Campos vs. Kristol

With the New Year’s execution of Saddam, the routing of Al Qaida in Somalia and now the hanging of Hussein’s top henchmen, 2007 is getting off to a pretty good start. Despite these positive developments, we can always count on Rocky Mountain News columnist, Paul Campos to find something to whine about (Commentary 1/16/07). Today, Campos is taking on Bill Kristol, Editor of the Conservative national magazine, the Weekly Standard, all-star panelist on the leading cable news round table on television and now, a weekly columnist with Time Magazine. As to the specifics, of his charges against Kristol; I would first note that none of the past statements (that he attributes to Kristol) are referenced. Second, if they are (in fact) Kristol’s words, then I suspect Campos presented them in isolation rather than in their complete context. As a long-time subscriber to The Weekly Standard and regular viewer of Fox News, I never recall Kristol making wildly optimistic and unqualified predictions about ‘smooth sailing’ in Iraq. As to the other points Campos attributes to Kristol [i.e. what constitutes real progress in Iraq, have certain events (in Iraq) been ‘historic’ and what degree of sectarian violence actually constitutes a civil war], I’ll leave those to Kristol himself to refute, but as to the timing of this particular Campos rant, I suggest the following: When Bill Kristol speaks to Conservatives on FOX News or in his own publication, the Standard, Campos could care less, but now that Kristol has earned access to a National liberal readership, Campos (and other liberals) is afraid that he will now have to actually debate a well-reasoned Conservative viewpoint.
Rather than simply tearing down everything Republican or Conservative, lightweights like Campos, will now have to actually advance alternatives ideas and solutions. Forced to put up or shut up - my money is on Kristol. Except for offering pointers on dieting, Campos has yet to get anything right. He’s a college law professor who never writes about the law and alongside an intellectual giant, such as William Kristol, America will see that Campos isn’t qualified to bag Kristol’s groceries.