[x]

How would that "mistake" have been made? How would Gingrich or Bachmann or Perry or Cain or Santorum have been elected? They all trailed Romney in polls throughout the primaries.

I doubt Kristol said electing any of them would be a mistake. It was more that they couldn't be elected (apparently Romney couldn't either, but that's another story).

Kristol has a valid point here. NSA snooping happens whoever is president. If you find some connection to the administration's political activities, there's a valid connection to the IRS scandal. If it's just NSA internal national security activity tying it in to other scandals may weaken critics of the administration.

[oblomov]

It’s not conflation to see the IRS and NSA scandals as each being symptomatic of an out-of-control state.