On This Week today, George Will claimed that if President Obama should be hoping that the Congressional supercommittee convened to come up with a bipartisan plan to balance the budget and deal with high unemployment will fail, because he can’t run against a do-nothing Congress in 2012 if the public sees Congress is actually doing something. Christiane Amanpour showed a new ABC/Washington Post poll that shows that President Obama and the Republican Congress are roughly given the same amount of trust, 40 percent, when it comes to the issue of job creation.

The panel on This Week today came to the same consensus on Herman Cain: that he is not exactly a serious candidate, but rather this week’s replacement for the now second-tier candidate Mitt Romney. Christiane Amanpour pointed to a recent poll that found Cain ahead of Romney in Iowa, but George Will threw cold water on Cain’s prospects, saying that the candidate has a very unlikely chance of coming close to the nomination. Will advised to not speculate too much on the primary race, as the Iowa caucus is months away.

In a stinging comparison that is sure to leave a mark, on Sunday’s This Week With Christiane Amanpour, George Will said the rise of Herman Cain had a lot to do with Republicans coming to the realization that Mitt Romney is their Michael Dukakis. “A technocratic Massachusetts governor running on competence, not ideology,” Will observed.

On This Week today, Christiane Amanpour pointed to David Axelrod‘s comments last week specifically targeting Romney’s flip-flops, and Will took this to mean the Obama administration is convinced Romney will be their opponent in the general election. However, Will did take note of the latest candidate enjoying the media spotlight, Herman Cain, and dismissed the idea that Cain is a viable candidate for the presidency.

George Will credited Occupy Wall Street for adopting the idea of debt repudiation, a theory which has been touted by some economists, which he he fully expects to be embraced by the mainstream soon enough. Christiane Amanpour brought up concerns by some business leaders about the Obama administration’s economic policies.

On This Week today, Christiane Amanpour and the panel discussed the issue of Mitt Romney’s Mormonism and whether it would be an issue for him to deal with in the Republican race for the presidency heading into primary season, or if he had too many other political problems to deal with to prioritize his personal faith. Romney’s faith was brought into the limelight over the weekend due to controversial statements made by pastor Robert Jeffries.

On This Week today, George Will argued that the Occupy Wall Street protestors should be highlighted by the media and the Republicans should embrace it because the general rowdiness of the protestors, in his view, represents “the spirit and intellect of the American left.” Christiane Amanpour reported on the Wall Street protests, which have inspired similar protests all around the country, from Occupy Chicago to Occupy DC.

George Will criticized Rick Perry’s debate performance last week on This Week today, while also criticizing the Republican party for adopting a Southern strategy in the last few election cycles that have not always yielded positive results. Christiane Amanpour, while not wanting to pile on to the Perry criticism, wanted to address his unfortunate stumbling during last Thursday’s Fox News debate. You’ll recall that Perry slightly mangled his words when going after the many flip-flops of Mitt Romney.

On ABC’s This Week, George Will argued that over the course of Barack Obama‘s term in office, the president has put too much stock in his speeches and the power of persuasion, which has made him a less effective leader overall. Christiane Amanpour introduced the segment with a summation of the Jacqueline Kennedy tapes released last week, proposing that it is in times of crisis when a president’s mettle is put to the test.

When we first learned that Hurricane Irene was headed for the United States, it was only a matter of time before comparisons and contrasts would be drawn between the response of federal and local governments during this storm to Hurricane Katrina, which Jake Tapper today described as “the hurricane that exposed mismanagement and weakness at the highest levels.”

After getting the big scoop on Tim Pawlenty‘s departure from the Republican race, ABC’s Jake Tapper turned the focus to fellow Minnesotan Michele Bachmann, and asked if she would be “unelectable” at the national level. Given that Pawlenty and John McCain did better in Bachmann’s congressional district than the congresswoman herself, Tapper wondered if the Republican establishment was right to worry that if she won the party nomination, Bachmann would not be able to win a general election against Barack Obama.

Throughout the debt debate, economists and politicians were quick to warn that a failure to reach a deal soon would lead to a credit downgrade from Standard and Poor’s, something they all agreed would be terrible. Well, we made a deal but the downgrade happened anyway and, swiftly, the economists and politicians have agreed once again. This time, they’ve all agreed that Standard and Poor’s is a bunch of jerks and we never really liked them anyway.

