What to Do About George Will?

[UPDATE--Previously broken links have been fixed.]

Last night we mentioned two accounts of an exchange a couple of weeks back between the Prez and the senator-elect from Virginia. This morning, a third account appeared in one of the same papers we quoted last night. George Will discussed it in his Washington Post column, but it didn't quite sound the same as what the Post reported yesterday. Here's the link again, if you want to reacquaint yourself with their original coverage--Will links to it himself, as if to dare us to compare.

Will quotes the story selectively to paint Jim Webb as a "pompous poseur," an "abuser of the English language," and a "boor." Will considers Webb disrespectful to the Prez, yet he neglects to mention the two times Webb addresses him as "Mr. President." Will insists Bush's inquiry, "How's your boy?" in regard to Webb's marine son serving in Iraq, is a "civil and caring question" from "one parent to another," yet he neglects to mention that, in response to Webb's first reply that he'd like to see the troops come home, Bush retorted, "That's not what I asked you, how's your boy?"

But all this is just character assassination Will uses to introduce his real target, Webb's recent opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal. Will doesn't have a substantive argument to make, he just picks around the edges, questioning whether the wealth gap is truly the "least debated" political issue and whether Webb used the words "literally" and "infinitely" correctly. After tossing a couple of statistics around, Will dismisses Webb out of hand.

So what should be done about such shoddy journalism? Dan Froomkin steps out from behind his always solid White House Briefing at The Washington Post's online edition (where he mentions Will's Webb column today if you scroll waaaaaaaaay down) to post to the Neiman Watchdog blog and charge his colleagues with what may be their most important task as we try to return accountability in government: Call bullshit. He's absolutely right. Journalists (and all of us, for that matter) should call bullshit on government officials, business leaders, and other journalists when it's necessary. And in this case with George Will, it is.