So why is Kristol’s forecast bad news for Hillary? Look no further than his track record, which Mediate’s Andrew Kirell noted in 2013 is a spectacularly awful one: In 2008, Kristol assured us that Clinton would coast to the Democratic nomination, easily dispatching upstart challenger Barack Obama. ”Barack Obama is not going to beat Hillary Clinton in a single Democratic primary. I’ll predict that right now,” he proclaimed. That same year, he championed Sarah Palin’s selection as John McCain’s running mate, arguing that the “heartthrob” would be a boon to the GOP ticket. Three years prior — as Democrats were on the cusp of reclaiming control of both chambers of Congress — Kristol predicted that Republicans would maintain congressional power in the 2006 midterms, asserting that the GOP would “benefit from being the party of victory” in Iraq.
Speaking of Iraq: As a leading neoconservative booster of the war, Kristol assured us it would be a smashing success, and declared that the Bush administration’s claims about weapons of mass destruction would prove true.
The war wasn’t the only major policy issue Kristol got woefully wrong. He once told Larry King that 1993 would be the “high water mark” for the gay rights movement; 22 years later, we’re on the verge of nationwide marriage equality, which about six in 10 Americans now support.
So mark your calendars, Republicans: February 20, 2015 was the date you won the 2016 election.