ABC’s This Week continued it’s now consistent pattern of featuring the most entertaining roundtable debate of all the Sunday morning shows. This morning Steve Rattner, a regular contributor to MSNBC’s Morning Joe and former advisor in President Obama’s Treasury Department was rightfully taken to task by George Will for suggesting Tea Party members of Congress were “economic terrorists” because of their “unreasonable” opposition to any tax increases. At first Rattner attempted to wiggle free from his own words, but then Will demonstrated the ridiculousness of the entire analogy.

As S&P downgrades United States debt for the first time ever, many Republicans and Democrats are pointing blame at each other for having caused the unprecedented occurrence. Yet conservative commentator George Will thinks that S&P has so little credibility that their assessment told us nothing new and that it’s rating perspective should have little economic effect.

Paul Krugman was very disappointed with President Obama and the Democrats for allowing the Republicans to frame the debt debate. Krugman insisted on the This Week roundtable, “from the perspective of a rational person, in other words, a progressive on this stuff, we shouldn’t be talking about spending cuts at all now.” Yet, according to Krugman, the “rational people” have now lost big time.

While many are concerned with the possible “doomsday” scenario of what might happen to the economy if leaders in Washington can’t reach an agreement and raise the debt ceiling, don’t count conservative commentator George Will among the alarmists. Instead he theorizes that many Americans, possibly including himself, are tired of hearing such over-dramatic and catastrophic language being used so frequently.

Chris Matthews continued to be amazed by Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and her transformation into a serious candidate who is speaking directly to many Americans. Many on Matthews’ panel agreed that Bachmann’s simple and direct message has appeal, but some doubted how far she might actually be able to go with it.

Conservative commentator George Will did double duty today, first defending the Constitution from those who believe the document was intended to be interpreted flexibly, and then later on This Week, also delivering a message much less likely to be cheered in some conservative circles. Will argued that it is impossible for the deportation of all illegal immigrants in the country to ever be considered a realistic solution.

Michael Eric Dyson, professor at Georgetown University, engaged in a highly intellectual debate with George Will and others regarding the impact of the Constitution on today’s political discourse. While the panelists took turns explaining who their favorite Founding Father was and debating how flexible the Constitution was intended to be, Dyson was most fired up over some people today trying to claim they are the sole defenders of protecting the document.

On This Week, during a discussion of presidential politics, the candidacy of Jon Huntsman was briefly mentioned and conservative commentator George Will did not seem too impressed. Despite Chrystia Freeland hyping Huntsman as the “darling of elites” and as someone who “talks in complete sentences,” Will cautioned anyone against getting too excited.

Conservative intellectuals like Charles Krauthammer and George Will have not been shy about their disapproval of Sarah Palin as a potentially serious presidential candidate. A new article in the American Thinker wonders why Republicans must bow down to Krauthammer, a former speechwriter for Walter Mondale, and now Rush Limbaugh weighs in and concludes that in today’s media universe nobody, including Krauthammer, is capable of being universally respected.

With Sarah Palin fever sweeping across the media again, persistent Palin critic and conservative commentator George Will clearly was not excited by the speculation surrounding her potential run for President. Donna Brazile, Jonathan Karl and Ed Gillespie joined in on the conversation, yet Will had the most pointed remarks regarding how Palin is a “genius at manipulating” the infinite media attention she receives.

Newt Gingrich has been forced to backtrack a bit on some of the comments he made yesterday on Meet the Press. If you need any explanation as to why, the reaction of one Rush Limbaugh says pretty much all you need to know. Presumably speaking for a number of conservatives who have watched the interview, Limbaugh said it was “inexplicable” and that he wasn’t even going to begin to try and explain what Gingrich was talking about.

As the list of names potentially seeking the Republican nomination continues to shorten, George Will took a moment on This Week to help narrow the field a bit further. Although some predict Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich could be serious contenders in the race, Will dismissed both as having insurmountable flaws and instead suggested that it’s a foregone conclusion that two other Republicans will be the last men standing.

Conservative commentator George Will appeared on America’s Morning News, a conservative radio show, and co-host Amy Holmes asked Will for his thoughts on Glenn Beck‘s upcoming separation from Fox News. Will did not hesitate to let it be known where he stands and here’s a hint, he’s not all that interested in where the “Paul Revere” of cable might ride next.