Bill Kristol, Former Kingmaker, Plays Antisemitism Card vs. Breitbart

Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol revived charges of antisemitism against Breitbart News on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Wednesday, saying the site should rename itself “right-wing intolerant mean-spirited news.”

Kristol referred specifically to an opinion piece in May by conservative David Horowitz, headlined: ““Bill Kristol: Republican Spoiler, Renegade Jew.” Kristol told MSNBC: “I’m not a big, you know, ‘Oh, it’s terrible anti-Semitism’ kind of guy, but that’s a little creepy.”

Curiously, Kristol’s message matches the Hillary Clinton campaign’s message in reacting to the news that Breitbart News executive chairman Stephen K. Bannon has been appointed chief executive officer of Republican nominee Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Jesse Lehrich, Clinton’s foreign policy spokesperson, tweeted the Horowitz headline on Wednesday morning– along with others, such as the (demonstrably true) story that a black reporter killed his white colleagues on live TV.

here’s some of Breitbart’s great work this year pic.twitter.com/DnDtHJ7XPb

— Jesse Lehrich (@JesseLehrich) August 17, 2016

At the time, Breitbart News pointed out that the charge of antisemitism was “ridiculous.” Horowitz,who is Jewish), noted that he himself had chosen the headline, and this author commented:

While Pollak said, “I don’t agree with David Horowitz” on all the article’s particulars, he added: “What Horowitz is arguing is what conservatives have been arguing about Jewish leftists for a long time, which is that by supporting the policies they do, they endanger Israel. They endanger America.”

False accusations of antisemitism should be familiar to Kristol, because they were hurled at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in 2008. When she was selected by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) as his running mate, then-Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) said:

John McCain’s decision to select a vice presidential running mate that endorsed Pat Buchanan for president in 2000 is a direct affront to all Jewish Americans. Pat Buchanan is a Nazi sympathizer with a uniquely atrocious record on Israel, even going as far as to denounce bringing former Nazi soldiers to justice and praising Adolf Hitler for his “great courage.”

Yet instead of rejecting that left-wing tactic, Kristol has joined in the attack. Notably, Kristol once described himself as “anti-anti-Trump.”

Then he joined the “NeverTrump” faction, and has been trying to name an alternative — or spoiler — ever since. But that kingmaking role, which Kristol enjoyed in 2008 and 2012, has been lost.

Perhaps that is what motivates the smear.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, is available from Regnery through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.