Kristol: Congress Won't Move Because President 'Didn't Campaign on Gun Control'

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Kristol: Congress Won't Move Because President 'Didn't Campaign on Gun Control'

Here's the latest excuse to come from Fox News on why Republicans will not cooperate with President Obama on passing any new gun control legislation. According to Bloody Bill Kristol, they're only going to feel compelled to work with him on legislation that he campaigned on.

WALLACE: The Obama White House is clearly determined to keep up the pressure for more gun controls in the wake of Newtown. Bill, do you see any sign, and you heard the conversation today between Neera Tanden and Larry Pratt, of a new willingness on Congress to pass this kind of legislation?

KRISTOL: No, not much. I assume they'll consider various measures, but ultimately those measures are not really going to do much about it, unfortunately, the mass killings we've had. The President didn't campaign on gun control. Second term presidents do well when they actually try to implement things they told the voters they hoped to focus on. President Obama was going to focus on the economy. He was pro-Israel and now he's nominated one of the most anti-Israel Senators as Secretary of Defense.

He didn't talk about gun control when he controlled Congress in 2009 and 2010 and Democrats had huge majorities. They didn't reinstate the assault ban.

WALLACE: But we did have Newtown.

KRISTOL: We did have Newtown, but honestly, one incident does not tell you what policy should be and in any case, as we pointed out a million times, the particular things Vice President Biden seems to be proposing would have nothing to do with Newtown. There's not a single proposal in their menu that would have stopped Mrs. Lanza from buying those guns and having those guns apparently. There would have been a registry where people would have known she had those guns. Would that have really helped?

One incident, huh? As my fellow contributor Mugsy pointed out today, it was hardly one incident that led up to them finally having this long overdue debate. And the idea that these Republicans in the Congress would work with President Obama on anything simply because he campaigned on it is laughable.

Kristol also seems to have a short memory about just what sort of majority President Obama had during his first term. He had a filibuster proof majority for a few months, but when that majority includes a bunch of consderva-Dems in the Senate who are as bad or worse than their Republican counterparts, you're not going to get any real progressive legislation through that Congress.