and bill kristol said i think so. considered a conservative republican intellectual leader because intellectual leadership in republican circles means never having to say you're sorry for being like totally wrong. let's listen to what bill kristol said this weekend on the weekly standard podcast. >> the republican establishment looked like a herd of totally conformist, pathetically kind of running to catch up with the trends minds, don't even have minds maybe, but just political beings trying to hey, let me join this parade, you know, as if they're going to get much credit for joining it at this point, and it is not going to earn the contempt of course people defending traditional marriage and the contempt of people that are uncertain where they ultimately come down on this. don't like seeing political leaders and alleged intellectual leaders jumping on the train because it is fashionable and some poll shows it is 58% popular and five years ago was only 43% popular. i mean, there's something pathetic about it. >> so t

>> bill kristol is irresponsible, he once worked in the white house. it's irresponsible to basically critique the commander in chief for taking a pause to ask the key questions about -- >> especially after, especially, steve, after the irresponsible response to the belief that there was wmd in iraq where 5,000 troops gave their lives. is that not irresponsible? isn't it right for this president to pause and say, hang on a second? >> no, that's absolutely right. it's absolutely right to check out the scenarios of what happened. to look at what the motives were. i raised on msnbc the other day that there were, you know, a lot of scenarios. you need to think through the unthinkable issues and not just let the bandwagoning emotion of the moment drive u.s. military commitments. and i think the biggest issue is we're all assuming is the assad regime commanded the use of those weapons. i talked to a senior administration official over the weekend who said that if chemical weapons were used, it is most likely the case but not only the case that those were unde

every time we get up in the morning bill kristol, john mccain and lindsay graham have a war they want us to start. i'm making it light and sarcastic because i am sarcastic about this. they always want us to go in. once we go in, it's never clear how the hell we ever get out. we're just in. your thoughts? >> robin wright said, chris, there's no quick fix to the syrian problem. i'm not even sure there's a slow fix. i actually don't think there's necessarily a fix at all. that said, we can sit here for a few minutes and talk about the down sides of all the options of doing this and that. those down sides are all too real, trust me. on the other hand, not doing anything is also a downside. it's also costly. particularly what we said. >> let's try diplomacy then. you've got the expertise there. put that cap on. is there any diplomatic solution that would end this war and turn it over to some sort of -- the president's still talking today about a political transition whereby the assad regime gives up, allows a transfer of authority, and somehow saves its skin, i suppose, or else why would t

george bush throughout the nation i understand one after it was a fire started in the right it was bill kristol who took down harriet miers it was not a democrat it was people on the right conservative review or whatever the publication is you know they were saying you know the area of miers you get in there was usually about are conservative but but the democrats always said here's the reason . republicans are simply saying we're not going to do it because you put your suggested him we'll i think if your problem is if your real concern is case loads then the president should start nominating republicans and they would get through i mean if your concern is empty seats i mean this is what you suppose as this is this is the solution to everything just given to the republican is here is our because it's not about our it's all because we're no tom it's all about politics i vote because i thought like you said consequence of this is not about devil as it was a house or cliff that whatever the democrats got more votes for how we still don't know they are the white house they took the senate i think a

and it is time for our sunday group, bill kristol of the weekly standard. mara liasson of national public radio. republican strategist ed gillespie and charles lane of the washington post. kim jong un was quoted friday as ordering missile units to be ready to strike the u.s. and south core remarks. >> the photo was released. kim meeting with top north korean generals with a chart showing the trajectory of the missiles hitting major american cities. bill, what is kim's game? >> who onos but it is not good. they murdered, starved mels of their own people that regime and how to proliferated nuke weapons. the israeli strike on the syrian nuclear plant in 2007 that was given to them by north korea. even if you discount north korea, they are containable, they with proliferate weapons of mass destruction and guess what, iran and north korea have h historic relationships and north korea is short of cash and could sell the weapons to terrorist groups. the threat of north korea is very real. >> chris: whey do you think he is ratcheting up attention? >> helps secure h

brit hume, fox news senior political analyst, amy walter of the cook political report, bill kristol fromly standard," and charles lane of the "washington post." fair to say president obama has put himself in a box on syria. he kept talking for months about red lines, game changers, but he's clearly mindful of the bad intelligence that led to the invasion of iraq, and it's also clear, he's never wanted to get involved in syria. is there a graceful way out? >> what he's trying to do now is insist on ironclad proof. you wonder if he doesn't want an affidavit signed by bashar assad himself saying, yes, we did indeed use sarin gas on those people. short of that, i don't think he's going to do anything. the situation is so well advanced now. might have been different if we moved in there earlier. a president who didn't want to intervene to stop the deaths of what is now 70,000 people i don't think is going to go on at least arguably incomplete evidence that there's been these chemical weapons used. so my sense is, he doesn't want to do anything. for now at least he isn't going to do anything.

