Follow Up

The hacktacular George Will:

Webb certainly has conveyed what he is: a boor. Never mind the patent disrespect
for the presidency. Webb's more gross offense was calculated rudeness toward
another human being -- one who, disregarding many hard things Webb had said
about him during the campaign, asked a civil and caring question, as one parent
to another. When -- if ever -- Webb grows weary of admiring his new grandeur as
a "leader" who carefully calibrates the "symbolic things" he does to convey
messages, he might consider this: In a republic, people decline to be led by
leaders who are insufferably full of themselves.

Uh huh. I'm sure you can figure this one out. For reference, see the post below.

Kos makes a funny:

In a republic, people decline to listen to self-styled media gasbags who are
insufferably full of themselves.

I think Will's last sentence there is fine; however, he's referring to the wrong BUSH person BUSH. For reference, see the 2006 elections.

Greg Sargent has a write-up at TPM Cafe on something that I'd noticed while reading Will's column, which is that Will has the journalistic integrity of Judith Miller in the presence of an administration official. In case you're wondering, contrast the quote here, as reported by Will, to the one in the post below.

When Bush asked Webb, whose son is a Marine in Iraq, "How's your boy?" Webb
replied, "I'd like to get them [sic] out of Iraq." When the president again
asked "How's your boy?" Webb replied, "That's between me and my boy."

Last but not least, there is the blatant hypocrisy in Will's column. It's really great that he's morphed back into a highschool girl who's really concerned with grammar, appropriate tone of voice when talking to the appropriate people and heaven forbid that someone could possibly be rude to someone else - especially when that someone else makes fun of that person's son almost getting killed in a war he started - but where was all the hullabaloo - Digby has not yet posted on this but I'm sure he will - over the past six years when Bush displayed that he lacked the verbal capabilities of a middle schooler? "Is our children learning"? "The Grecians are our friends"? "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream"? Who the hell is this man?! Furthermore, it's not like this was a problem limited to Bush. Will has no quarrel with Cheney telling Leahy to go Cheney himself and he never wrote a full column on Duke Cunningham's gibberish letter - the Daily Show did this so well - but if that Jim Webb steps out of line he needs to be reminded of The Elements of Style! I'll let Sirota go deconstructionist on Will's ass.