The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal’s “Best of the Web” at The Wall Street Journal written by the editor, James Taranto.
It’s Always in the Last Place You Look
“Bernie Sanders’ American Dream Is in Denmark”—headline, CNN, Feb. 17
Kristol Ball
The Washington Post profiles Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, who is known for his poor prognostication abilities:
Kristol, 63, the eminent conservative commentator, has made so many wrong predictions that he’s become a kind of cult figure of wrong, at least among some media watchers.
Kristol’s Twitter feed has an active following of hecklers and harassers, ready to pounce when his Kristol ball fails him. They usually don’t have to wait long. Kristol, for example, has been consistently wrong in predicting the trajectory of Donald Trump’s presidential bid. Although he’s certainly not alone in this, he has been wronger longer than just about anyone. According to New York magazine’s tally, he has predicted “peak Trump”—Trump’s crest as a candidate—11 times since July, including most recently on Jan. 29. That was three days before Trump finished second in the Iowa caucuses and 11 days before his crushing victory in New Hampshire.
He also predicted “that Barack Obama wouldn’t win a single primary against Hillary Clinton,” that Obama would nominate Jennifer Granholm to the Supreme Court, that Joe Biden would run for president this year, that Marco Rubio would win New Hampshire, and that 1993 would be “ ‘the high-water mark’ for the gay and lesbian rights movement.” And don’t get us started about Iraq.
The headline reads: “Bill Kristol Knows His Predictions Have Been Bad but He’s Going to Keep Making Them.” Of course, if that’s what he says, it probably means he’s going to stop making them.
For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”