bill kristol from the weekly standard and charles lane of the washington post. i think it is fair to say that president obama has put himself in a bit of a box here on syria. kept talking for months about red lines and consequences and game changers but you clearly mindful of the bad entell against that led into the invasion of iraq and also clear he never wanted to get involved military in syria. is there a graceful way out for him? >> what he will do and is trying to do is insist on ironclad proof. you wonder if he doesn't want an affidavit signed by bashar assad himself saying yes indeed we did use serin gas on these people. appetizing prospect. a president who didn't want to intervene to stop the deaths of what is now 70,000 people i don't think is delegate to go on at least argue youabley incomplete evidence there has been the chemical weapons used. my sense is he didn't want to do anything and for now at least he isn't going to do anything. >> chris: a down side in terms of credibility in the middle east? >> not the kind of thing that is going to bother pe

bill kristol of the "the weekly standard." former congresswoman jane harman. former c.i.a. security consultant general michael hayden. fox news political analyst juan williams. congresswoman jane harman is a former top democrat in the house intelligence committee. what is your take-away from the boston bombings. why did the guys succeed where so many failed over the last decade? how do we respond better to protect the homeland? >> we responded well here. we have to right 100% of the time and they only have to be right once. they exploited obviously successfully a weakness in how the bomb-sniffing dogs ants others were working at this marathon, which had a high police presence. obviously, next time we will have more bomb-sniffing tos or whatever it takes. i think given our track record since 9/11 of preventing most of these things, that have been tried by amateurs and i agree with phil mudd these were amateurs, i give us high marks. and the response of boston and the country has been absolutely magnificent. this has been a national civics lesson for the country. this guy wil

bill kristol of the "the weekly standard." former congresswoman jane harman. former c.i.a.urity consultant general michael hayden. fox news political analyst juan williams. congresswoman jane harman is a former top democrat in the house intelligence committee. what is your take-away from the boston bombings. why did the guys succeed where so many failed over the last decade? how do we respond better to protect the homeland? >> we responded well here. we have to right 100% of the time and they only have to be right once. they exploited obviously successfully a weakness in how the bomb-sniffing dogs ants others were working at this marathon, which had a high police presence. obviously, next time we will have more bomb-sniffing tos or whatever it takes. i think given our track record since 9/11 of preventing most of these things, that have been tried by amateurs and i agree with phil mudd these were amateurs, i give us high marks. and the response of boston and the country has been absolutely magnificent. this has been a national civics lesson for the country. this guy will be

yes, there's bill kristol and a few others out there.'re being sort of vague as to what they would actually like to happen. i've been to hearings up on the hill. they're all eager to criticize the president for not doing anything. nobody is very clear on what they would like him to be doing that he's not doing already. there is truly no good option to be pursued here, and the public grasps that. >> to eugene's point. eugene, the president wases asked about another thorny issue today. the hunger strike at guantanamo bay. the military says 100 of 166 detain thees are now participat. here's what the president said. take a listen. >> the notion we're going to continue to keep over 100 individuals in a no-man's land imperpetuity. i don't want these individuals to die. obviously the pentagon is trying to manage the situation as best as they can. but i think all of us should reflect on why exactly are we doing this? >> gene, the president says he's going to go back at it with congress. but once again, congress is in the way of this man every st

bill kristol, among others, looking at her career and the role she played, not only in conservative partyll attacks in britain, but also in the u.s.. also, "the cq weekly" -- " --e magazine this story that was getting a lot of attention latest week him and anthony.ma anthony wiener, the former member of congressman who stepped down from congress after his own tweeting sex scandal, now looking for the possibility of running for mayor of new york city. steve joins us from colorado, the republican line. will tell you the easiest way. get rid of the lobbyists and lawyers in d.c. as you know, ge did not pay any taxes whatsoever. who is in charge of our finances now now? -- now? .he guy who heads ge one other thing, the lady talking about sandy hook -- why don't you have one of the other parents who says that these gun laws they are passing now when not have an effect on any of this stuff that happened? host: we'd cover that as well. we had a member, a gun rights advocate on here this past week. you'll hear hear live coverage and c-span2 as the gun debate heats up. we go back to "cq weekly." "

. >> bill kristol at the national review symposium i was at said, hey, we got to have alternatives. gets. we have to do that again. i think they're starting. let's talk about the key governor races that are coming up. good luck in jersey, baby. >> yeah. >> our guy has 74%. how do you beat chris christie? >> you know, i went through a storm -- tropical storm irene and saw my poll numbers go through the roof too. it is a lot easier to see your poll numbers go up after the storm than delivering on a rebuild. i can tell you, you can make some problems there. here is the point about chris christie. he's one of the few governors in america who said he was going to come in, we have more new governors elected in 2010 than anytime in american history erk ca he came in and said we'll make jobs. he has the same unemployment rate, very high, 47th highest in the country, that he had when he was elected. he kicked the middle class in the teeth. property taxes go up. he's vetoed minimum wage bills. he's against a woman's right to choose. he's fighting gay and lesbian equity issues on every issue th