Patriotism is an indispensable weapon in the defense of civilization against barbarism. William Kristol More Quotes by William Kristol More Quotes From 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. William Kristol tired running thinking 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 iraq thinking Bush is no conservative. William Kristol conservative Political parties are complicated coalitions and aren't excessively theoretical. William Kristol political party complicated 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 investment design kind The liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures. William Kristol conservative media powerful I mean, obviously, one of the strongest arguments against evolution and selection of the fittest and progress, which is part of evolution, is the current field of the presidential candidates. We started off with Washington and Adams and Jefferson and then we had Lincoln, and now we moved ahead and look where we are now. William Kristol presidential progress mean Going from three TV channels to broadcast TV to cable to talk radio; obviously the online explosion has changed things. William Kristol radio tvs three 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 world years Iraq's always been very secular. William Kristol secular iraq 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 political wings I still would say generally that more people have access [to] and take advantage of more diversity of opinion than was once . William Kristol diversity opinion people 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 patriotic strong country 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 government leadership war These soldiers deserve a better defense secretary than the one we have. William Kristol secretary defense soldier There's a sort of romanticizing of the past. When you actually think about the past, you know it's a little different. William Kristol different past thinking 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 availability doctors drug 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 political discovery philosophy [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 priorities military home 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 political reading plato