Too much apology for liberal policy failures. Too much pandering to liberal candidates and causes.
-- William Kristol

#Apology #Wings #Political

Iraq's always been very secular.
-- William Kristol

#Iraq #Secular

Patriotism is an indispensable weapon in the defense of civilization against barbarism.
-- William Kristol

#Civilization #Patriotism #Weapons

Yuppies don't have loyalty. They have useful relationships and meaningful encounters.
-- William Kristol

#Meaningful #Loyalty #Yuppies

White women are a problem, that's, you know - we all live with that.
-- William Kristol

#Women #White #Problem

I'm disappointed, depressed, and demoralized. [...] It is very hard to avoid the conclusion that President Bush flinched from a fight on constitutional philosophy. Miers is undoubtedly a decent and competent person. But her selection will unavoidably be judged as reflecting a combination of cronyism and capitulation on the part of the president.
-- William Kristol

#Philosophy #Fighting #President

And on this issue of the Shia in Iraq, I think there's been a certain amount of, frankly, Terry, a kind of pop sociology in America that, you know, somehow the Shia can't get along with the Sunni and the Shia in Iraq just want to establish some kind of Islamic fundamentalist regime. There's almost no evidence of that at all. Iraq's always been very secular.
-- William Kristol

#Islamic #Thinking #Iraq

Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single Democratic primary. I’ll predict that right now.
-- William Kristol

#Clinton #Beats #Democratic

Recalling that a good chunk of the 47 percent who don't pay income taxes are Romney supporters - especially of course seniors (who might well 'believe they are entitled to heath care,' a position Romney agrees with), as well as many lower-income Americans (including men and women serving in the military) who think conservative policies are better for the country even if they're not getting a tax cut under the Romney plan. So Romney seems to have contempt not just for the Democrats who oppose him, but for tens of millions who intend to vote for him.
-- William Kristol

#Senior #Country #Military

The most devastating indictment of the president's proposal is that it threatens to destroy virtually everything about American health care that's worth preserving. Under the plan's layers of regulation and oversight, even seeing a doctor whenever you like will be no easy matter: access to physicians will be carefully regulated by gatekeepers; referrals to specialists will be strongly discouraged; second opinions will be almost unheard of; and the availability of new drugs will be limited.
-- William Kristol

#Doctors #Availability #Drug

Republicans can also point to an alternate path. They can draw upon genuine experts to explain what should be done.
-- William Kristol

#Done #Path #Experts

If terror groups are to be defeated, it is national governments that will have to do so. In nations like India, governments will have to call on the patriotism of citizens to fight the terrorists. In a nation like Pakistan, the government will have to be persuaded to deal with those in their midst who are complicit.
-- William Kristol

#Fighting #Government #Patriotism

[I]t's up to Republicans to expose the bureaucracies and criticize the orthodoxies - to ask why visas for travel to the United States are still being issued in West Africa and why American military forces are being deployed there without a workable plan or intelligible purpose, why CDC spending priorities are so skewed and CDC management so weak, and why here at home routine police powers aren't being used and routine public health measures aren't being implemented.
-- William Kristol

#Military #Home #Priorities

These soldiers deserve a better defense secretary than the one we have.
-- William Kristol

#Soldier #Defense #Secretary

If the American people really come to a settled belief that Bush lied us into war, his presidency will be over.
-- William Kristol

#War #People #Belief

Leo Strauss's discoveries in the history of political philosophy had the effect of liberating his students from the yoke of contemporary thought.
-- William Kristol

#Philosophy #Discovery #Political

Have you ever met a war you didn't love?
-- William Kristol

#War #Mets

If we free the people of Iraq, we will be respected in the Arab world... and I think we will be respected around the world.
-- William Kristol

#Thinking #Iraq #People

[removing Saddam] "would start a chain reaction in the Arab world that would be very healthy
-- William Kristol

#Healthy #World #Would Be

[the war in Iraq] "could have terrifically good effects troughout the Middle East
-- William Kristol

#War #Iraq #Middle East

He should release the tax returns tomorrow. It's crazy. You've got to release six, eight, ten years back tax returns. Take the hit for a day or two. He has to give a big speech in defense of capitalism, and that will elevate, I think, this race above this tactical back and forth, which I do think he's on the margin of losing.
-- William Kristol

#Crazy #Thinking #Eight

While a defeat for Obamacare in the Court would be nice, the defeat of President Obama at the polls on November 6 is crucial. If electoral victory is achieved, Obamacare can and will be repealed - and more judges of a constitutionalist persuasion will be appointed by the next president.
-- William Kristol

#Nice #Obamacare #Judging

There will be trying times during Obama's presidency, and liberty will need staunch defenders. Can Obama reshape liberalism to be, as it was under F.D.R., a fighting faith, unapologetically patriotic and strong in the defense of liberty? That would be a service to our country.
-- William Kristol

#Country #Strong #Patriotic

The average GOP presidential vote in these last five elections was 44.5 percent. In the last three, it was 48.1 percent. Give Romney an extra point for voter disillusionment with Obama, and a half-point for being better financed than his predecessors. It still strikes me as a path to narrow defeat.
-- William Kristol

#Average #Giving #Presidential

Romney has to convince the American public that they need to do something they're not usually inclined to do - replace a sitting president with a challenger. And unlike in 1980 and 1992, when the public was persuaded to do just that, the incumbent president has not been weakened by a primary opponent.
-- William Kristol

#President #Opponents #Needs

I personally - if I were designing the tax code - would have a tax code in which Mitt Romney paid more than 13 percent, given what I know about the kind of investments he made money from.
-- William Kristol

#Design #Kind #Investment

Many of Bush's defenders have praised him for keeping the country safe since Sept. 11, 2001. He deserves that praise, and I'm perfectly happy to defend most of his surveillance, interrogation and counterterrorism policies against his critics.
-- William Kristol

#Country #Safe #Surveillance