George Will, Tea Party Tory

[rug]

America's most famous bow-tied conservative finds his wild side

FEBRUARY 11, 2014
BY ISAAC CHOTINER

George Will, the Washington Post columnist and TV personality who recently made a much-publicized switch from ABC to Fox News, loves talking about government: how it works, why it fails, and the know-it-alls who run it. During my recent visit to his office, a converted townhouse in Georgetown, he gleefully dropped a copy of the Senate’s immigration bill on his desk. It was approximately the size of the Oxford English Dictionary. He then handed me a printout of “one of the half-dozen most important pieces of legislation ever passed,” the Homestead Act of 1862. It was two pages. His explanation for the discrepancy: Washington is now full of condescending elites. “It has to be that long, because they know everything,” he said.

Will himself could easily be mistaken for one of those inside-the-Beltway know-it-alls. For more than 30 years, he has been a regular presence on the Sunday morning political shows, exhibiting his signature brand of bow-tied erudition. Watch clips of him on television during the Reagan years and compare them with those from today: Will, 72, barely seems to have changed. The hair is still neatly in place, the sentences are still crisp, the anecdotes about sports tumble out with the same enthusiasm (his third book about baseball lands next month), and the reliance on famous quotes from Great Men is as firm as ever. He seems to have remained the caricature of himself that Dana Carvey played on “Saturday Night Live” back in the early ’90s, when, as Will, Carvey would respond to questions about baseball with answers such as: “The exhilarating tension between being and becoming.”

The affectations remain as stiff as ever, but Will is finally having something like his own version of 1960s-era personal liberation. One of the most important figures in American conservatism has quietly been breaking with movement orthodoxy and evolving into a far different character.

While the extremism of Ted Cruz and his ilk has caused some veteran conservative columnists to be either ejected from the movement for heresy (think David Frum) or forced into uncomfortable contortions (see: Brooks, David), Will happily spouts Tea Party talking points on government overreach and Washington elitism. He has also been counseling his fellow Republicans to become less doctrinaire on social issues, several of which he has evolved on. Asked whether he was cheered by the rise of gay marriage, he coyly told me, “I’m not depressed” and described himself as an “amiable, low-voltage atheist.”

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116426/george-will-finds-his-wild-side

Now he and Charles Krauthammer can share their admiration for the theology of Ayn Rand Sunday mornings on Fox.

[JoePhilly]

1. He used to claim the Tea Party was not the GOP's base.

It was a non-partisan group, he said.

[rug]

2. He's such an idiot.

[JoePhilly]

3. Which is bad especially when one is also a pompous jerk.

[Goblinmonger]

4. Why is this in religion?

Have you posted this seeking civil discourse?

[rug]

5. The right wing is is a mixed bag and from being composed solely of religious fundamentalists.

You should know that.

To answer your second question: Always.



Why do you ask, my friend?

[Goblinmonger]

6. Oh, I don't know.

This article has nothing to do with nor does it discuss religion (I'll be honest, I just read the portion you posted). And someone recently posted in A/A that Will is an "out" atheist and then this thread pops up. I think s4p covered the coincidence thoughts on another thread.

[rug]

7. I don't believe coincidences have meaning.

And somietimes a cigar is only a cigar.

[struggle4progress]

8. We currently host this group with a light hand, allowing a variety of discussions:

Gunman kills two at cathedral in Russia
... The gunman’s motives were unknown ...

Catholic school apologizes for fried chicken, watermelon Black History Month menu
A California high school is under fire for a lunchtime faux pas ...

NY slay suspect says victims cast spells
... a man .. confessed to beating his girlfriend and her daughter to death because he thought they were witches ...

Jewish bakery evolves to cater to East London’s new clientele
... Hyman Rinkoff’s handlebar mustache greets customers above Rinkoffs deli and café on Vallance Road in Whitechapel ...

[Goblinmonger]

9. I didn't alert nor ask for anyone to make a decision on this

but since you bring it up....

1. Gunman kills two at cathedral in Russia
2. Catholic school apologizes for fried chicken
3. NY Slay suspect says victims cast spells
4. Jewish bakery evolves to cater....

I have to go no further than the subject to see at least a tenuous relationship to religion. Can you do the same in any possible way for this OP?

[struggle4progress]

10. There were several long discussions on group hosting here when DU3 came online

It is my still understanding that the group is still hosted in accordance with the general agreements reach then

[Goblinmonger]

11. so?

You made a big show of those threads. Please note I didn't alert or ask your opinion initially. I was just questioning rug as he did to Mr blur in another thread.

But since you chimed in. Can you show me how this thread in any way meets the latitude hosts talked about giving? This deals with religion in exactly ZERO ways.

[rug]

12. Well, let's see.

You like this technique.

'Asked whether he was cheered by the rise of gay marriage, he coyly told me, “I’m not depressed” and described himself as an “amiable, low-voltage atheist.”'

Atheism of course is meaningless without theism, which is religion, and here we all are.

It would be more productive if you discussed the first answer I gave you.

[MellowDem]

13. An amiable, low-voltage atheist, eh?

Kinda like all those black conservatives that describe themselves as "articulate" and "calm". I guess atheists are militant rabble-rousers, at least, in their natural environment. Will wants no part of hat, no sirree.

Another conservative atheist apologist for the far right, including the religious right. Yet, he's not quite as annoying or self-hating as S.E. Cupp.

[cbayer]

14. George Will may call himself a "low-voltage atheist", but he is a Willist

through and through.

Other than this one line, he says nothing more about religion, which doesn't surprise me. He is one of those people that can exploit and use religious people with complete detachment, because he is not one of them.