On January 26th, the New York Times ran the best six words that have ever been part of any column William Kristol has ever written:

This is William Kristol’s last column.

Trust the Washington Post, however, to shred our short-lived joy. Yes, Wild Bill has found himself a home at the Post, in what appears to be their ongoing charity program for displaced wingnut columnists who have been completely, totally wrong about absolutely everything ever. And believe me, among such company Bill Kristol truly stands out. At this point, if he wrote a column stating that the sun will rise in the east tomorrow, I’d put a thousand dollars down on it rising in the west.

[Note to literalists: the above is hyperbole. Thanks largely to the economic policies trumpeted by the likes of Kristol, I do not have a thousand dollars with which to bet.]

Here he is today, with his usual sage political advice for the Congressional Republicans:

They can make clear that Republicans will support a real short-term stimulus (pro-growth tax cuts, housing measures and a few targeted spending provisions unemployment and COBRA extensions) that meets Larry Summers’s criteria of being targeted, timely and temporary. They should introduce such a measure as a substitute — “The Emergency Economic Growth Bill of 2009” — and trumpet their vigorous support of it. And they should insist that all the “energy, health care and education” proposals be debated in an orderly and serious way in the regular legislative process — not jammed through as part of an emergency “stimulus.”

Let us leave aside the economic practicalities of this, including the fact that the whole stimulus shebang is basically a shot in the dark anyway, and concentrate on whether it is, as Kristol professes, smart politics.

It isn’t. It’s not as stupid as his “Sarah Palin guarantees victory” brand stupid, but it’s close.

See, Kristol loves to roll around in the illusion that he has his fingers on the pulse of “Real America”, while the truth is that Real America thought Bill grabbing at its arms and trying to take its pulse was kinda creepy and slipped away.

I also do not have my fingers on the pulse of Real America, since Real America threatened a restraining order, but I stand close enough to hear what Real America has been shouting at the top of its lungs since last fall, which is “Fix this mess. Now. Don’t quibble, don’t play politics, don’t get cute. Fix it.” And here’s Bill, advising the Republicans to quibble, play politics, get cute, and put off fixing the mess.

The fact that Bill Kristol is still employed as a columnist by anyone, let alone the Washington Post, is utterly stunning. And that is not hyperbole.