2/28 George F. Will

John McCain’s questionable campaign financing tactics show him to be a hypocrite. His sanctimony is grating.

2/28 Robert Novak

Tim Pawlenty was thought to be a good VP candidate for McCain. Pawlenty’s clean energy policies have offended GOP special interests, and therefore have submarined his chances.

 2/28 Wrap

Wow, these are interesting developments (Interesting if you’re among the .003% of Americans who closely follow developments on the WaPo Op-ed pages). GFW seems to just plain not like John McCain, and this sentiment has come out in recent columns. It may be unfair to think this dislike superficial. Perhaps George is sanely abandoning modern Republicanism. Perhaps GFW is so beholden to conservative ideology that he cannot forgive McCain’s transgressions.

 Over the last few years, Will has gone the Buckley route on recent Bush policies. Here’s my crass analogy for what has happened: It’s possible that both men experienced a “Mario letdown.” 

 In our subconscious quest to waist the good faith and cash of our parents, my friends and I burned 1/5 of college playing Mario/Madden/Streetfighter II/whatever. When the games got particularly engrossing, we’d share stories of a depressing phenomenon. We’d beat a tough level, and get some joy from the goal achievement. This was followed by a glance at long-neglected surroundings. The bags of stale chips, the ramen stains on the shirt, the unpaid bills, the dirty, crusted plates. And then a grim reality sets in: You’ve painfully realized your dream and the result sickens you.

 Now we had the good sense to blame ourselves for this wasted lifeforce (also, our stupid decisions didn’t cause deaths, or propagate American poverty). GFW and WFB took one look at the predictable Bush admin morass and blamed the faulty executers of conservatism. Will and Buckley have fought hard for a “conservative agenda,” only to see this agenda “abused” by the empowered yougin’s of the movement. 

 So much work went into the Reagan and Bush eras. Damocles deadlines hung over these guys as they assiduously pontificated for the movement—and electoral success validated the effort. Without their presence (especially the newly late Buckley’s), we’d have no Ronnie to worship, and no Bush to um, worship? And there’s the problem. George and Bill could at least fool themselves into self-congratulation for the Reagan era. His approval rating wasn’t hanging at a near revolution-inducing 25%. Though many political jobs involve shining shit and calling it gold, there are limits in shit shining.

 Now we may be witnesses to an elder conservative statesmen backlash against the movement, ironically directed at elder statesmen John McCain. These cracks in the conservative monolith may carry more weight than McCain criticisms coming from liberals. In this column Will is essentially calling John McCain a self-righteous phony. Character assaults on McCain are rarer than admissions of guilt from WaPo pundits.

 2/29 Michael Gerson

 Obama’s rhetorical acumen has been attacked by opponents, but it is an important advantage.

 2/29 Eugene Robinson 

 The press is often criticized for overemphasizing “the horserace,” but this is forgivable because the candidates do not differ within their own parties.

 2/29 E.J. Dionne Jr.

Obama’s charismatic campaign looks to be the liberal version of the Reagan phenomenon of the 1980’s. Those who are/did taking him lightly are foolish to do so.

 2/29 Wrap

Interesting. We have two columns specifically devoted to adding weight to Obama’s rhetorical skill. Perhaps he is now officially a “serious” candidate.

 3/1 Colbert I. King

Hillary Clinton wants to attack Obama with a “guilt by association” tactic, but she won’t let critics to apply that standard (the standard of having to be held accountable for the words of supporters) to her.

 3/1 Wrap

King’s Hillary piece is scathing. The Farrakhan swipe was pretty dishonorable, and she should be criticized for that one (though this piece was a little much). Unfortunately, I have not seen that much criticism for the odious Tim Russert.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 3:01 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.