George Will on McCain: "behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high."

[ProSense]

September 23, 2008

LOSING GEORGE WILL.... On ABC's "This Week" a couple of days ago, conservative columnist George Will was surprisingly candid in his critique of the presidential campaign, describing Barack Obama as "presidential, calm, and unflustered," and slamming John McCain for "substituting vehemence for coherence," and engaging in "unpresidential behavior." Will added, "John McCain showed his personality this week, and it made some of us fearful."

Today, Will expounded on this point in his Washington Post column, blasting McCain for "behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high."

Conservatives who insist that electing McCain is crucial usually start, and increasingly end, by saying he would make excellent judicial selections. But the more one sees of his impulsive, intensely personal reactions to people and events, the less confidence one has that he would select judges by calm reflection and clear principles, having neither patience nor aptitude for either.

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?

We've talked quite a bit lately about the Kevin Drum-labeled "'Enough' Club," used to describe high-profile political observers who held McCain in high regard, but grew disgusted after watching his sleazy and dishonest campaign tactics. George Will's disappointment with McCain is far different -- he's not talking about McCain being dishonest; he's talking about McCain being unprincipled and immature.

Indeed, Will described McCain as "childish," "shallow," and suffering from a "Manichaean worldview."

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[RichGirl]

1. Here's the thing....

5-1/2 years as POW
Graduated from USNA in the bottom 1% of his class

His past, and lack of qualifications, have caught up with him.

[nichomachus]

2. Fuck George Will

George Will is the worst piece of pond scum imaginable. He's just worried that McCain won't be reliably "conservative" enough to advance the corporate agenda to turn us all into serfs.

[tblue37]

3. Nevertheless, the last line of his piece is, though tepid, something of an endorsement of Obama

over McCain--and I assure you that true conservatives (though not neocons) listen to what George Will says.

He says that Obama lacks in readiness, while McCain's temeprament is scary. Then, at the end of the piece, he says that insufficient readiness, at least, can be remedied, whereas a temperament flaw is not that correctable. He also says, early in the piece, that this week, as the financial crisis unfolded, Obama sounded intelligent, unflustered, and capable, while McCain sounded exactly the opposite. (I am summarizing from memory--I read the pice in the paper this morning).

If any of them are wavering, even this somewhat tepid endorsement of Obama by Will could push them to vote Dem in November. I think Will himself might actually vote for Obama.

[nichomachus]

6. But that's the rub

Barack Obama is more ready to be president than any Republican or Republican candidate since , since, since....unfortunately, Nixon. SO, Will's compliment was really a slam.

[ProSense]

4. So you disagree with his assessment?

"He's just worried that McCain won't be reliably 'conservative' enough"

Who gives a shit about Will's motives? The description is apt.

[nichomachus]

5. I didn't say that

There are a couple of hundred million people in the US I'd rather see an endorsement from. Just because George Will happened to say something we like -- which happened to be a half-assed backhanded statement -- shouldn't get us all giggly about him. He's scum.

I don't want to give that cretin one shred of credibility of attention.

[tblue37]

7. Again--Conservatives listen to him. He is giving them a reason to seriously

consider voting for Obama. I detest Will, too, but conservatives love him--and listen to him. The more conservative votes we get, the more votes we get period. It's that simple.

BTW, are you nichomachus from Smirking Chimp. I used to hang out there before transferring my attention here in summer of 2004, and there was a regular poster named nichomachus there, too. Of course, many people could choose that name, especially if they are familiar with Greek philosophy. I always enjoyed that nichomachus's posts, too.