Have you ever made it through a George Will column?

[Cyrano]

The thing I dislike most about George Will is that he seems to come across as a reasonable, rationale "adult" member of the Crazy Party, but is actually peddling the same craziness as those wearing clown suits. I really would like to see the little twerp attacked by his own bowtie, but I admit to occasionally trying to read his coulumn.

However, for some reason, I just can't make it through, regardless of the content. I either doze off, or get fed up with his pedantic style and move on.

Is it just me? How about you. Ever make it through one of his columns?

[el_bryanto]

1. He's very pedantic - i don't agree that he's 100% a tea-partier

He shares most of their views on what should be done, of course, but like much of the old-school republican guard is a little bit perturbed at their nihilism and willingness to sacrifice anything to get what they want.

But he is very pedantic- i have read a few of his columns all the way through though.

Bryant

[SharonAnn]

17. I barely stayed awake during his commencement address at my graduation

Xavier University had him as the 1993 graduation commencement speaker. If he hadn't said a few outrageous things at the beginning of his speech, I would've fallen asleep. But I stayed awake to hear what else he said.

That was the first I had heard of him so I've followed him (casually) since then. He's still a jerk and misinformed on just about everything.

[edhopper]

2. He has the interesting

history about being wrong on everything. Not just politically, but usually factually as well.

[tabasco]

3. Not for a long time.

He is no more intellectually honest than Josef Goebbels.

Kind of looks like him too.

[brewens]

4. He got my attention years ago with one of his baseball columns. I've made it through a couple of

those. It always seems like he tries to hard to dazzle us with his vocabulary.

I saw an interview with him once where he told what really got him started on his career. He saw the movie "Billy Jack" and was "incensed" at what that portrayed. Can you even imagine? Who would be on the side of the yokel rednecks and what they were doing?

[Blue_Tires]

12. +1....I've always enjoyed his annual baseball trivia column....

I think the sports world was denied one of the potentially all-time great baseball writers when Will decided to be a RW stooge instead....

[Freddie]

30. Agree, he should stick to baseball

Should be a switch--Will only talks about baseball & KO only talks about politics!

[underpants]

13. He just dresses up what everyone has been writing that week

With a few fancy (to him) words and pretends that it is something new that he created.

Try reading a Kathleen Parker column- she never gets to actually having a point about anything. She must have real dirt on someone to get paid of her dribble.

[Cyrano]

16. Yes, Ive tried reading Kathleen Parker a few times

And you're right about her never getting to the point about anything.

The only thing I've ever gotten from her scribblings is a very vague aura of "GOP good/Obama bad."

[hatrack]

18. Parker - Maureen Dowd w/o the occasional amusing snark

Bo-ring!

[11 Bravo]

20. Parker can be tedious, but among aging, GOP, pearl-clutchers, Peggy Noonan is ...

hands-down,, the champion. That woman could put 2,000 civilians to sleep even as they were running from a napalm attack.

[Cyrano]

21. Noonan was a speech writer for Saint Reagan

Last edited Thu Jan 2, 2014, 03:56 PM - Edit history (1)

Perhaps that's why he was often caught dozing off on camera.

Edited to spell speech correctly. My embarrassment runneth over. I'm going to my room to suck my thumb for a while.

[closeupready]

23. *Snarf*

[Katashi_itto]

5. It's rare I make it though something of his, once his accual "idea" is revealed

Then I simply think, that's someones whose mother did alot of meth when pregnant with him.

[AlinPA]

6. Never!!!

[Mira]

7. Nope

I've tried. Now when I see his mug my eyes close as they pass.

[Laffy Kat]

8. He's not bad when he writes baseball.

He wrote a book about baseball which I've actually considered checking out from the library, but prob. will never get around to it. Can't remember the title.

[fadedrose]

9. Never even tried to read his columns

I have trouble sitting thru a TV interview with him.. About as long as it takes to find my remote is all I can take...at least O'Reilly has a personality that I enjoy disliking and tell him he's a creep, and then change the channel.

Wills is hopeless to attack because he comes off so wimpy I feel he needs a transfusion or something...

[Orrex]

10. I've never been able to muster the will.

Get it! That's a funny one!

[yellowcanine]

11. Will is a master of pseudo intellectualism and the use of meaningless statistics.

Such as comparing the amount of money spent on political campaigns (which he thinks should have no limits) and how much money Americans spend on snack foods or some other equally meaningless comparative expenditure. And looking up the meaning of big words just so he can use them in the proper context and sound like an intellectual. Then he promptly skewers his thin credibility by sounding downright stupid on the issue of human induced global warming (he is a skeptic).

