We, The Stupidest People on Earth...
From George F. Will, who I used to admire and may again: the right to digital teevee.
Please believe me when I say that this is the kind of thing that might just make me a Republican...if only the Republicans weren't in on it.
HAS EVERYONE F*CKING GONE INSANE??????????????????????????
From George F. Will, who I used to admire and may again: the right to digital teevee.
Please believe me when I say that this is the kind of thing that might just make me a Republican...if only the Republicans weren't in on it.
HAS EVERYONE F*CKING GONE INSANE??????????????????????????
posted by Winston Smith at
10:11 AM
15 Comments:
Yeah I blogged about this one today, too. Will has something a lot of repubs don't: intellectual integrity.
My party has been lost on domestic policy since we lost our visionary.
I mean, he brought it on himself, but the country is poorer for his abdication. Justice is a bitch.
And the people will havelost another resource, the analog airwaves. I know this seems like a minor point, but wasn't it the case that the corps rented the airwaves from the government?
Privatize, privatize, privatize.
who I used to admire
Ew. I'd think that should be ruled out by his conduct around the 1980 debate (reviewing Reagan's performance without disclosing that he'd help him prepare for it, declining to reveal that Reagan's team had stolen Carter's prep book). It's disgusting that Will has worked in journalism for a second since that came out.
NB Will makes a big fuss about this, and apparently didn't personally steal the briefing book, but does not deny his personal involvement in Reagan's prep, the Reagan team's theft of the book, and his refusal to disclose any of this, insisting that this is excused because it was no big deal. As Atrios likes to say, time for another conference on blogger ethics!
bread and circus
Matt,
Yeah, I liked Will when I was a kid and didn't know about the debate chicanery. In fact there's no way I'd ever respect him once I'd learned about that, so the last part of my claim is, upon reflection, not accurate.
Gee, I think Will's column makes Carter look worse by lying about Will (twice), and Lord knows Carter's well-thought of by many here.
I myself don't see the problem with a columnist, as opposed to a reporter, being politically active. It's not as if their political leanings are secret.
I have a much bigger problem with a political operative like George Stephanopoulos becoming ABC's Chief Washington Correspondent. Or the WaPo's Dana Milbank writing both news stories and contentious opinion columns. Forgive me if I doubt their abilities to turn off their partisanship like a faucet.
Was the Atrios quote referring to the fact that The Daily Kos was covertly paid by the Howard Dean campaign? Just checking, because that's far worse than Will helping Reagan for free. If Will is damaged, Kos is dead.
FYI, some context. Still, there has to be a better way...
Covert, TVD? Uh, no. See the horse's mouth, which you would have known had you followed the blithering Akin's links.
It was Will who covertly reported on and opined about his own debate prep.
Upon further review, LL, I withdraw the remark about Kos. (And I did write something recently about checking out the opposition when it comes to rants we find congenial to our own. Hooboy.) My bad.
The rest of my remarks still stand.
Tom (may I call you Tom?), I don't think that that part of the story reflects well on Carter--he shouldn't have said that Will stole the book. (Last time I think we agreed with you that Carter had done some inappropriate foreign-policy meddling after his presidency.)
That doesn't change the fact that Will behaved extremely unethically; he should have disclosed his connection to the Reagan debate preparation when commenting on Reagan's debate performance, and for god's sake he should not have connived at* the theft of the briefing book. Remember, someone went to jail for doing something similar to Bush in 2000 (though Gore refused to take advantage). Will's known political leanings were one thing; that sort of subterfuge was another.
And Will is guilty of a total lack of class as well as ethics. His response to the--undenied--accusation that he knew of the theft of Carter's briefing book is that the book "was a crashing bore and next to useless -- for you, or for anyone else." THAT'S NO EXCUSE! It's like stealing someone's purse and then quoting "He who steals my purse steals trash."
*definition: "give one's silent approval to," although I think it suggests not disclosing something that is secret and possibly criminal or unethical.
Tom's fine, Matt. Any ol' sobriquet will do unless associated with Venereal Disease, which cannot be confused with a sign of affection, even with the most generous benefit of the doubt.
I seem to have gotten in over my head about the sins of this opinionator or that. I vaguely recall that George Will wrote praise of Reagan's debate performance without revealing the he himself had assisted in the debate prep. I think that's what you're referring to, and will accept it as fact.
Seems Will should have been kicked out of the front line of punditry for that and shouldn't be on ABC on Sunday mornings.
If you add in that virtually nobody in my conservative echo chamber gives a fig for what George Will thinks, or is even vaguely aware of him anymore, why is he on? The guy's a walkin' freakin' straw man, like Pat Buchanan.
(Oh yeah, some housekeeping: looks like Jimmy Carter lied/fudged about Will begging forgiveness. The gal who stole Bush's debate practice videotape was found guilty of perjury and mail fraud, not political espionage.)
(And who's "we," Matt? Was that the royal "we," or is there some sort of cabal I don't know about?)
;-)
Funny...
Of course, when matt said, Last time I think we agreed with you that..., he got caught with an edit half done between Last time I think we agreed that... and Last time I think I agreed with you that....
I thought our host was on my side that time. Failing that, I credit my cat who occasionally sits on the keyboard.
I mean, with agreeing with me, I wouldn't try to shift the blame for that remark onto the cat.
The word verification is "zcdog."
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