For years Bill Kristol defended the excesses of the Bush Administration. Before that, he was a John McCain champion. His partner in crime is Fred Barnes who defended the rise of “big government conservatives.”And now, Bill Kristol thinks that conservatives who want smaller government are “pro-Obama” conservatives.Nothing could be further from the truth, but Kristol really doesn’t care. This is point scoring from a guy who really doesn’t have much in common with a lot of the conservative movement.Kristol wants to cut a deal because . . . well . . . because he likes sucking up to Republican leaders first of all. But also because in his cowardly abandon he cannot perceive how holding the line can force the Democrats to produce a better deal.So this is the deal Bill Kristol wants — from a staffer on Capitol Hill who attended the briefings:

• Fake caps that future Congresses can waive.
• $1 billion in actual cuts.
• A super committee with the power to raise taxes with virtually no way to stop it.
• Eradication of the Bush tax cuts (Boehner’s plan is premised on them going away)

This is not a plan any conservative should support. It really is fascinating how conservative groups are making passionate arguments for holding the line and people like Kristol are resorting to name calling.As Mark Steyn notes at National Review

If the CBO’s scoring is correct – that it reduces the 2012 deficit by just $1 billion – then the ”cut” represents what the United States borrows every five hours and 20 minutes. In other words, in the time it takes to photocopy and distribute Boehner’s “plan”, the savings have all been borrowed back.As for the rest, I’m philosophically opposed to “entitlements” because they strike at one of the most basic principles of representative government – that a parliament cannot bind its successor. But the same objection applies to jelly-spined legislators announcing grand plans for bazillions of savings years after their term of office has expired. Who knows what’ll be happening in 2017? Maybe North Korea will accidentally nuke the South Sandwich Islands and we’ll be expected to chip in for reconstruction.

Of course, I’m sure Bill Kristol thinks letting Obama raise the debt ceiling again next year and claim a bipartisan victory will somehow hurt Obama going into the election.I’ll keep my principles and fight, thank you very much.