And not only had “Arabists” like President Bush been shoved aside by neocons, the “Pat Buchanan/Ron Paul type” of Republican has been purged, said Kristol.
After taping John Stossel’s show on March 16 in New York, the Mrs. and I took the Acela back to Washington. Once we had boarded the train, who should come waddling up the aisle but Bill Kristol.
The Weekly Standard editor seemed cheerful, and we chatted about the surge in Mitt Romney’s popularity and prospects.
I did not ask what he had been doing in New York, but thanks to the website Mondoweiss, I found out. Kristol was there for a March 16 “debate” with Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street, the pro-Israel organization, at B’nai Jeshurun synagogue.
After listening to Kristol, writes Phil Weiss, “I am still reeling. … Kristol was treated like royalty and came off as … a Republican Party warlord,” bragging “about how all the hostile elements to Israel inside the Republican Party were purged over the last 30 years.”
The big story in the Republican Party, said Kristol, is the “eclipsing” of the George H.W. Bush-James Baker-Brent Scowcroft realists, “an Arabist old-fashioned Republican Party … very concerned about relations with Arab states that were not friendly with Israel.”
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