Live from Music Row, Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael in studio to criticize American libertarian-conservative political commentator and author George Will and the lack of true statesmen across the country.
Leahy: Crom, you’ve got a bone to pick with George Will?
Carmichael: It’s not so much a bone to pick, because this is Barton Swaim who is writing an article about George Will and talking about how George Will has been this stalwart over the years for limited government. I see George Will as an advocate for political failure.
That’s the way that I’ve always viewed George Will when he decided to resign from the Republican Party because of Trump. If you’ll recall, George Will was a big George Bush the second supporter. He liked them both, and they both spent money like I’m not going to say like Democrats, but they both spent money.
George W. Bush expanded Medicare dramatically. He was quoted as saying, we have a responsibility that when somebody hurts, government has got to move. If that statement is true, then that means that there is no limit as to how much government would spend or waste in order to help a single person.
Leahy: A lot of people hurt.
Carmichael: A lot of people hurt.
Leahy: They hurt during the era of the founding of the country, and the government didn’t always jump in and fix their hurt.
Carmichael: No. The point is, there will always be people who are hurting. And so if the federal government is looked upon as both the repair of hurt, of first and last resort, then slowing government spending, keeping us from going, by the way, giant deficits cause more people to hurt. It’s self-inflicted. That quote was by George W. Bush in 2003 shortly before signing a law to expand Medicare.
Leahy: This was five years before he announced that he was breaking the laws of the free market in order to save the free market. Remember that?
Carmichael: Is that George W. Bush?
Leahy: George W.
Carmichael: But George Will historically stood at the center of cutting back on entitlements, which is politically a political loser if you recognize that what motivates the left is the power and money that comes from government. George Will, intellectually, he’s actually a lightweight. His time has come and gone.
Leahy: His time has come and gone.
Carmichael: And I’m not sure his time ever came, but it’s gone.
Leahy: That’s a good point, because he was a big opponent of Ronald Reagan in the early days. When Reagan was running against George W. Bush.
Carmichael: I have no idea. If George Will could do whatever he wanted to do I have no idea what George Will would want to do. He’s a lightweight. He comes across as serious, but he’s always been kind of a lightweight.
Michael, I’m not sure that when it comes to true statesmen, they are few and far between. When I look across the world, I don’t see anyone who stands out as a great statesperson in any of our major institutions.
Leahy: Our major institutions have gone into a world where they accept certain propaganda, right, shall we say? They’re not particularly intellectually honest. In fact, they’re the exact opposite of intellectually honest.
Carmichael: And part of the problem is that you have people like The Wall Street Journal opinion page that became so angry and upset with Donald Trump’s victory. Donald Trump has many shortcomings, but the shortcomings have more to do with his persona than they do with his policy.
Leahy: Let me follow up on this Crom. It’s very interesting that you mentioned that, because there is of course, I don’t know if the country wants to see a rematch of 70, then it’ll be 78-year-old Donald Trump against 82-year-old Joe Biden. I don’t think the country necessarily is looking forward to that.
But the ABC- Washington Post poll came out, and despite all of the missteps that Donald J. Trump has had since he left the presidency, the latest poll has him up 48-45 over Joe Biden. On the big issues of foreign policy, who would you rather have? Donald J. Trump or Joe ‘Surrender’ Biden?
Carmichael: I said that Trump’s policies were good. His personal way of handling himself leaves a great deal to be desired, and I think it actually hurt his ability to accomplish things. Now, having said that, there’s a lot between here and here in the next election.
Leahy: There is an awful lot between here and the next election.
Carmichael: And I think that we are going to find out from Biden sometime by the middle of March through the end of March at the latest, whether or not he intends to run for re-election.
Leahy: By the way, we could roll tape on this Crom. But I think someone in this studio made a prediction.
Carmichael: Yes. That he wouldn’t serve out his term.
Leahy: Someone made that prediction.
Carmichael: I think that probably was me.
Leahy: I think it probably was.
Carmichael: My prediction is he’d be gone by now.
Leahy: I think your prediction was he’d be gone by April.
Carmichael: Well, I think he’ll be gone. (Leahy laughs) That would be then one of those predictions that turns out to be incorrect.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “George Will” by Washington Speakers Bureau. Background “United States Capitol” by David Maiolo. CC BY-SA 3.0.
