The dishonesty of George Will

Washington Post Op-Ed columnist George Will, earned the prestigious ranking of Wanker Of The Day from Atrios. And, most deservedly.

Will can't stand it that Jim Webb actually stood up to Will's chosen president and treated Bush's petulance with all due respect - a short and well-earned slap-down.

As you can see from the original Washington Post article Webb was succinct but hardly uncivil. No... he wasn't deferential. Bush is the President of the United States - the US doesn't have a monarch. (Emphasis mine)

"How's your boy?" Bush asked, referring to Webb's son, a Marine serving in Iraq.

"I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President," Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.

"That's not what I asked you," Bush said. "How's your boy?"

"That's between me and my boy, Mr. President," Webb said coldly...

Now, take a look at what Will wrote in his column on the same subject:

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."

Note what part Will just happened to leave out, thus minimizing the petulant remark by Bush. He altered the actual event to paint Webb as, in Will's own words, a boor.

Well, then. That would make George Will a liar. The conclusion of Will's column:

... what Washington did not need another of, a subtraction from the city's civility and clear speaking.

Quite right. Washington already has George Will for that and, with the other mindless, lying, right-wing, Bush-worshipping pundits lodged in that city, D.C.'s allocation of incivility and double-talk is well over-subscribed.