Comments on: George Will – Never in Blue Jeans

By: Ezra Klein to WaPo

Ezra Klein to WaPo — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 19:51:01 +0000

[...] overblown. Will has repeated some dubious assertions about global warming and written some silly things about denim; he’s nonetheless a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist and still pens more excellent pieces [...]

By: Rich

Rich — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:32:40 +0000

Will is one Conservative I have never cared for. He has always struck me as a humorless, pompous, stuffy and pedantic bore. His latest pontification dealing with blue jeans is the height of condescension and arrogance.

By: sam

sam — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:55:01 +0000

By the by, who placed the ad on the left...?

By: sam

sam — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:53:22 +0000

Perhaps some of you will recall this Doonesbury putdown of Will:

"Doonesbury" fans may fondly recall the brief appearance of the character T. Hamilton Tripler, intern for Washington pundit George F. Will. "Quote boy!" Will would call out whenever he needed something from Bartlett's or beyond. As Higgins, the quote supervisor, explained to Tripler: "We provide the flourishes of erudition so indispensable to a George Will commentary."

[Source]

By: Charles Fenwick

Charles Fenwick — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:27:09 +0000

Benedict, your point #3 is a home run.

The discussion on the quality of jeans and their suitability as work clothes reminds me of the dungarees that for a long time were the U.S. Navy's working uniform. I entered boot camp just as they were being phased out (Feb '99) and as such only had one pair, that I only wore a few times. Seems like a pair of Levi's off the shelf from JC Penney's were more durable.

By: odograph

odograph — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:42:14 +0000

It suddenly occurred to me that Will might be suggesting that girls not wear jeans! So I went and looked:

"If mother is there, she, too, is draped in denim."

Buddy, "draped" is not the image that we are looking for here.

By: Floyd

Floyd — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:40:10 +0000

I found this archive picture of George Will which shows that he has always rejected denim!

http://tinyurl.com/cemy22

By: hcantrall

hcantrall — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:37:32 +0000

Yeah those $130 a pair fancy jeans are lighter weight and not "traditional" jeans. But Levi's etc are still heavy weight material and very practical for working. Maybe Mr. Will has never done physical labor, his soft skin would probably be chaffed by jeans.

By: odograph

odograph — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:29:10 +0000

The denim is lighter weight and less practical, for one thing.

No doubt true in general, but I notice that the old style Levis and Lees have the weight I remember. Cheap jeans are flimsy, as are Levi and Lee fashion jeans.

By: Floyd

Floyd — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:24:07 +0000

One of the smartest and finest men I know, who ran a successful business,(he's now retired)wears bib overalls everyday. He even wore them to his son's wedding!
While it is nice to be well dressed, character is what really matters and it soon becomes obvious what a suit is full off, even when it's empty.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:07:17 +0000

George Will has always been the smart kid in the front row of class who has his hand up all the time. The one who knows all the baseball stats but can't run. Of course he doesn't like jeans. I agree with him that that the original embracing of jeans was a political statement. Vanguard of the proletariat. That was a long, long time ago. Now they're universal and jeans aren't the work clothes they used to be. The denim is lighter weight and less practical, for one thing. Yet another battle that was lost 30 years ago.

By: Rick Almeida

Rick Almeida — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:05:19 +0000

When Will is not writing about baseball, he is usually not worth reading.

By: Benedict

Benedict — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:04:46 +0000

1) George Will lacks standing to make this argument because he wears bow ties (other than with black tie / white tie), which is a much more aberrant fashion statement then adults wearing dungarees.

2) The connection of blue jeans to cowboys and miners evokes the settlement of the American frontier, one of this country's signal achievements.

3) Ronald Reagan wore blue jeans.

By: odograph

odograph — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:01:01 +0000

I don't trust people who don't own blue jeans.

It's OK not to wear them often, but as it happens I get to. I treat them as daily armor, near-indestructible for work and many recreations.

If he doesn't get that denim is a fabric that can keep up with skin ... maybe he's a candy-ass.

By: Bernard Finel

Bernard Finel — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:00:36 +0000

IIRC, he stated that he's always associated blue jeans with the counter-culture, so he's never worn them.

No, it is because people as morbidly obese as Rush look awful in jeans.

I also associate drug use with the counter-culture, but that didn't stop Rush from sending his cleaning lady out to buy him pills. Odd how that works.

About Will and jeans. For a man who has adopted such a curious affectation as wearing bow ties, I think he might consider shying away from writing on fashion.