I wrote this short reminiscence of Bill Ayers six months ago, when his name came up in the campaign for the first time. Now it looks as if he’s the key to the McCain-Palin strategy down the home stretch. Other than rousing the uglier impulses of the Republican base, I don’t think the Kristol Plan is going to make much difference. It’s the wrong year. Like Palin herself, the use of Ayers is a sign of ill-health in the Republican Party and a symptom of an ideology in an advanced state of decay. The smarter conservatives, like Frum and Douthat, know this.