“There's a sort of romanticizing of the past. When you actually think about the past, you know it's a little different.” Quote by William Kristol
“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.” IfsPoliticalReadingReaderInvolvedStandardsBusyJournalismTake TimePlatoOrchestraGet InvolvedViolinLev Tolstoy Author:William Kristol
“Obviously I think politics is interesting and important and educational.” ThinkingImportantInterestingEducational Author:William Kristol
“I think reading intelligent expressions of different points of view is a good thing, and there is a way in which being in academia in a classroom at the University probably gives you, can give you an academic view of things, and reading actual real time debates about what should we do in Syria or the Buffett rule, budget issues...gives you a kind of sense that's hard to get in a classroom.” ThinkingWayGivingShouldKindDifferentRealHardReadingViewsIssuesExpressionIntelligentGood ThingsUniversityPoint Of ViewDebateBudgetsAcademicClassroomSyriaAcademiaDifferent Points Of ViewBuffett Author:William Kristol
“In any case, open-seat presidential elections like 2008 just are different in character from incumbent reelects, and I think that's the most important thing about this election - is that once there's an incumbent running for reelection, most of the debate is about, "Has he [Barack Obama] done a good job?" Most of the judgment is, "Do you want to keep him or do you want to replace him?" Now, the opponent has to also be acceptable and has to make his own case.” ThinkingWantImportantDifferentDoneCharacterRunningJobsCasesJudgmentElectionImportant ThingsDebateBarackPresidentialOpponentsSeatsAcceptableGood JobPresidential ElectionIncumbentsReelection Author:William Kristol
“I don't think [Mitt] Romney can sit there and wait to win because perhaps people are disappointed with President [Barack] Obama.” PeopleThinkingWinningWaitingPresidentBarackDisappointedRomneyPresident Barack Obama Author:William Kristol
“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.” ThinkingYearsDifferentWholeRunningAbleCasesRepublicanBenefitsTiredCongressEightBarackIncumbents Author:William Kristol
“Some journalists just get too wrapped up in daily news cycles and tempests in a teapot that are not going to make any difference. As someone who is older and has been through a few election cycles, maybe this is just being an old fogey, but I think I know what's going to really matter and what's not.” ThinkingKnowsHas BeensMatterDifferencesNewsElectionJournalistCyclesJust BeingTempestTeapotsDaily News Author:William Kristol
“Frankly, if you're 26 years old and there's a war on women or there's not a war on women, you can get all wrapped up in it and get lots of traffic on your website and get into exchanges and scream and yell about it on MSNBC or Fox, and a week later no one can remember what that was about.” IfsYearsWarRememberWeekScreamTrafficFoxesWebsite Author:William Kristol
“Fox gets two million viewers a night, and MSNBC gets one. It's four million people, five million people, and 130 million people are going to vote. There are an awful lot of voters, and an awful lot of politically engaged, intelligent people who are not hanging on whatever happens on Bill O'Reilly or Rachel Maddow.” PeopleTwoHappensNightMillionsFiveFourVoteIntelligentBillsAwfulEngagedVotersFoxesViewersWhatever HappensHanging OnBill O Reilly Author:William Kristol
“I think it's fine that there are five million people who are watching [politics on TV], and obviously I'm happy they are since they're on the air, and there are a couple hundred thousand people reading The Weekly Standard online, and that's great too, but most Americans aren't engaged that intensely, and are much less partisan.” PeopleThinkingReadingMillionsFiveAirTvsFineCoupleThousandStandardsHundredEngagedOnlinePartisans Author:William Kristol