Kristol On Huck

KRISTOL ON HUCK....I read Bill Kristol's inaugural column in the New York Times last night, and I guess I had about the same reaction as Matt Yglesias: why? Basically, he planted great big wet kiss on Mike Huckabee's cheeks, and that just doesn't make much sense. Kristol is a neocon and a John McCain supporter, and Huckabee, with his evangelical fervor and half-baked foreign policy views is about as far away from Kristol as a Republican can be. In fact, if I had to guess, I'd say that aside from Ron Paul, Huckabee is probably Kristol's least favorite candidate in the entire GOP field. So why the suck up?

Beats me. On a narrower note, however, am I the only one who was amused by Kristol's reference to the last three presidential candidates as "the well-born George Bush and Al Gore and John Kerry"? This may be the first time I've ever heard a conservative admit that Bush isn't, in fact, just a brush-clearin' regular guy from west Texas. Before long they'll be finally fessing up that Bush's ranch in Crawford is more a campaign prop than a real ranch.

UPDATE: James Joyner rounds up reactions here from other bloggers wondering more or less the same thing as me.