# George F. Will interview on the Colbert Report **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2008, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733 "2008-06-04T08:28:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gozu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gozu/32/6615_2.png) [@Gozu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/1 "2008-06-04T08:28:48Z")
Did anyone else happen to catch it? I was impressed by his answers about the difference between conservatives and liberals and his thoughts on labels. I had never heard of him but I find out now that he won a pulitzer and published several books. Did anyone read them? ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/2 "2008-06-04T12:30:31Z")
I’ve read _Men At Work_, which goes into marvelous detail dissecting the abilities necessary for pitching, hitting and baserunning. Will is one of the more passionate, knowledgeable and interesting authors on the nation’s national pastime. _Suddenly: The American Idea Abroad and at Home_ was good too as he’s intelligent, well-researched and interesting whether you embrace his ideology or not. You know he’s a regular panelist every Sunday morning on _This Week_ with George Stephanopolous, right? ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/3 "2008-06-04T12:38:48Z")
I’ve been reading his newspaper column for years. Of his books, I have read Men At Work, Bunts and The Pursuit of Virtue and Other Tory Notions. I enjoy his writing. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/4 "2008-06-04T18:20:48Z")
Will’s writing about baseball is excellent. His other writing, not so much. As Spock would say, he proceeds from a false assumption way too often. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/5 "2008-06-04T18:53:57Z")
I’m surprised you never heard of him, as he has a very high visibility quotient for a political pundit. Gets referenced all the time. He was also the subject of (IMO) [one of the best Saturday Night Live skits](http://www.hulu.com/watch/3519/saturday-night-live-george-f-wills-sports-machine) ever. EDIT: Hulu seems to be running a little slow at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/6 "2008-06-04T18:59:29Z")
His columns make a good vocabulary lesson. I used to read them just to see if I could get through the whole thing without having to look up a word. I just read his May 29th column about John McCain, and I had to look up “plebiscitary”. ---
**Author:** ![Rattlehead02](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rattlehead02/32/3944_2.png) [@Rattlehead02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rattlehead02)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/7 "2008-06-04T20:08:10Z")
George Will is a very good looking man! /Kramer (paraphrasing from memory) ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/8 "2008-06-04T20:59:54Z")
Will is one of the last survivors of the “Look how smart I am” school of punditry. They’ve been almost completely supplanted by the “Look how loud I can be” group. Do not be fooled, though: his head is quite firmly wedged up his ass on most topics. He does know his baseball, though. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/9 "2008-06-04T23:52:24Z")
[QUOTE=kelly5078] Will is one of the last survivors of the “Look how smart I am” school of punditry. They’ve been almost completely supplanted by the “Look how loud I can be” group. Do not be fooled, though: his head is quite firmly wedged up his ass on most topics. He does know his baseball, though. [/QUOTE] And I’d sooner kiss his feet than look, hear, or even know of Michelle Malkin, that annoying bitch. Sorry, I see too much of her as it is. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/10 "2008-06-05T00:19:04Z")
I’ve followed George Will since high school. He’s a good pundit and an engaging writer. He’s intelligent, quiet, and polite, and he’s twice as smart and about three hundred times as classy as the Limbaugh/Coulter/O’Reilly douchebags we have speaking for the conservatives today. He’s probably my favorite political writer now that Ben Stein has lost his shit. Please, George, stay classy. Stay sane. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/11 "2008-06-05T01:52:54Z")
I disagree with his politics but enjoy his baseball writing but enjoy his baseball writing. He is also very affecting when he has written about his son who has down syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/12 "2008-06-05T02:19:11Z")
I came in here to mention the SNL skit, but alas. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/13 "2008-06-05T02:47:13Z")
[QUOTE=GildedLily] George Will is a very good looking man! /Kramer (paraphrasing from memory) [/QUOTE] But I never thought he was all that bright. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/14 "2008-06-05T03:18:45Z")
Has Will had a stroke or is he over-botoxed? His face never moved, his forehead never wrinkled, and he never opened his mouth more than one-quarter inch. Will was best captured by Doonesbury in the 1980s, sitting at a high desk, writing with a quill pen, and sending his quote boy out to dig up the high- (and low-) toned quotations he seemed to drop profusely into every column. I thought his comments last night to be thoroughly fatuous, but of course he’s said exactly the same thing in the same words for 30 years so I may be responding to the repetition. Probably not, though. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/15 "2008-06-05T03:49:23Z")
Am I remembering the wrong guy, or didn’t he always wear a bow tie? He didn’t on Colbert. Is this new? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/16 "2008-06-05T14:12:32Z")
He often, but not always, wears a bowtie. He’s wearing one in the publicity photo usually used of him, for instance. Even when I disagree with him, which is more than half the time, I enjoy his writing style. He’s conservative, true, but has said some scathing things about Bush and the poor handling of the Iraq War. He’s also warned the Right not to impute near-royal powers to the Presidency, as it will someday (soon, I hope!) be held by a liberal. He’s not a doctrinaire conservative, and as **Linty Fresh** notes, is a lot smarter than most of the Tory commentariat nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/17 "2008-06-05T14:35:12Z")
Will is a very good writer who is certainly a conservative, as distinct from a Republican, pundit. He never hesitates to blast the President or any other Republican for straying from their principles. I’ve read a lot of his stuff. As a libertarian, I dont’ necessarily agree with his views on everything. The whole notion of “statecraft as soulcraft” (the title of perhaps his best known book outside _Men at Work_) gives you an idea about what animates the part of his political philosophy with which I disagree. If we had more political commentators like Will instead of the dreck like Limbaugh, Coulter, Franken, and Stewart our nation would be a better place. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/18 "2008-06-05T15:16:33Z")
[QUOTE=Renob] If we had more political commentators like Will instead of the dreck like Limbaugh, Coulter, Franken, and Stewart our nation would be a better place. [/QUOTE] You lost me at equating Franken and Stewart with Limbaugh and Coulter - they are _not_ examples of the same behavior but at opposite ends. If you want to have an equivalent to Rush and Ann, someone like Michael Moore or Sean Penn would make a lot more sense. As for Will - he is a decent writer - I like his baseball writing, but have read better… ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/19 "2008-06-05T15:40:29Z")
[QUOTE=WordMan] You lost me at equating Franken and Stewart with Limbaugh and Coulter - they are _not_ examples of the same behavior but at opposite ends. If you want to have an equivalent to Rush and Ann, someone like Michael Moore or Sean Penn would make a lot more sense. [/QUOTE] Perhaps you are right, although I think that both Franken and Stewart do more to cheapen political discourse than they do to help it. They certainly are not on the level of George Will. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2008, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733/20 "2008-06-05T17:16:12Z")
I’ve read GW for at least 30 years, and he is an excellent writing stylist. Logic, however, is not his strong suit, and neither is history. He loves sweeping assertions, which are often wrong. My favorite part of his weekly column in Newsweek is to count how many historical mistakes and how many logical fallacies he commits. Alas, since the death of Buckley, he is the best the righties have. Comparing George Will to Coulter, Malkin et al is like comparing Mort Sahl to circus clown car full of strung out syphilitics. Regardless of whether I agree with him, at least he is a responsible adult actually contributing. The only bad thing I can say about him is receiving and using stolen goods: Carter’s stolen debate briefing manual during his prep sessions with Reagan. A pretty obvious moral (and legal) lapse for which he is unrepentent. But then, who hasn’t stolen documents from a sitting President? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/george-f-will-interview-on-the-colbert-report/451733.md?page=2)