No, I’d rather analyze this

After seeing Bill Kristol’s talk at the J-School, Adam Shapiro reached out via email with a few questions.  Kristol was kind enough to respond and has some great words of advice:

Bwog: What’s an unpopular political opinion of yours that turned out to be right?

Kristol: That we should send more troops to Iraq (argued from 2003-2006, against both the Bush Administration and the left), and then, in 2007, that the surge (when the Bush administration finally did it) could and would succeed.

B: What’s an opinion you were once sure of that that turned out to be wrong?

K: That political correctness, academic trendiness and intellectual close-mindedness at universities couldn’t get any worse. It’s managed to do so for three decades.

B: Thoughts on Columbia University College Republicans endorsing marriage equality? Should more Republicans follow their lead?

K: People should make up their own minds on this, and not be shaped by bigotry on the one hand or intimidated by political correctness on the other.

B: Thoughts on Froscanity?

K: The worst thing about “daring” academics is how stupid and unimaginative their stunts are.

B: During your lecture, you said it is a particularly “fun time to be young”. What’s your idea of having fun in college?

K: I don’t think 20-year olds will or should take advice on “fun” things to do from me. But–to return to a theme–nor should they slavishly follow peer pressure, or the conventional wisdom that dominates the often very small and cramped world of today’s colleges. There are more ways to have fun and to live a satisfying life than than are dreamt of by academic liberals.