Actually I saw that Daily show episode and you are quoting Kristol partially out of context. He was following Jon's analogy and did say the comment about being in the ditch (which was a repeat of what Jon Stewert just said), but then he said something like, 'Whoops. I got tricked. I mean to say that the current administration is just a little off the road and can still get back on it'.

So I would say in context that Kristol thinks the administration is mishandling things, but that your choice quote makes it seem even juicier than it is. Kristol was on Charlie Rose earlier in the week (I think it was Charlie Rose) and he enumerated much better what reservations he had with the handling of the war.

I saw the episode. Jon did not "trick" him (didn't he also try to excuse it by saying that he was "out of his element" being in NY instead of DC?)

His elaboration afterwards was basically CYA, an attempt to save face after saying something impolitic.

Tell me - if he did not think that Bush was going in the wrong direction, would he have been "tricked" at all? Would he had said anything even remotely like what he said? If he was "tricked", it was into saying something that he was thinking, but shouldn't have said, not something he never meant.

Well, I don't think he was tricked either. He did back-pedal after he realized his gaff. I think it is clear that the guy is not happy with the administrations handling of Iraq (in spite of his normal allegiance) and I did say as much in my original response. Speaking to the points of why he is unhappy is salacious enough (IMHO) without having to quote something that he basically immediately revised. Even giving the guy the benefit of the doubt and merely stating that he said: "The bush administration has driven off the road" would have satisfied my sense of objectivity. Its your blog though....

Your last paragraph has made me pause for a while before writing a response. It is a question as to whether he could have been "tricked" and it comingles this with what he actually believes.
I stated in the last paragraph that I did not think he was "tricked", but merely made a gaff. Now the remaining piece of this for me is....Does he think Bush has driven off the road or crashed? I don't know. Any conservatives making any admission at all is quite amazing in its own right. You may be right, he really meant crashed and screwed up by stating his "unguarded" opinion. Perhaps he followed an analogy further than he wished. I have no idea.