George Will: Where he stands

there's no need to ask veteran columnist George Will where he stands he's the author of a new book called the conservative Sensibility our senior contributor Ted Koppel found him as outspoken and amiable as ever this is continuing election night coverage the 80 vote have you ever noticed that George Will is essentially unchanged from the way he looked 40 years ago commentary by George Will there's joy that you're saying is a change of ideas the country of comparison one of the interesting things that we're gonna be watching look at the anchorman on the right progress that outfits like Morrow majority and here they are again just the other day interest it's a baseball and it has the Constitution of the United States on it more the years have definitely taken their toll on the other fella but George almost eerie isn't it his politics like his appearance essentially unchanged George is this conservative rock unmoved by the chaos raging around him when President and mrs. Reagan came to dinner at George's house which they did with some regularity it marked a near-perfect intersection between Republican power and conservative ideology today conservatism is frankly a persuasion without it without a party now there are worse things it's not that terrible or fun on a windy cold world it's a proud profession and it will find new advocates none more devoted than George President of the United States of America Donald J Trump although he would be the first to acknowledge that the political winds especially within the Republican Party have shifted I have written approaching 6,000 columns since 1973 and if power is properly defined as the ability to achieve intended effects I've got no power that I can see the country resolutely refuses to do what I tell it to do what George is telling the country in this conversation is not to vote again for Donald Trump so if you're not gonna vote for Donald Trump who's left in the binary choice and it will be a binary choice in 2020 it seems to me if you're a conservative and if you can assume and it's a rash assumption Republican control of the Senate so that not much will happen it seems reasonable to begin to heal our political culture by replacing the current president George concedes that the president has appointed some solid conservative judges that gives him little or no personal credit well there's the but Gorsuch side which is okay he's this this and this but they got some Supreme Court justices no small thing no small thing but it's really not his judgment he outsource that to the Federalist Society of which I'm a proud member and they produced the kind of lists they would have produced for any Republican president and he and in an almost unprecedented act of good judgment decided to follow their lead you're gonna question the motivation or you're gonna relish the results relish the results there you go George Will has persisted over the years as a complicated personality with the curious appeal even to those who've never read his column or have any clue as to what he's talking about scientific fact is even accepted by primary conservatives like George Will and the late Pope John Paul George will indeed for as long as most people can remember the George Will has crafted his twice weekly is 750 word columns on issues small and great and he rarely equivocates you know exactly where he stands are there any reasons other than the life of the mother that is threatened that in your mind who would validate abortion rape incest life of the mother it's not just an academic issue for George he has a particularly clear memory of the day his son Jonathan was born I do John was born on May 4th my birthday in 1972 the next day the doctor came in and said you have a Down Syndrome child and he said the first thing you have to consider is are you going to take him home and his mother and I said we thought we would that that was a American tradition you take the children home from the hospital in 1972 of the life expectancy of a child with Down's syndrome was about 20 years John has just turned 47 I'm bound to say that most people when they become pregnant with a Down Syndrome child to be today get it get them aborted which i think is a shame I think the world would be a nicer sweeter happier place if there were more people like John John has a job these days working in the clubhouse of the Washington Nationals baseball team take me out to the ball game take me out with a crowd you may have heard George Will likes baseball that picture over there George somebody's idea of a cosmic joke on the wall of his office is what he probably considers an improvement on Michelangelo's famous painting in which God is conveying the gift of a divine spirit to Adam in this version of course the gift is a baseball that sort of reflects your insanity doesn't it George yes I've said so often that I only write about politics to support my baseball habit which is really it's up severe my wedding ring which I designed myself as the Major League Baseball logo on it it does yes so how does your wife feel about that it was part of the deal before or before for this guy's betting 352 which is really good every 20 years oh so George takes me to a major league ballpark in a futile effort to turn me into a baseball fan did you ever play the game briefly and very badly for the Middendorf funeral home Panthers a little league team in Champaign Illinois our color was needless to say Boy George insists that the common theme Lincoln baseball and democracy is the opportunity for argument we don't like to argue you're not a good American get to baseball fans and you'll have an argument about anything who's the best left-handed pitcher from Northwest South Dakota will be an argument and that excites you I'd love to argue I'm paid to argue it's my vocation as argument argument animating democracy and baseball the twin passions bubbling just beneath the surface of this seemingly blessed man which actually raises a question I meant to ask you before anyway your your your notion of God you you will believe or no a theist or I have just described myself as an amiable low voltage atheist but you have you have no sense of eternity and no no this is enough this is a that tries to be 750 words 750 words and I'm out of here

Channel: CBS Sunday Morning

Views: 299,695

Keywords: CBS Sunday Morning, CBS News, news, george will, advocate, conservative policies, conservatism, trump, president trump, politics

Id: Tm471zlXSzI

Length: 8min 19sec (499 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 02 2019