Some on the right are joining a chorus of criticism over Sarah Palin
John McCain's running mate and his sharp reactions to the nation's economic crisis have led several prominent conservative columnists to slam the senator as reckless and strident.
While John McCain and his aides have railed against the "liberal mainstream media" in recent weeks, some of the most searing attacks against the Republican presidential nominee have come from conservative intellectuals.
McCain's surprise vice presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and his sharp reactions to the continuing economic storm have led several prominent columnists on the right to slam the Arizona senator as more reckless than bold, more strident than forceful.
Those opinion leaders, in turn, have triggered a backlash from other commentators, who have dubbed the critics elitists and risen to the defense of a woman they see as the Republican Party's new populist star.
The spirited debate may have reached its apogee last week, with George F. Will issuing McCain a harsh dressing-down.
"Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high," Will began his syndicated column, which is carried in more than 450 newspapers. "It is not Barack Obama."
The conservative elder accused McCain of "characteristically substituting vehemence for coherence" and of attacking his Democratic rival as a big spender, rather than mounting a philosophical challenge to the largest government bailout of business in American history.
Will mocked the Republican standard-bearer as a veritable Queen of Hearts (a la "Alice in Wonderland") for demanding the head of Christopher Cox, a former Republican congressman who is chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist argued that such impulsiveness sows doubts about McCain's ability to apply "calm reflection and clear principles" to important decisions. He ended his broadside by all but declaring McCain unfit for the Oval Office.
"It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency," Will wrote. "It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?"
The dismay expressed by Will and other columnists, including David Brooks of the New York Times, who at times is a McCain cheerleader, arises primarily over McCain's selection of Palin.
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