GOP Civil War: Kristol Takes on Leader Limbaugh

Posted by Satyam Khanna, Think Progress at 4:02 PM on March 6, 2009.

In recent weeks, a growing number of conservatives have hopped on the Rush Limbaugh bandwagon, saying they agree with his repeated statements that he hopes President Obama fails. Michelle Malkin, Tom Delay, Rick Santorum, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) have all said they want Obama’s policies to fail.

The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, however, seems to disagree with this sentiment. In an interview with Fox and Friends yesterday, Kristol broke with the Limbaugh line. Discussing Obama’s recent actions to fix the economy with progressive blogger David Sirota, Kristol said that Americans “should” “hope” that Obama’s policies “succeed”:

Q: Are people still holding on to [their hope] thinking he will be able to change the problems we are now facing?

KRISTOL: Look, Americans wish a new president well. They hope his policies succeed, as they should.

Watch it:

Is Kristol, one of the most influential conservative pundits, going toe-to-toe with Rush Limbaugh, also one of the most influential conservative pundits? Thus far, those who dared to challenge the mighty Limbaugh have quickly kneeled before him (see e.g., Michael Steele, Rep. Phil Gingrey, and Gov. Mark Sanford).

Will Kristol resist the pressure, or will he fall in line like all the others?

Tagged as: rush limbaugh, bill kristol, gop civil war

Satyam Khanna is a Research Associate for The Progress Report and ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress.