Tired old Tory pundit George Will has lost a few newspaper op-ed checks after his column about how college sexual assault victims get some kind of "coveted status" when they report the assaults.
The vigorous response to that nonsense, on the Internet and elsewhere, has naturally perturbed Will, so he smugly blamed his critics for going "from a standing start to fury in about 30 seconds” in a CSPAN interview that has yet to air, but is previewed in the Washington Post, the "liberal" newspaper that has employed him for 40 years.
The one-sided story by Paul Farhi shows that Will is "doubling down" on his slur by complaining about the kind of instant criticism he received, which is an astonishing bit of projection by the veteran Republican propagandist.
Because that's precisely what the vast right-wing media complex of talk radio, Fox "News," the Drudge Report, newspapers, TV stations, blogs, and nationally syndicated columnists do 24/7 to Obama and Democrats.
Will's weak reply, below.
Direct quotes, in the order they appear in the Post:
Today, for some reason, indignation is the default position for certain people in civic discourse. They go from a standing start to fury in about 30 seconds.
Among the barriers to entry that have been reduced [on the Internet are that] you don’t need to read, write or think. You can just come in and call names and carry on. And we have all kinds of interest groups that think they will get attention . . . if they’re at maximum decibel levels.
This is my job. When dubious statistics become the basis of dubious and dangerous abandonment of due process, it’s my job to step in and say, "Everyone take a deep breath."
(Re: a paper that dropped his column) They know how to propitiate the rabble.
And of course, Will thinks his current problem is "like summer storms; they dissipate fast.”
The projection about "all kinds of interest groups that think they will get attention if they’re at maximum decibel levels" seems to be about women's groups who were rightly appalled by his ignorant column, but not at all about the Heritage Foundation, the Family Research Council, the National Organization for Marriage, Americans for Prosperity, Tea Party Patriots, various Koch front groups (I repeat myself), etc.
As for his alleged job as challenger of "dubious statistics," he hasn't always been so diligent (the Bush Great Recession, climate change, everything about Iraq then and now, etc.)
Because he is, and always has been, a Republican propagandist who uses his "dubious statistics" to support right-wing policies and politicians, and eagerly participates in every dubious Democratic "scandal" ginned up by his interest groups.