George Will should shut his cryhole

George Will penned a whiny little screed about the dustup between Jim Webb and W, in which he decried Webb as a boor for refusing to kiss the Presidential ring. I say screw you George Will. And the same goes for the rest of the chattering class that got the vapors over this incident. For years, Democrats endured, shall we say, less than decorous treatment at the hands of Republicans. The big media types had nothing to say on the matter, having been bridled and bullied by fear of being labeled with the dread “liberal bias” accusation from conservatives.

Now, when a truly tough man decides that he is not going to accommodate a petulant Presidential tantrum, assholes like Will, R. Emmett Tyrrell, and the rest, start to bitch about manners and decency. Come the fuck on? No one said a peep when Newt Gingrich was calling liberals vile, decrepit, and evil (terms he actually recommended that his colleagues use in reference to Democrats). Where was this talk of decorum when Tom Delay and Rich Santorum were spouting off their crazy shit? If respect and etiquette and good behavior are so god damn important, why the hell does Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity have a platform from which to espouse their peculiar brand of vitriol?

The answer, of course, is that it does not count if you are Republican. So fuck this talk of manners and respect. It is time for the press the relearn the lesson that respect is something earned, not merely conveyed by the office one holds. Nora Ephron gets it – I wish like hell more Beltway types did.