ANALYSIS
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Kristol Used His Column to Help McCain's Rebels
Pro-Palin camp fed columnist 'a constant stream of poison'
By Nick McMaster
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Posted Nov 7, 08 3:23 PM CST
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(Newser)
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As Bill Kristol used his New York Times column to relentlessly praise Sarah Palin and simultaneously blast the McCain camp's handling of her, he was far from an objective observer, writes Scott Horton in the Daily Beast. Kristol regularly received inside information from the McCain team's pro-Palin contingent, then used it in a series of increasingly critical columns. "Simply put, the pundit meddled in the campaign he was commenting on," says Horton.
Given that Kristol himself helped persuade McCain to pick Palin, he had a vested interest in not only seeing her do well in this election but keeping alive her prospects for the future. As the campaign wore on, suspicions grew that he and other Palin supporters were more interested in the latter. With Kristol's contract up at the end of the year, Horton wonders whether the NYT will look elsewhere for a conservative voice.