How Bill Kristol Bet the House on Palin

Opinion columnists are supposed to take sides. That's their job. But there's a difference between taking sides and getting invested, as the case of William Kristol and Sarah Palin illustrates.

Writing on the op-ed page of The New York Times, Kristol is one of a shrinking number of conservatives who have refused to declare Palin's nomination as vice president a mistake in any way. In fact, Kristol has been willing to criticize just about every aspect of the McCain campaign except Palin.

His steadfastness takes on a new appearance, however, in light of Jane Mayer's reporting in The New Yorker about the behind-the-scenes PR push that prepared the ground for Palin's nomination. Kristol, says Mayer, was only one of a number of conservative pundits who visited with her at the governor's mansion in Alaska in 2007. But while others were charmed by her,

The most ardent promoter, however, was Kristol, and his enthusiasm became the talk of Alaska's political circles. According to Simpson, Senator Stevens told her that "Kristol was really pushing Palin" in Washington before McCain picked her. Indeed, as early as June 29th, two months before McCain chose her, Kristol predicted on Fox News Sunday that "McCain's going to put Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, on the ticket." He described her as "fantastic," saying that she could go one-on-one against Obama in basketball, and possibly siphon off Hillary Clinton's supporters. He pointed out that she was a "mother of five" and a reformer. "Go for the gold here with Sarah Palin," he said. The moderator, Chris Wallace, finally had to ask Kristol, "Can we please get off Sarah Palin?"

The next day, however, Kristol was still talking about Palin on Fox. "She could be both an effective Vice-Presidential candidate and an effective President," he said. "She's young, energetic." On a subsequent Fox News Sunday, Kristol again pushed Palin when asked whom McCain should pick: "Sarah Palin, whom I've only met once but I was awfully impressed by -- a genuine reformer, defeated the establishment up there. It would be pretty wild to pick a young female Alaska governor, and I think, you know, McCain might as well go for it." On July 22nd, again on Fox, Kristol referred to Palin as "my heartthrob." He declared, "I don't know if I can make it through the next three months without her on the ticket."

Talk about being in the tank.

By definition, writing a column is a subjective endeavor. But a good columnist has to retain a measure of objectivity, lest he wander too far down rabbit holes of his own imagining. It's clear that, in becoming Sarah Palin's most forceful advocate in Washington, Kristol invested a huge amount of his political capital and credibility in her success as a candidate. Could anything at this point get him to admit he backed the wrong horse?