Kristol: ‘I Didn’t Watch’ The Health Care Summit, But I’ll Comment On It As If I Did

By Faiz Shakir

On the Fox News Sunday roundtable this morning, the panelists discussed President Obama’s health care summit. NPR’s Mara Liasson said that while it may have been “political theater,” it was also “very clarifying” because it “laid bare exactly where the two parties stand.”

Host Chris Wallace asked Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, “Have you been clarified?” — leading to this candid acknowledgement from Kristol:

KRISTOL: No, but I didn’t watch it, so — (laughter). I have a life. (laughter)

Everyone on the panel, particularly Wallace, appeared to find Kristol’s admission quite hilarious. More disturbing, however, was that Kristol continued to opine on the health care summit as if he did indeed watch it:

KRISTOL: You compared it at the beginning of the hour to a dog-and-pony show, and I thought to myself, that’s really an insult to dog-and-pony shows. I like the dog shows there on the Animal Planet. … Many people were impressive. The President showed his usual professorial ability to sort of say certain things and highlight certain facts, or alleged facts.

Kristol of course couldn’t comment on what “certain things” or “certain facts” were particularly insightful, since he “didn’t watch it.” Being knowledgeable on the subject matter apparently isn’t a requirement to be a Fox News pundit. Watch it:

Introducing the panel, host Wallace asked Liz Cheney how her father was recovering from his mild heart attack. “He’s doing well,” she said, noting that he was “probably watching” Fox News this morning. “We’ll try to do nothing to upset him,” Wallace responded.