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I think the whole dynamic is different. Whereas in [Barack] Obama's case, even though there was no incumbent, he was able to run against eight years of Bush-Cheney and a Republican Congress, and everyone was tired of everything. He was able to benefit from that.

William Kristol

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More quotes by William Kristol

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People read the Tribune or the Sun-Times, you know, way back when the Tribune was a right-wing paper.It's always been somewhat that way. We take 10, 20 years in the 50s and 60s as kind of the norm, when there was this sort of bi-partisan parent consensus.
William Kristol
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That's always been the case in America there's been a big spectrum in how much people are interested in American politics.
William Kristol
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[the war in Iraq] could have terrifically good effects troughout the Middle East
William Kristol
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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
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The liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures.
William Kristol
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I think there was a moment in the middle part of the century into the 60s, 70s when at least elite journalism claimed to be non-partisan. You can go back and look at it and wonder about how non-partisan it was.
William Kristol
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I'm happy to have interns at The Weekly Standard and happy to have readers of The Weekly Standard, but if you all tell me that you were busy reading Plato and [Lev] Tolstoy and playing violin in the orchestra, I'd say that was great. I wouldn't tell you to take time out from that to get involved in political journalism.
William Kristol
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Patriotism is an indispensable weapon in the defense of civilization against barbarism.
William Kristol
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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
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The media claimed to be non-partisan, centrist. It's not been that way for a lot of history.
William Kristol
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Whenever I hear anything described as a heartless assault on our children, I tend to think it’s a good idea.
William Kristol
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These soldiers deserve a better defense secretary than the one we have.
William Kristol
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I am on the whole a defender of the current, despite being a conservative. I mean, I think things are better than when I was younger.
William Kristol
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Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single Democratic primary. I’ll predict that right now.
William Kristol
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Conservatism as an ism is always going to be somewhat in tension with a political party.
William Kristol
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Maybe one thing that has happened is that the claims of non-partisanship of the mainstream media have been a little bit exploded. Mostly I'd say what, if anything has caused the change, are just the obvious technological changes - proliferation of easier access to getting your opinions out and the proliferation of media.
William Kristol
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It will be an unusual dynamic [in Congress]. It won't be like the rallying behind President [Barack] Obama in 2009 or behind President [George W.] Bush, even at the beginning of his presidency, or even [Bill] Clinton in '93, when he got his budget through on a partisan vote.
William Kristol
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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
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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
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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