George Will Loses His Head (bashes McCain)

Washington Post ^ | September 23, 2008 | George Will

[ozzymandus]

George Will’s opinion actually mattered back when Reagan was President, but that was over 20 years ago. Now he’s just another beltway talking head. It is funny that some McCain haters are giving kudos to Will on this thread.

[Obadiah]

Obama’s new campaign commercial with George Wiil quotes coming in...3...2...1

[WOSG]

George Will thinks Chris Cox would make a better President than John McCain. Therein lies the source of the vitriol from Will. The tragedy of it is that George Will might be right on that. Chris Cox is a steady hand and a good conservative. McCain is bashing a good guy and wants to promote the guy who did the CRA stuff that kicked off this crisis. The travesty is that Will is denouncing McCain’s personal approach, even though this column is a bit doing the same. Not his best column.

[drangundsturm]

Cox was at least partially responsible for the repeal of the uptick rule on short sales last year and that did contribute at least a little to this crisis. Without the uptick rule, hedge funds were able to buy credit default swaps and then short banks into bankruptcy and cash in big time on the swaps.

This was of course not the whole problem but to say Cox is blameless in this mess is simply untrue.

[LibLieSlayer]

will is an “inside the beltway” liberal... he always has been. He writes a good article now and again but one thing that he loves more than baseball, is to bash a Republican to become the star of the party circuit in DC... plus... who trusts someone that always wears a bow tie... and he looks like Alfred. E. Newman... my apologies to Al.

LLS

[detch]

I agree. McCain should put the axe away and act more presidential.

Saying he would fire Cox was unnecessary. All he was trying to do was show that he was distancing himself from Bush. There were many other ways to show that.

Then, saying (on 60 Minutes, no less) he would hire Cuomo was incredibly dumb.

Had he researched Cuomo more, he never wold have suggested him. See below...

Andrew Cuomo - How the youngest HUD Secretary in history gave birth to the mortgage crisis
Village Voice ^ | August 5, 2008 | Wayne Barrett

http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-08-05/news/how-andrew-cuomo-gave-birth-to-the-crisis-at-fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac/

[meandog]

What the heck is wrong with this guy? Sound like he’s now in the tank for Obama. I used to have respect for him.

George Will has the ethics of a pig (sans the lipstick). He dumped his first wife and three kids(incidentally, like Sarah and Todd Palin, she and Will were parents to a Down Syndrome child at the time) for none other than the daughter (Lally Weymouth) of Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham! 'Course he can't help himself when he refers to McCain's "cheating" on his first wife (one difference, though, McCain's first wife (Carol) supports John McCain while Will found all of his possessions on the front lawn of his home when his first wife found out about his cheating).

And as far as "McCain, politics is always operatic, pitting people who agree with him against those who are "corrupt" or "betray the public's trust ... two categories that seem to be exhaustive -- there are no other people," Will's second wife (Mari Maseng) was on the campaign staff of Bob Dole, whom Will was constantly buoying as even-tempered (BTW, I love Bob Dole precisely because his temper is as bad as John McCain and he would have made a heck of a leader but that doesn't excuse Will's hypocrisy).

Finally, as far as greed and corruption goes, Will should know a thing or two about it as a former board member of Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc. where he met for exactly one day a year for $25,000! Google George Will on Wiki for all of the details.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

As I said earlier, Will’s policy critique of McCain is not without merit. However, by framing it as personal attacks it comes off, not as an endorsement of conservatism, but a series of vague criticisms that can be twisted as an endorsement of Obama.

[Will88]

“It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?”

Yep, Will can be snooty and too inside the Beltway, but here he is mostly showing bad political manners. After the enthusiasm for Palin and the increasingly unacceptable thought of a Obama presidency, Will is still saying things that heck of a lot of Republicans/conservatives agree with concerning McCain, but have decided to stay mum about because they view Obama as many times worse.

But is McCain temperamentally suited to be president? Probably not, but Obama isn’t either, and he’s unsuited and unready in so many more ways.

The worst choice since WWII, they’re both terrible, and Will has to butt in and remind us once more.

[meandog]

George Will has a point. McCain is doing what he always does, bash the Republican(Chris Cox) and praising the Democrat(Andrew Cuomo). McCain said he would appoint Cuomo tor replace Cox.

Personally, I wouldn't mind replacing Cox with Tony Resko. At least the crook knew how markets worked; Cox is a thorough boob, another "Heckuva Job Brownie"!

[mrsmel]

Well I certainly don’t trust Barry Hussein even more, and at least McCain has Palin, so McCain it is. NEVER Obama, no way, no how.

[meandog]

<1>1. George Will has a point. McCain is doing what he always does, bash the Republican(Chris Cox) and praising the Democrat(Andrew Cuomo). McCain said he would appoint Cuomo tor replace Cox.

2. McAmnesty wants to replace Cox (long-time conservative) with Cuomo (long-time NY liberal) and we are supposed to trust him on nominating judges? Dude can’t be trusted

FYI: In 1994 Christopher Cox was appointed by President Clinton to the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform...

[Vigilanteman]

Other than the fact that he doesn’t give specific examples where Obama is so much worse, I can’t find anything in Will’s article to seriously disagree about. We are genuinely screwed with McCain and will have to fight with him at least 40% of the time if he gets elected. This is definitely part of that 40%.

[nothingnew]

However, Will’s own simplistic vitriol is beneath him and serves only to provide Obama’s side with talking points.

Channeling his inner Queen of Hearts, John McCain...

Despicable in my book...

FMCDH(BITS)

[jwalsh07]

It's way past time for accountability in Washington. The head of the SEC should be fired. Dodd, Frank and a bevy of other democrats should be jailed for their complicity in the Fanny Mae/Freddy Mac fiasco.

A lot of places where I have disagreed with McCain but not here. In fact, one of McCain's assets is that he will hold people accountable. But as POTUS he can't fire Dodd or Frank, he could fire Cox and imho he would have been right to do it.

[acsuc99]

George Will was a huge Giuliani supporter in the primaries and would always attack McCain during that time as Rudy was crashing and burning. I predicted he would be very bitter and sure enough he is.

[WOSG]

“It’s way past time for accountability in Washington. The head of the SEC should be fired. Dodd, Frank and a bevy of other democrats should be jailed for their complicity in the Fanny Mae/Freddy Mac fiasco.”

1. The head of the SEC is one of the least culpable guys in DC.
2. Being a socialist incompetent is not illegal. Wish it were, cause Dodd and Frank are culpable.

the liberals and media are blaming ‘free markets’ and Gramm and other folks who had nothing to do with the fannie mae subprime mortgage fiasco. I think we need to stop the blame game and get back to simplicity: What is the problem? What should we do to fix it? What will work?

“A lot of places where I have disagreed with McCain but not here. In fact, one of McCain’s assets is that he will hold people accountable.” - If you dont know what went wrong, you wont hold people properly accountable. I like his spirit but McCain’s reliability to do the right thing will be no better than the current crowd. Best you can say, Obama will be far far worse, and push all the wrong ideas for all the wrong reasons.