Matt Damon vs. Bill Kristol

Why the Hollywood actor and conservative pundit might debate in public

“God bless America,” said Gawker. Actor Matt Damon recently called conservative columnist Bill Kristol an idiot for writing that we should all thank George W. Bush for winning the Iraq war, and now “Drudge Report operative” Andrew Breibart, through his website Big Hollywood, is offering Damon $100,000 to debate Kristol. This could be the final showdown between rich conservatives and "evil liberal celebrities.”

“If you thought arguing with your liberal professor was annoying,” said Brian Kane in Crimson Politics, imagine what a “pain” it would be for Kristol to debate Matt Damon. The movie star, who “dropped out of his English studies in Harvard has the audacity to talk about politics”? He should focus on movies—he “hasn't won an Academy Award since 1997.”

Well, the only reason Kristol wants to do this is because he needs the publicity, said Kyle Munzenreider in the Miami New Times. He recently parted ways with The New York Times, so it seems like he has a lot of free time on his hands. But doesn’t he have anything better to do than fight Damon in the “public school yard”?

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The real question is: “Who has more to lose?” said Allahpundit in Hot Air. “If Damon—whose every interview on politics mentions his Harvard pedigree for extra gravitas"—loses, “his lefty intellectual cred will be smashed.” But if Kristol is defeated, he should at least be forced to give up his chair on Fox News' Special Report—"or maybe have it lowered by a foot or so.”

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