Bill Kristol to GOP: Stand pat!

The neoconservative pundit urges Republicans to keep the government shut down

Published October 1, 2013 5:17PM (EDT)

Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol                            (<span about='http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/6184211045/' xmlns:cc='http://creativecommons.org/ns#'><a href='http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/6184211045/' rel='cc:attributionURL' target='_blank'>Gage Skidmore</a> / <a href='http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/' rel='license' target='_blank'>CC BY 3.0</a></span>)
Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol (Gage Skidmore / CC BY 3.0)

With the federal government in the midst of its first partial shutdown in 17 years, Bill Kristol, the neoconservative pundit and founder of the right-wing Weekly Standard, has a recommendation for the GOP: Do nothing.

Comparing the Republicans' current position to that of a blackjack player with a mediocre hand, Kristol writes:

They have a hand they could easily make worse by panicking, and which could be good enough for a win or draw if they keep calm. And their odds could improve if they now take a few days vigorously to make their case to the country: that they have acted to fund the government—while protecting Americans from having to buy insurance they don't want from exchanges they can't trust, and while reversing the special deal the Obama administration arranged for Congress so that Congress will have to live by the laws they impose on others.

Kristol goes on to claim the right plan is for Republicans to "[s]tand pat on the shutdown, don't panic because of media hype or a few snap polls" and prepare for the fight over the debt ceiling.

Republicans may want to take Kristol's advice with a grain of salt, however; as Adam Clark Estes has documented, the Republican pundit has a lengthy record of making wrong predictions.


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

MORE FROM Elias Isquith


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Bill Kristol Debt Ceiling Gop Government Shutdown Republican Party The Weekly Standard