His only decent columns are the ones about baseball - but even there he cannot help himself by being a know it all about whether the designated hitter rule is a good thing or not, which Will has in the past compared to the Dred Scot decision and the decline of Western Civilization, although in one column Will kind of reverses that and at the same time pokes a little fun at himself, which must be a first. http://articles.philly.com/1986-10-23/news/26057948_1_designated-hitter-rule-dh-umpire

[bluestate10]

14. I don't read Will's column because I know the conclusion from the outset.

What do you expect from a guy that has a haircut from the 1930s?

[Boomerproud]

36. And a suit and glasses to boot.

Wasn't he in "The Sting"?

[madokie]

15. I don't know as I've ever tried

[Major Hogwash]

19. Back when he denied that he had a "quote boy" assisting him spew crap, I made it through 1 article.

I gave myself a gold star on the calendar that day, and counted my blessings.
I never tempted gawd again, and never tried to read anything Clueless George ever wrote again.

He's almost as bad as Krautheimer, but he's even more boring.
Seriously.

I used to line the bottom of my parakeet's cage with the op-ed page of the local newspaper that his articles were printed on.
I caught my parakeet looking down at the article one day.
I guess he was trying to see what was at the bottom of his cage, comics or whatnot.
The freaking parakeet fell off of his perch totally asleep while trying to make it through one of George's columns!!!

[Retrograde]

22. His book on baseball isn't bad

"The Boys of Summer", I think it's called. When he writes about a subject he's passionate about (and I'm mildly interested in) and leaves out most of the politics he's ok. I can't read his columns, though, without wanting to wad the paper up into a ball and throw it at the wall (see, there's a reason for sticking with print after all!)

[yellowcanine]

25. But he gets pompous and all knowing about baseball as well.....

The DH rule for example. He basically blames everything from the downfall of Western civilization to the failure of our educational system on the DH rule.

[Retrograde]

28. Well, yeah, he has a point there

Ten people on a side isn't baseball But OTOH I'm an Oakland A's fan.

I usually put the DH rule in the same category as the question of beans in chili: I just won't get into religious arguments.

[madinmaryland]

31. Sorry, but you are absolutely wrong. The DH is an abomination of a rule, and has done more to ruin

the game of baseball than even Bud $elig has done.

[yellowcanine]

38. Wrong about what? Did not comment on merits of the DH, just on how Will talks about it.

Am I wrong about Will being pompous about the DH and blaming all sorts of ills on it? My point was that even with baseball, Will cannot resist overstating his case. The DH may be bad for baseball, but it is neither a reflection of nor a cause of cultural ills.

[closeupready]

24. I recall reading one about his opposition to gay marriage -

He referred to his wife as his best friend, which spoke volumes to me about what is likely a man who is unable to form REAL friendships with other men.

It's not that this is so unusual in modern America; rather, that he failed to catch what he was doing, or else he didn't care (and if not, then that would underscore the larger point).

[yellowcanine]

26. Second wife that is - his first one threw his crap out on the lawn after

he took up with a younger, more trophy worthy version.

[Boomerproud]

35. Someone married him?

He's had sex???? No way!!!

[yellowcanine]

41. Apparently so, there are several little Willies running around from both wives.

[MADem]

27. Asshole used Jimmy Carter's stolen briefing book to prep Reagan for debate.

He is lower than pond scum.

He denies it, but he did it. JEC is quite certain of it, and I trust his judgment.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

29. He's so damn pompous.

And he's been getting steadily worse for years. He uses his pomposity and academic language to disguise his wingnuttery, but if you can make it through one of his tedious columns you can see the English-professor mask start to slip and glimpse the clown face underneath.

[Gothmog]

32. I have never been impressed by George Will

He is not as bright as he thinks he is

[struggle4progress]

33. I simply stopped reading him when it became clear to me that he's a liar

[libodem]

34. Fuck NO

That wordy mothpiece of Satan.

[rickford66]

37. Krugman vs Will

I apologize if someone already posted this link.

Five Hamilton College seniors led by public policy professor P. Gary Wyckoff
analyzed the predictions of 26 prognosticators between September 2007 and December 2008.


http://www.hamilton.edu/documents/An-Analysis-of-the-Accuracy-of-Forecasts-in-the-Political-Media.pdf

[hrmjustin]

39. I have read a few of his columns when he talked about senate and house races. Other than that no.

[JNelson6563]

40. Easy money, if one were so inclined.

If you can find a sucker to take the opposing bet, always be willing to put money on GW being wrong. And the few times I've seen him on TV he always comes off as whining. I find it rather grating.

Julie

[Ron Green]

42. He's the leftmost columnist in my local daily.

The corporate-lackey editors think he's statesmanlike, I'm sure.

[Barack_America]

43. Maybe 10 years ago, before he lost his damned mind.

I actually used to enjoy him on This Week, I rarely agreed with him, but I used to value his opinion.