George Will: "John McCain showed his personality this week and it made some of us fearful."

[jazzjunkysue]

:wow:

This week on George Stepenopoulis. Just heard it with my own ears.

If that's not an indorsement for Obama, what is?

[babylonsister]

1. I'm SHOCKED! nt

[DangerousRhythm]

2. From George WILL too, of all people.

Shocking and though it's certainly far from the best of circumstances, I will take what we can get.

[KayLaw]

3. He was on TV this morning.

A local newsman was asking him softball questions and he seemed negative. He spent a lot of time whining about Obama. He came off as smarmy and petty.

[my3boyz]

4. Perhaps he does not like McCain or Obama! lol I predict he will

side with McCain in the end. He will probably throw up a little but he will vote for McCain.

[thunder rising]

5. Totally agree!! He's an asshat that knows his job is to sell the Repugnants.

Not just sell them, but to believe and make others believe he is an intellectual and understands the "intellectual" basis for the conservative philosophy.

[johnaries]

9. Did you see him? No, after this week there is no way he will support

McCain. He may not like Obama, but it's obvious he's come to the "no way, no how, no McCain" camp.

[optimisticin08]

6. what exactly did will say?

[johnaries]

8. The op is a direct quote.

He gave a little more detail earlier in the discussion. He talked about how a leader should be cool, and calm and only one of the candidates was (he never said Obama's name). Then he talked about McCain's reactions, including how the most destructive response would be to "fire somebody" and that McCain called fr the firing for one of the most experienced. most qualified and "most conservative" people involved.

I had to pick my jaw up off the floor several times.

[NewJeffCT]

20. And Cox is certainly very far right

but, has not been as big a disaster as I thought he'd be, which is saying a lot.

[johnaries]

7. I saw that. My first thought, "Has George Will seen the light?"

He was talking earlier in the discussion about "leadership" and how McCain failed this week. But this later statement pretty much sums it up.

[DCBob]

10. George Will almost sounded like an Obama supporter today.

He also had a another great line -- "trickle down misery" in reference to what would happen if we don't bail out Wall Street.

[Eyes_wide_ open]

14. The biggest problem with the 'trickle down ecomomics' theory,

as those of us on the bottom end of the economic scale know, is that it's SHIT that rolls downhill.

[budkin]

11. Dude... if he's lost Will... he's lost.

[Fly by night]

22. He lost Will a long time ago (for those who can't stomach ABC anymore).

George Will has been consistently critical of McLame for months now. You would have been much more likely to hear support for McLame from Cokie ("I'm not a Democrat, but I play one on TV") Roberts over those months than from Will.

Give me an honest conservative over a slimy DINO anytime.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

12. What might be happening...

McCain has pissed off just about everybody (conservatives included) at one time or another. Even people who like him. If the corporate conservatives have written him off, perhaps thinking that maybe even dealing with Barak Obama might be preferable to dealing with John McCain, then you can count on a lot of "mainstream" conservatives like George Will so start jumping ship. Not only because they personally dislike John McCain and are terrified of Sarah Palin being anywhere near the White House, but also because maybe if they support Obama in November, then can negotiate with him in February.

[electron_blue]

16. that makes sense. But what negotiations does Will have to make with the future president?

Interviews?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

17. I didn't mean Will personally, per se

More the pro-business Republicans who might be terrified of what McCain might do to the economy, but also concerned that Obama might come in and cripple it with regulations.

[nichomachus]

13. The sooner George Will is swinging from a gallows the better.

[Chan790]

15. I'd miss his baseball writing...

he may be a shit-stained schmuck but he is truly in love with the game and that passion shows. He should spend more time writing about baseball and less about a dead political theory. Conservatism is dead and Zombie Dick Cheney ate the remains.

[nichomachus]

19. I haven't read anything Will wrote since

1995, when the GOP took over Congress. Will wrote that the Republicans should put all the money for AIDS research and public broadcasting into the same pot and then "sit back and laugh while the liberals fight over it."

I vowed then I would never dignify the cretin by reading one word that he wrote.

Will loves baseball -- so fucking what -- Hitler loved his German shepherds.

[firedupdem]

18. He's a scum bag but that was still nice to hear. n/t

[ErinBerin84]

21. The Huffington Post did a write up on this as well...

And Sam Donaldson said that it raises the issue of McCain's age again!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/21/abc-panel-tears-into-mcca_n_128055.html



For John McCain, the panel discussion on This Week with George Stephanopoulos could not have been more brutal.

Minutes after conservative columnist George Will declared that the Senator was decidedly un-presidential is his unexpected call for the firing of SEC Chairman Chris Cox, Sam Donaldson, the long-time ABC hand, said that McCain's erratic message on the economy again raised questions about his age.

"I suppose the McCain campaign's hope is that when there's a big crisis, people will go for age and experience," said Will. "The question is, who in this crisis looked more presidential, calm and un-flustered? It wasn't John McCain who, as usual, substituting vehemence for coherence, said 'let's fire somebody.' And picked one of the most experienced and conservative people in the administration, Chris Cox, and for no apparent reason... It was un-presidential behavior by a presidential candidate."

Donaldson then jumped in: "It was two days after the he said the fundamentals of the economy were strong. His talking points have gotten all mixed up. And I think the question of age is back on the table."

It should be noted that McCain's call for the firing of Cox was dismissed right off the bat, as the president does not have the authority to axe an SEC chairman. The criticisms that Donaldson raised concerned the fact that McCain started the week by touting the fundamentals of the economy, before pivoting into fits of populist mantra and calling for increased regulation of the markets - position at odds with McCain's traditional economic philosophies.

"When I say age," he explained, "I don't know the difference between finding your talking points and not delivering the right ones, we have seen him do this frequently but this last week was the worst. Between two stops in Florida, as you say, he had to revise his thinking about what he wanted to say about the economy, wanted to feel the pain suddenly than say everything is great."

The whole, painful, episode crested with Will leveling an even harsher blow.

"John McCain showed his personality this week," said the writer and pundit, "and made some of us fearful."

[JI7]

23. isn't George Will an Atheist

how can he support people like Bush and Palin who talk about how much of the things they do depend on something that isn't proven.

as always it probably comes down to the wealthy not wanting to pay their share of taxes.

[Curtland1015]

24. George Will isn't an Atheist, he worships the dollar.