Obama Doesn’t Think Bill Kristol’s Bomb-First Idea Is ‘Smart’

Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol on ABC's "This Week."
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

The White House whacked Bill Kristol — not by name — on Friday for calling on the U.S. to bomb the Islamic militant group ISIL in Syria whether or not it’s part of a larger strategy.

Spokesman Josh Earnest invoked the conservative pundit’s idea, unprompted, and said President Barack Obama doesn’t believe it’s “smart.”

“The Pentagon is still developing military options for the president, for the commander in chief, to use against ISIL in Syria. There are some who probably would make the case that it is okay to not have a formulated comprehensive strategy, but just as one pundit I know recently suggested that we could just go drop some bombs and see what happens. That is not what the president believes is a smart approach,” Earnest told reporters. “The president believes it is important for us to pursue a comprehensive strategy where military action is one component of that strategy.”

Kristol, the editor of the Weekly Standard, said earlier this week: “You know, why don’t we just [bomb]? We know where ISIS is. What’s the harm of bombing them at least for a few weeks and seeing what happens?”

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. The next smart idea Bill Kristol has will be his first.

  2. I s’pose that’s a little more “Presidential” than calling him a “pasty-faced lard-assed entitled cowardly chickenhawk.”

  3. Avatar for pine pine says:

    “Dan Rather to Pundits Calling for War: Send Your Own Kids or ‘Don’t Even Talk to Me’”

    “Katrina vanden Heuvel to Bill Kristol: If You Want War So Badly, Join the Iraqi Army”

    “Obama Doesn’t Think Bill Kristol’s Bomb-First Idea Is ‘Smart’”

    I think there will be more to come in the next few days.

  4. "What’s the harm of just going into Iraq and removing its leader and all its governmental infrastructure?

    Oh, yeah."

    You think Billy Boy will ever understand that, though articulate, he’s a fucking idiot ?

  5. Headline should say: Obama Doesn’t Think Bill Kristol is Smart.

    Accomplishes a hardy message in its entirety.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

22 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for dr_coyote Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for pluckyinky Avatar for estamm Avatar for dustbunny44 Avatar for srfromgr Avatar for marby Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for sociosam Avatar for Patriott Avatar for chammy Avatar for commiedearest Avatar for rudesan Avatar for faeyin Avatar for sylhines Avatar for topcat Avatar for dd40 Avatar for frankly_my_dear Avatar for ExNihilo Avatar for AJ Avatar for ken_k Avatar for pine Avatar for btinkler

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: