I want some of whatever Sully is smoking today:
Maybe I’m being too optimistic, but one effect Obama has had on the right is to galvanize its small government, balanced budget wing and cool off the Christianist boilerplate. I haven’t noticed the tea-partiers going on and on about gays getting married for example, or cracking down on drugs. Yes, abortion remains an issue for some – but it is hardly front and center. And yes, there are the Dobbsian slights at illegal immigrants. But again, this is a minor theme. All of this, to my mind, could be healthy in the long run. Heaven knows what else would have pushed the GOP off its theocratic rails, but Obama’s cultural conciliation has worked in a way. Economics is again the focus. And a small-government party that is not just an expression of cultural panic could conceivably wrestle its way out of the Bush legacy in time.
Of course, the right is a large coalition; and I’m not saying that the tea-partiers wouldn’t accept any number of anti-gay moves if they won back power with the religious right. Many are anti-gay, but many who aren’t accept the demonization of gays as the price to pay for political power in such a coalition. Nonetheless, to see the parties re-orient around the critical questions of the size and role of government is encouraging. More encouraging than distant wars in countries we occupy indefinitely and constitutional amendments to curtail civil equality.
Shinobi
You probably can’t afford it. From the looks of things he’s getting some really good shit.
asiangrrlMN
Gah. The more he writes, the less respect I have for him (not that I had all that much esteem for him, anyway). Pass the bong, Sully, and step away from the keyboard.
SpotWeld
Note to Sully:
Concentraited BS is still BS, no matter how much they can pack into the can.
eric
It is odd that ones such as us peons should have to explain to a “pundit” of such high esteem that that immigration being a “minor theme” is t.e.m.p.o.r.a.r.y. and that when immigration reform comes up shortly, the crazy uncle will be let out of the attic.
As for his other point about no gay bashing in this round of crazy, it is hard to bash the kweers for pushing health care reform. Really, is it that hard to see.
Just wait for the next Supreme Court nominee that is not a first time ethnic group nominee and see if the right stays all silent about “baby killing” and the “gay menace.”
Now I see how guys like him stay conservative — they ignore reality.
eric
someguy
Fortunately, they’ve laid off on the Jebus meme.
But just ‘cuz they lowered the volume on one channel, doesn’t mean they aren’t still a pack of greedy, violent racist morans.
Patton
Some silver lining. It’s like saying, “Oh, well, my house is burning down. But at least I won’t have to my mortgage anymore.”
Also: Yes, Sully, you are being too optimistic.
Michael
He so wants to believe, and so wants it to all return.
He’s never gotten it through his head that the reason why liberals exist is because of Conservative failures and fuckups, and the fact that Conservatism is useless for rectifying those.
When your Conservative capitalists and moralists fail by refusing to moderate any of their baser instincts, people will move to create a fix, particularly when the Conservative response is to clap louder in favor of the policy that brought about the failure.
Keith
Thankfully, you can now know what Sully is smoking.
Das Internetkommissariat
That bitsy add is great, I finally registered to vote and do you know what happened?
Once I was registered i typed “Bitsy” into the search field and got the search result where I was able to vote multiple times for some reason.
When I clicked the first time, Little Bitsy had 360 votes.
She has now 600 for some reason.
Heh.
harlana pepper
talk about going twice around the world to touch your ass
ironranger
Remember, conservatism cannot fail; it can only BE failed.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
If he isn’t careful, one of these days Sullivan is going to slip a disc while sucking himself off.
wasabi gasp
Give Sullivan lemons and somehow he will make pan-seared sea bass with a mushroom risotto.
LoveMonkey
Again, I am prompted to wonder why anyone pays attention to the fucking idiot Sullivan, ever, at all, for any reason.
And then I remember that I am visiting the Amplify-o-sphere, and I stop wondering.
Whatever dysfunctional shit there is out there, luckily there is this large vacuum tube hooked up, called The Blogs, to amp it up and attract attention to it.
Lyle4
LMAO, I like how he acts as though these people are acting out of any rational thought whatsoever, instead of just being insane.
I thought he went to Oxford or something, and you have to be smart to go there?
EvolutionaryDesign
I think @eric basically has it here. The right is screaming about “big government” and the like only because that is the current focus of the president’s agenda. Just wait until DADT is re-addressed, or gay marriage, or illegal immigration, and we’ll hear an equal ammount of noise and nonsense on that front. Did Sully forget about the apoplexy over Obama telling kids to stay in school? To these asshats, ANYTHING a librul proposes is flat-out-wrong. We really are debating whether or not the sky is blue with these people.
Leelee for Obama
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Brain bleach, please, but it’s a great metaphor.
I haven’t read Sully much since he got back, so I’ve missed most of his stuff. Last thing I read was about Obama and heath care and is was a Times of London article. That was good. There was good stuff when he blogged the Congress Address, but I try to avoid getting annoyed lately, so unless you guys mention something, I don’t go there>
Zifnab
Someone hasn’t been tuned in to Focus on the Family or flipped on Daystar recently.
Dr. George Tiller should be relieved.
Someone should inform Congressman Wilson.
It’s almost as though Andrew Sullivan hasn’t been actually following the news in the last 3 months.
Bill E Pilgrim
Sullivan reminds me of the white European immigrants (including my family) who clawed their way to acceptance in the US and then as soon as they got it, tried to exclude everyone else coming after them. Not all did this of course but some did.
You get the impression that the moment the right said “Okay, being gay is no big deal” he’d basically pull the drawbridge up after him and say fine, okay I’m in, screw the rest.
Sputnik_Sweetheart
The Christianist boilerplate is cooling down? Since when? We must not be seeing the same pictures because every Teabagger photo gallery I see is filled with Christianist signs.
And gee, it is so nice to see that Sully is so concerned about the insane amount of racism on display at the protests. Thanks for reminding me why I rarely read his blog anymore.
Rosali
Sully seems to think that if his personal cause is not being scapegoated right now then we’re making progress. I bet that if I stood up at a town hall and asked the congressperson about coverage denials for HIV treatment and medicines for people with green cards, I’d be shouted at and run out of town.
Ash Can
So when HCR (and whatever’s next if not immigration) is in the can and Obama turns his attention to immigration reform, Sully’s going to be taken completely by surprise by the vitriol and nastiness that the right will focus upon immigrants?
I’m not among those who think Sullivan’s the devil incarnate or anything like that, but this makes me honestly wonder how much attention he’s really paying to the right.
Dinah
Sullivan should at least tell us what he’s on. I witnessed a demonstration with a bunch of tea-party types recently. They hate EVERYBODY. They would hate Sullivan–foreign-born, intellectual, gay–more than anyone–if they knew who he was (they don’t, never will). Rationalize all you want, Mr. Sullivan; but, if you want to be a “conservative” in the United States, you will be aligned with ignorant people who despise you.
matoko_chan
Sully is clueless on this…..I guess it is a brit thing.
The growth of the welfare state in America is entirely driven by the refusal of the southern states to give blacks local welfare and local representation when blacks became citizens.
The southern states opposed civil rights for women as well but teh XX recieved some collateral benefits as part of white xian families.
S Carolina didnt ratify suffrage until 1970.
Sadly my conservative forebears never explained the true meaning of conservatism to me, so I am aghast to realize that Oakeshott, Burke and Hayek are nothing more than cover for Bull Connor and Yearning for Zion.
Lyle4
It’s almost as though Andrew Sullivan hasn’t been actually following the news in the last 3 months.
Well it’s not his fault he’s been busy getting high and gaming ICE.
eric
@Bill E Pilgrim: “lifting up the drawbridge and screwing the rest” is some metaphor ;)
Guys like him privilege their “difference” from the norm as meaningful in every circumstance, and they use their success as evidence that anyone with ANY deviation from the norm can succeed if they just put their little Oxford educated brains to it.
Let’s be clear: if Sullivan was not a conservative GAY man, he would have been forced to join Jayson Blair on the “Michael Vick” rehabilitation tour. Sullivan’s work at TNR rivals Murdoch in its corrosive effect on public discourse, period.
eric
t
Could it be that focusing on “balanced budgets” is only what they do when Democrats are in control? If you honestly believe they’ll continue to worry about budgets when the next GWB is elected (God help us), then I think you are either hopelessly gullible or just plain foolish.
LosGatosCA
Who said what? When and where?
I can see the Fifth Columnists gearing up from here.
The whole conflicted gay Catholic libertarian fascist thing has always been a mystery to me.
It’s all self-indulgent crap masquerading as superficial nonsense.
ricky
Pardon Sully for not understanding that our whacko fears of a Black President have to do with his heterosexuality.
His marxofacistsocialmuslimist stuff is just thrown out there to distract the media from the fact that we are really worried about what happens to our white wimmen.
Bill E Pilgrim
@eric: “lifting up the drawbridge and screwing the rest” is some metaphor ;)
Heh. When you condense it like that it looks more mixed than it was, but I plead guilty anyway ;) You’re just lucky I didn’t include anything about whose ox is being gored, then the images could get really messy.
@Rosali:
Sully seems to think that if his personal cause is not being scapegoated right now then we’re making progress.
In a word.
Original Lee
OT but related.
Mr Furious
Sullivan really should have spent his first week back at work catching up on the shit that happened while he was on the Cape before penning any new columns.
What a joke.
Singularity
First, I won’t stipulate that the psychochristians have backed off anywhere on anything.
Second, in the few cases where what he says actually does apply, it just proves that racism trumps homophobia for a lot of these wingnuts.
The Grand Panjandrum
Hey Andrew! This is who you’re dealing with.
Sputnik_Sweetheart
@The Grand Panjandrum: Don’t forget about this guy:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_mdKbhbtWlIA/SeZrMHLoNiI/AAAAAAAAAac/TXuZ9OqkOAw/s320/teabagger4.jpg
steve s
If Sullivan thinks the semi-retarded seniors at the teabag rallies aren’t the people who voted for Prop 8, Prop 2, etc, he’s smoking something more incapacitating than weed…
ellaesther
@Sputnik_Sweetheart: OT but: Sputnik? Is that you? (If it is, you’ll know who I am, if it isn’t, you won’t, and may just carry on!)
Mike E
Any idea is as good as any other to a movement conservative. What’s front and center now will quickly fade when some other hobby-horse will do better to incite the rabble. When you have no integrity, whatever’s within your reach is what you’ll use. Queers are always en vogue, uterii are constantly misbehaving.
Robin G.
This is just precious.
jibeaux
Yep, this sure seems like an assembly of regular folks just concerned about balanced budgets.
http://www.oliverwillis.com/2009/09/13/photos-teabaggers-in-the-wild/
Svensker
Sully is just childish. He’s moderately intelligent and has a good sense of humor and I also think he’s probably personally not a bad egg. I appreciate his anti-torture crusade very much.
But his intellect has no depth, he is swayed by the most feeble arguments, he lets his emotions rule his world, and gets all excited about stuff and either supports or condemns without a second thought.
norbizness
Since no one will second LoveMonkey @14, I will.
Martin
Shorter Scully:
“Hooray! They’re going after the niggers and leaving us fags alone! God Bless the GOP! I’m back in the club!”
ellaesther
“Economics is again the focus” – eh? What’s that, then?
I think that I generally like Andrew Sullivan more than the average Balloon Juice bear, but there is a hell of a lot of sheer silly in that post today, and “economics is again the focus” in particular just strikes me as willful blindness.
I am willing to say that it is entirely possible that the news-grabbing antics of this protestor or that talk show host — or even the murder of a doctor performing legal surgical procedures — doesn’t represent the totality of the right, and indeed, the pictures from this weekend seem to indicate that there are almost more reasons to be angry than there are angry people. (Though I’m not sure we should ever be glib about organized insanity, no matter how small the numbers, and certainly not about murder and murderous intent).
But the flip side of that is not that any one thing has become the focus, and God knows it’s not economics! To the extent that economics comes up, it’s all knee-jerk sound-bite yelling about waste and tax cuts, as far as I can tell, not an actual conversation with an actual focus. If there is one thing upon which the wildly disparate but very angry right is able to focus on right now it is: “No.” Beyond that one word, I don’t see a lot of focus.
pika
@Zifnab: Or even the news from the last two days. What about that Teabagger fest was anything other than “an expression of cultural panic”? I thought about writing him, but figured that brighter minds/sharper keyboards had already beaten me to it.
Redshirt
Sully’s got to realize that the Woman he loves – The Republican party of the Gipper and IRON MAGGIE – are gone, long gone, and in its place is a desperate meth addict who will do or say ANYTHING for the next fix.
Addiction can be hard to identify. There’s a protip, Andy.
LindaH
I feel sorry for Sully. He really, really wants to be Republican, because he really, really, really doesn’t want to pay taxes and he really truly believes the Bell Curve is right and African-Americans are naturally dumber than white folk like him, and he’s Catholic and really wants abortion to go away. But since one of the tenants of the Republican party is gay=evil Sully is stuck. So he will take anything that comes even close to looking like the Repubs are becoming more understanding of gays and embrace it. He constantly deludes himself into thinking that the Repubs are really good people who one day will embrace the fact that gay people are people and then he can fit in again. It’s very pathetic.
ellaesther
@norbizness: Ok, I see your/LoveMonkey’s point, and even agree with it. But you do (both) realize that means us, too, right?
The Moar You Know
Never have I seen a more clear-cut example of WISHFUL THINKING in my life. Damn, Andrew, pass the dutchie to the lef’ hand side.
Darius
In Sullivan’s defense, he does concede that maybe he’s being too optimistic. Which he is.
The fact is, while gay marriage and drugs haven’t specifically been major issues lately, you still have right-wing hysteria over abortion, euthanasia, illegal immigration, etc. Cultural conservatism remains alive and well within the Republican party.
(Also, I predict that the gay issue will make a comeback once Obama starts to move on DOMA/DADT. If he ever does.)
Xenos
@matoko_chan: “The growth of the welfare state in America is entirely driven by the refusal of the southern states to give blacks local welfare and local representation when blacks became citizens.”
I try to make a variation on this point with the racists when they complain about the XIVth Amendment allowing for ‘Anchor Babies’ – What a bloody shame that some asshats made that amendment unavoidable and necessary!
LoveMonkey
@ellaesther:
Yes, all my complaints about Blog-o-world pertain to pretty much everyone, except me.
Heh.
Citizen_X
Does that mean that Lou Dobbs is nasty, brutish and short? Works for me.
Anyway, what the hell? Abortion is “hardly front and center?” Did Sully somehow miss all the Teabagger signs this weekend about teh Free Abortions!!! Ohitler is trying to make us all pay for?
LoveMonkey
@LoveMonkey:
Oh, and of course, except for Little Dreamer too.
Heh.
Heh.
( ducks )
El Cid
‘Since it is uncomfortable to write about the actual assembly of neo-Confederate Dixie Uprising Anti-Regulator Apocalyptomentalists out there in DC this weekend, please allow me to write about my fantasy league of small government delusonists instead.
‘Also, fuck all you hippies.’
Walker
I consider myself a fiscal conservative, but the “balanced budget” component of the GOP is bat-shit crazy. In fact, I am not even convinced that Sully is a fiscal conservative. He might think he is a fiscal conservative, but until he starts throwing about terms like “return-on-investment” he is just a penny wise/pound foolish crank.
Zifnab
@pika: Hey, drop him a few links and it might actually help. He’s like a Goldfish. 3 second memory. But if you actually plaster the news in his face, he might actually comment on it. At least until tomorrow, when it’s all down the memory hole again.
CalD
Yes Andrew, you’re being too optimistic.
Poor Sullivan. I remember back in 2004, he was fretting about Republicans using gay bashing (i.e., the gay marriage thing) to polarize the electorate and eke out another term for Bush — it was probably either that or start another war, so maybe there was a silver lining in that case too. Anyway, I dropped him a note pointing out that when you get in bed with the devil, you probably shouldn’t be too surprised if you wake up one morning and find yourself in Hell.
I somehow get the feeling though, that he’s probably destined to fall for that old one yet again.
Keith G
@Keith: Thanks for the link. I missed that story. Nice name, btw.
Though I respect his writing talents, I do not envy Sully given the emotional and intellectual pretzels he must have to tie himself into every day.
Some time ago, he caused a stir with a posting about those who make vs those who take. Among other things it seemed to me to be a exhortation about personal responsibility – live with the choices you make.
Well, Sully has made a choice that led to a pot bust in a country where he is a resident alien trying to become a citizen. Were he a normal (as opposed to NORMAL) man, his status would now be cinched. But, I guess the rules should not apply to this “maker”. Nietzsche would be so proud.
Sullivan is such a flaming asshole, and as a gay male fighting HIV, I can say that with a very clear conscience.
Zam
Yes it’s so much better to have them screaming about black people.
ricky
It is time to explain American politics to an Englishman.
Gay bashing is only necessary when Republicans are in power in order to divert the attention of their crazy base from the fact they are getting screwed by the economic policies of those manipulating their fears. Economic issues get fanned when the Democrats are in power and are perceived by the monied interest of the Republican elite to be a threat to what they really care about.
Kaleb
contrasting that bit of sully’s idiocy is this well-put bit of analysis from one of his letter-writers:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/09/not-racism-projection.html#more
Xenos
@Zifnab: That long term memory problem can come up with prolonged marijauna use.
Shell
Yes, who wants to worry about those pesky ol’ foreign wars. That is so last administration.
Yeesh. Dan Blagojevich is on the Leonard Lopate show right now. Even on the radio he comes across as a slippery character.
His defense seems to be ‘I was taken out of context.’
JGabriel
Jim Carroll: Person who died.
.
neil
I think he was too busy with community service to look at any photos of 9/12 protesters — a majority of the signs mentioned abortion in some way.
Comrade Dread
A few things…
Sullivan is probably right about the religious rhetoric calming down a bit. However, what he misses is that the overhyped religious rhetoric is just one tool used to whip up the base into a frenzy. What the GOP ‘leadership’ (whatever that might be these days) is doing is switching to another line of overblown rhetoric in order to keep the base mobilized. Now they’re back to faux Reaganesque/Goldwater concern about spending and small government, but this too shall pass. And it will pass on January 21st of whatever year a Republican takes the White House back.
What the tea party movement lacks is any sort of perspective. If they wished to be taken serious, they could have started with an acknowledgement that much of that 11 trillion dollars in national debt was accumulated under Republican leadership. That Republicans have done nothing to cut government and have expanded it just as much as Democrats, and that Republicans were the ones who first acted to double down on investment banks, the auto industry, and insurers. (I added Comrade to my name when Dear Leader Bush brought us glorious people’s insurance company AIG.)
Had they done that, had they had some sort of sinner’s confession of their own, they would have shown themselves to be, if not a serious organization, at least an organization that had some footing in reality.
Beyond that, there is still a stunning lack of serious political leadership which can take these themes and craft serious arguments which promote them and an overabundance of court jesters just chanting slogans.
I mean, great, you want smaller government. What does that mean to you? Does that mean we can gut farm subsidies, Midwestern Republican? Does that mean we can carve through the Defense Budget and gut all of the wasteful, mismanaged, and unnecessary projects? GOP seniors, can we cut your Medicare benefits and privatize Social Security now (especially given the state of the stock market?) Can we finally eliminate prohibition in this country and get sane drug policy? Are you willing to give up your own sacred cows even if it means it impacts you? And if you’re not willing to make that sacrifice, why should I take you seriously?
I have similar questions for Democrats, but that’s another topic, and their leadership is (at least) trying to formulate some reasons for pursuing the policies they do.
PTirebiter
@wasabi gasp
that’s just wrong. funny, but wrong.
horatius
Man he should stop masturbating so much. He’s really hallucinating.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Sully must be smoking the shit laced with PCP while dropping acid. The shit I smoke requires a crowbar to pry your braincells off of the ceiling after a hit, but even after smoking a truckload of it what Sully writes is a dream.
I know you are supposed to make lemonade with lemons but Sully is trying to make lemonade with shit. Seems like he likes the taste.
GusThePrimate
Everything Sully said in that post should be prefaced with “This week,”.
He’s arguing for a fundamental shift of the right from cultural issues to issues about the economy and the size of government. In other words, from the issues that have funed and elected conservatives for 40 years back to the issues that fueled the Eisenhower wing of the party back in the day.
Does anyone else besides Sully see any evidence that the right-wing machine is about to give up the Golden Goose?
Remember, when someone talks to the right’s base about balancing the budget, what the base hears is “eliminate entitlement programs so we can stop paying all those other people…”
And what’s with the characterization of the anti-illegal immigrant fever as a minor theme among the righties? The right objects to the immigrants, not how they got here. That’s just a convenient cover.
Sully’s intellectual capacity is getting in his way. Righties don’t think as much. The bedrock of conservative thought today is hostility towards people they don’t like: black people, brown people, immigrants, Democrats, Europeans, the scapegoat du jour, etc.
arguingwithsignposts
i’m sorry for mucking up these comments. i wish … there’s so much i wish. hang on, they say. hang on.
Mike
Judge Says Blogger Andrew Sullivan Got Preferential Treatment in Pot Case
A federal judge criticizes the U.S. Attorney’s office for not pursuing a pot possession charge against blogger Andrew Sullivan. Sullivan is a British citizen, and the prosecutors didn’t want Sully to face immigration consequences.
Sully, who owns a house on Cape Cod, was caught smoking a joint on a federally owned beach, a petty offense under 36 C.F.R. § 2.35(b)(2), which prohibits possession of a controlled substance on National Park Service lands. He was issued a violation notice. The maximum penalty for the offense is a fine of $5,000, six months imprisonment, a $25 processing fee and a $10 special assessment.
Sully, like everyone charged with the offense in MA, had the option of posting $125.00 in collateral and consenting to its forfeiture in lieu of appearing in court. [More…]
He had until Sept. 2 to decide. The week before, the AUSA moved to dismiss the violation, stating in its motion that “further prosecution of the violation would not be in the interest of justice.”…
It pays to ride friends in high places …. bareback.
Why anyone would quote this Bell-Curve supporting clown only shows how unserious they themselves are.
Ash Can
@Original Lee: Holy crap, that’s disturbing stuff. That should be required reading for Barack Obama and every member of his administration, all of us here, and every Democrat and independent across the nation.
Schaeffer goes on to explain why bipartisanship is a lost cause. In short, it’s because the rest of us, who are reality-based — including Obama and the legislative Dems — can’t accept and/or believe that the right wingers are as fucked up as they are.
I’ll repeat Original Lee’s link here: Go read this.
Zifnab
@Xenos: Andrew Sullivan is forcing me to rethink legalized marijuana use on a day-by-day basis.
Can we just amend the law to forbidding its use by asshats?
norbizness
@ellaesther: A paradigm shift, probably, lest one become “reactionary” in the literal sense of the word.
Rebecca
Sully’s on crack. The only reason the wingnuts are shutting up about God and TEH GAYS is because they’re too busy whining about soshulism and evil brown people. But I guess since that stuff doesn’t effect him, it’s seen as an improvement.
Rebecca
Affect, I mean. Not effect.
Tsulagi
Nah, they’ve done that to themselves. Since about the 06 midterms there’s been almost an endless procession of R-family values hypocrisy. In the most ludicrous, wide-ranging and retarded examples possible.
From Mark “Do I make you a little horny?” Foley’s impersonation of Austin Powers to underage male pages to Haggard’s “I did not snort that crystal meth I bought from a gay hooker nor bang him.” Larry Craig’s wide-standing tap dancing in restroom stalls. Double wetsuit, single dildo self-snuffer preacher guy. Promise Keeper non-wife soulmate chasers. And just last week lobbyist spankers.
They’ve turned themselves into Christian family values jokes. Though absolutely no doubt they still believe they’re morally superior, given the constant parade of exclamation points to the contrary they’ve gone quiet on being Jesus’ chosen soldiers. For now. Obama gets no credit for that one.
Jamey
Yeah, Bam’s mobilized the small government contingent. Right. More like the, “let’s grasp at straws so we can somehow look noble while screaming, “nigger” in a crowded theater…
And as examples of the Religious right’s moderation, he’s used gay marriage and drug laws as examples where the right’s not sooo bad if you look into their hearts. If he had mentioned immigration, he’d hit the “I, Me, Mine” trifecta.
Seriously, can this guy’s gaze fall anywhere else BUT his navel or the tip of his nose? Also.
Jamey
ER, make that…
More like the, “let’s grasp at straws so we can somehow look noble while screaming, ‘nigger’ in a crowded theater” cohort (which is, apparently, the entire GOP.)…
Chad N Freude
@Kaleb: Thanks for this one. Two things:
1. Sully says
Well, Sully, you might begin by looking at race.
2. The letter-writer refers to “Goldberg in 1984”. It’s Goldstein. (Inner pedant retires back to day job.)
PTirebiter
How is Sully going to react to Gay illegal immigrant marriage being the GOP’s next big thing?
Chad N Freude
@Comrade Dread: Excellent post. But you don’t go all the way to what your next-to-last paragraph implies: “smaller government” means smaller for everybody else but my with my benefits intact.
Chad N Freude
@PTirebiter:
Fixed.
Sputnik_Sweetheart
@ellaesther: If you are referring to the Sputnik_Sweetheart of Jezebel fame, then yes tis I. Fancy meeting you here.
Original Lee
@Ash Can: I had exactly the same reaction when I read it. Holy crap, that makes a disturbing amount of sense. So twice today I’ve read stuff that’s blown the top of my head off (the first one was the Larry Wilkerson interview), and it’s just barely lunchtime.
Bill E Pilgrim
@GusThePrimate: Everything Sully said in that post should be
prefaced withrepeated next Sunday on “This week,”.Fixedupagus.
Brachiator
@someguy:
Sully just appears to be tone deaf to the bigotry and extremism coming out loud and clear in the teabagger rants.
Today’s LA Times has an article on how the GOP is flirting with, and may be consumed by, extremists (“Some fear GOP is being carried to the extreme”).
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gop-fringe14-2009sep14,0,940651.story
Original Lee
@arguingwithsignposts: We’re here for ya, dude.
Deschanel
About the persistent “small government” fetish: people who advocate it seem to take it for granted that it is inherently a good thing; they never explain why it’s such an ideal. I think what they mean is, “I don’t want to pay taxes”.
John Ralston Saul wrote in “Voltaire’s Bastards” that the quality or efficacy of an organization is a factor that has nothing to do with its size or scale. The Roman Empire, with its vast bureacracies in many lands, functioned smoothly and efficiently for centuries. Similarly large organizations like the Roman Catholic church, or the British Empire are far from “small government”, but functioned as well for centuries- the size and scale was not relevant.
For all that we take for granted- what we expect of our government here in the US- a government in a nation of 300 million should not be small enough to drown in a bathtub, unless you want to live in Somalia, that libertarian paradise. People like Sully cheering “small government” never say what they are willing to give up- defense? airports? Oh wait, don’t tell me- “stop giving money to undeserving poor people.” Got it.
mutt
Svensker 41 is sane &rational. Everyone is a mixed bag, pretty much, except me: I agree with all of my positions.
Sullivan has done an incredible job of illuminating torture, Cheney, & the frauds that bought the Iraq war about.
In other spheres, hes just a dogmatic ideologue. Reagan supported human rights? Really? As a Salvadorean, Nicaraguan, Angolan, Gutemal…..you get the idea.
Ill still watch “Hellcats of the Navy”
Like everything else, even the comments here, im selective what I take at face value & dont toss the baby out w/ the bathwater.
Theres far, far worse players than Sullivan.
HyperIon
How stupid do you have to be to get busted in a national park? It seems to me that’s something you would have to really work at.
I hope they send him back to the UK.
ellaesther
@Sputnik_Sweetheart: Well, gracious girl! Lovely to see you!
(Sorry to all other Balloon Juicers. Suddenly it’s Old Home week on the intertubez).
Xenos
In case we have not had enough Sully-ology, his cover-essay for the next Atlantic issue is now out. He is calling out W. to admit he authorized torture, and to take responsibility for it. As if W. ever took responsibility for anything, ever, in his entire life.
Michael D.
Just saw John King on CNN demonstrate the complexities of Maine politics using ten lobsters.
Calouste
@Lyle4:
Getting into Oxford mostly means having been to the “right” school, and the “right” school means one that charges 10,000 pounds per year in fees.
Bulworth
I like Sully, but this is nonsense.
eric
@mutt: He has the Bell Curve as his legacy, perhaps the most corrosive tome of the last 30 years in that it created a ficticious intellectual justification for racism in a country that was starting to be post-racist. He owns that shit. It is all his. Sure Cheney is “worse,” but shit even Lucifer is envious of that partiuclar evil fuck.
eric
gnomedad
@Ash Can:
What Ash Can said. Well-chosen excerpt.
Comrade Dread
Deschanel,
There are a few reasons why people favor a smaller government, not that many of these people follow the concept through to it’s rational conclusion.
It basically boils down to:
1. The more power is concentrated, the worse the temptations to abuse and corruption, and the worse the effects of that abuse and corruption become.
2. A smaller, more open government makes it easier for citizens or journalists to keep track of whether or not it is using its power responsibly.
3. A smaller government with set limits and powers will be less likely to get involved in foreign adventures
Of course, as previously mentioned, actually eliminating government functions, subsidies, and departments sounds great until we start cutting at people’s own personal sacred cows and then all of that Small Government talk goes right out the window when Bob loses his job making F22’s, Zeke finds out he has to work another 2 years before drawing Medicare, and Tim the conglomerate farmer finds out he’s no longer getting paid to grow nothing.
DougJ
I like Sully, but this is nonsense.
My feeling too. He’s been absolutely terrific — better than anyone — on torture and on understanding Obama’s political m.o. (his rope-a-dope analogy is excellent, though float like a butterfly, sting like a bee might be more accurate).
jibeaux
@Deschanel:
I’ve always liked Molly Ivins’, God rest her soul, formulation of government as a tool, like a hammer. It might be the right tool for the job and build your house. It might be the wrong tool for the job and shatter your vase. (This is a liberal explanation of the analogy, I can’t remember exactly how she phrased it.) But it isn’t inherently good or evil, any more than a hammer is.
Lord, I miss Molly, there’s no one else really up to the task of capturing current absurdities with her humor and grace.
Barbara
Where conservatives are concerned, there is always a strong component of wishful thinking in Sullivan’s writing. He really wants them to be better than they are.
brantl
Did anyone miss the Rethugs going on about “health care reform being used for abortion”, and the “death panels” horseshit? Sully did, I didn’t.
All the crap that the Rethuglican party had going is still going as much as a party out of power can keep it going. (Hold back/slow down/sabotage/don’t cooperate with: investigations/appointments/legal reform. They’re doing all of this, as well as trying to make their fart-in-a-windstorm sized protests look gargantuan.
Brick Oven Bill
I just read Schaeffer’s Huffington Post piece. What a load of crap. The whole point behind the Tea Party movement is fidelity to the US Constitution.
He compares Tea Party participants to Al Qaeda. This is a gross conceptual error. Al Qaeda supports fidelity to the Qur’an. Tea Party participants supports fidelity to the US Constitution.
Both of these groups are honorable in their own way, but the essence of the Tea Party movement is the essence of America. It is our Founding Documents, as inspired by the Enlightenment.
Schaeffer sounds like he needs to get laid. The ironic thing is that, as a Human Biodiversity Denialist, Schaeffer is the one preaching Creationism.
Michael D.
@Brick Oven Bill: Nice that, all of a sudden, conservative nuts have discovered that this country is governed by a constitution, isn’t it?
slippy
@Walker:
I don’t know who is a real fiscal conservative anymore. Conservatives used to use the meme that they were more responsible with money to cloak themselves in respectability, but no conservative has been fiscally responsible since Ronald Reagan, so the concept of being “fiscally conservative” is oxymoronic with regard to the concept of being a “conservative” at all. Ergo, you are either a fiscally responsible individual, or a conservative, but it is flat out impossible that you can be both. Otherwise you’d have known damn well not to vote for any Republican since the 1984 election.
IndyLib
OT Apologies if someone already caught this, but Howie Kurtz refers to Kenya as Obama’s native country.
slippy
@Brick Oven Bill:
As far as I can tell, not one of you imbeciles have even read the thing!
Brian J
This reminds me of the post by Andrew Sullivan where he laments the fact that a fiscally conservative, socially liberal-type candidate doesn’t have a chance in American politics, to which Brad DeLong responded by saying that we had one such individual, Bill Clinton, whose administration Andrew Sullivan and his friends spent eight years trying to destroy.
LoveMonkey
@Brick Oven Bill:
Really? Fidelity to the Constitution?
You mean, that part of the great document that proscribes taxation, prohibits government spending, makes Social Security and Medicare illegal, protects the rights of the unborn, and demands birth certificates from presidential candidates?
Wrapping yourself in the Constitution is the same as wrapping yourself in the flag, and it is just as cynical and just as silly.
Go fuck yourself, Bill, very much, and until you see the multiple errors of your ways.
aimai
Smaller government, at this point in time, really just means an artificial limitation on the ability of citizens to decide to band together for the general welfare against parties that are bigger than they are–like corporations, banks, other countries, churches. We *as individuals* turn to government to guarantee our rights. If we don’t do that–by paying for police, fire, health care, a working legal system, regulatory agencies–we are simply leaving ourselves open to the predations of better organized, sometimes multinational, market entities.
If a large corporation wants to set up shop in my town, pump out our water, pollute our air and then move on once they’ve ruined everything as an individual I can’t begin to protect my liberty here. But if I band together with other citizens and elect an activist city council that raises taxes to pay for lawyers to sue the corporation we have half a chance.
Its absurd to talk about “limited government” as an object for the right wing. They mean unlimited government as long as it enforces their theocratic or social vision–that’s why the favor a massively intrusive police state when it comes to the drug war or policing other people’s sexuality. It is pure projection on their part to advocate for “limited government’ once they are out of power. They advocated for government by autocrat when they controlled the autocrat.
In other words–we take them seriously about government and what it can or should do at our peril. They are lying. The only consistent people in this debate are people like the hard right libertarians (all three of them) and the ACLU and its supporters. They support the liberties they support, and attack the government’s infringement of those liberties, whoever is in power.
aimai
Xenos
The best analogue to Tea-Baggers expounding on the Constitution:
Brachiator
@Comrade Dread:
But here’s the problem. When some libertarians, and most Republicans, say “smaller” government, they tend to mean “state and local government” vs “the federal government.”
But historically, and even now, some state and local governments are hotbeds of corruption and pettiness. Here in Southern California, there have been recent stories about how local politicians, often the children of longtime pols, protect each other on the rise to higher political office. Here is a tidbit from a recent story about how a local pol tried to blame mythical African American robbers for the effects of his own drunken ramble through the poor part of town.
http://www.laweekly.com/2007-03-22/news/mario-beltran-s-wild-night/
In the 1980s, the Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court, Joseph A. Bevilacqua, resigned amidst allegations that some of his friends and associates were organized crime figures.
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/22/obituaries/joseph-a-bevilacqua-dies-at-70-rhode-island-judge-linked-to-mob.html
It’s easy as apple pie to find instances of the hard venality of small government institutions. And at times the feds have had to be called in because local institutions are unable to shake off state and local machines.
“Small government” libertarians want to pretend that state and local machine politics never existed in this country, and that local media has never been suppressed or bribed by the powers that be. Instead, they want to push an ignorant fantasy about a Never Never Land of pure small government that has never existed in the messy, real world.
Ash Can
@IndyLib: Geez, was he trying to be funny? It’s hard to tell.
Chad N Freude
@slippy: BOB kids. Does he really believe that any of those Constitutionalist demonstrators could pass a high-school test on what the Constitution says? Oh, yeah, they’d get the 1st amendment mostly right and the right to bear AK-47s, but I doubt that they have a clue about anything else it says..
Comrade Dread
I know, there are problems with a weak Federal government. Which is why don’t advocate a confederation type Federal government.
The point being it really wouldn’t hurt America if we had a nice long chat about this stuff. About what we want our government to do, what we’re willing to pay for, and what we’re willing to accept. You know, typical boring cost-benefit discussions that won’t draw cable news ratings.
I think our government should be smaller, but I think the cow is definitely out of the barn on the whole idea of getting rid of entitlement programs, etc.
But again, instead of having a rational discussion on the merits vs. the problems of our current government vs. a proposed smaller more limited one and reaching some sort of compromise we can all live with for now, we have the lunatics out on parade talking about secession and birth certificates and the dreaded S word.
Brick Oven Bill
A flag is a symbol. The Constitution is a philosophy and a codified system of government, established by very smart men for our use.
Fidelity to a flag can be abused. Fidelity to the Constitution is our best chance to keep America a good place to live. I have no problem being accused of wrapping myself in the Constitution. Please try to out-wrap me and make me look inadequate.
It won’t work, but please feel free to try.
IndyLib
@Ash Can:
It’s seems to me that it was inadvertent, like he’s heard so much crap about Obama being born in Kenya, that when he wrote it , it didn’t even occur to him that it sounded funny.
LoveMonkey
@Brick Oven Bill:
Okay. Please point to the passages in the Constitution which mandate the things being advanced by the Tea Partiers.
No taxation, no spending, no progressive programs, no abortions, whatever. Just point to the verbiage in the great document that mandates the Tea Party agenda items.
Do that, and you have a case. Fail, and I win, and you are officially a crackpot lying spooftroll.
Take your time. I’ve been asking for this information here for going on 5 years, so there is no hurry.
LoveMonkey
@Brick Oven Bill:
Oh, and Bill? You don’t need me to make you look inadequate. Your history here, and the stories told by every woman you have ever been with, are enough to get that job done.
Sly
In fairness to Sully (or, more appropriately, in trying to understand where he’s coming from), he’s still largely operating off the principles of British conservatism, which is an entirely different animal than its American counterpart. In many ways, American conservatism (or Classical Liberalism, if you prefer) came about as a response to the philosophies of British conservatives like Edmund Burke and, later, Benjamin Disraeli.
That many American conservatives continue to see a commonality between the two is something I find continuously perplexing.
Brick Oven Bill
I’d bake you a pizza LoveMonkey, but I’d hate to see you limp.
In order to bring the two seemingly incompatible governing philosophies to a peaceful conclusion, I propose a spelling bee between ten 912 MeetUp members, picked at random, and ten ACORN staffers, also picked at random.
The losing group would then self-deport.
PTirebiter
@BOB
I’m guessing that would be the constitution before the “incident” at the printers. Our frugal founders weren’t about to let taxpayers eat all those “article two” copies.
JK
As long as teabaggers continue comparing Obama to Hitler, Stalin, and Mao they are definitely not OK. Sully needs to step away from his bong and see these teabggers for who they are. Many of them are racist assholes. Sully’s failure to notice this inescapable fact means that he is either as dense as Sarah Palin or he just doesn’t give a damn that they are racists.
Keith G
@aimai:
Yup. It is easy to figure out why good old American capitalists like Sam Walton hate “big government”.
From http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=in_walmarts_image
JK
@Brick Oven Bill:
I’d like to order 2 large pizzas for delivery.
I want the first pizza half sausages and half plain.
I want the second pizza half pepperoni and half plain.
I want a large order of extra spicy buffalo wings.
I want two dozen garlic knots.
I want a liter bottle of pepsi.
Keith G
@Brick Oven Bill: Back to your tired old racist bull shit I see.
Brick Oven Bill
Sure sounds like JK is a Democrat. And to be more specific to LoveMonkey’s text challenge, I present the 10th Amendment:
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
Xenos
@Brick Oven Bill: I will see you that and raise you one commerce clause, dormant.
LD50
Conservatism is like water. Sully said so, it must be true.
ksmiami
First of all, the peasants and morons that currently make up the GOP minus the few wealthy mean men like Murdoch are stupid, racist know nothings who really have never read, nor understood the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, or the Declaration. They are ALWAYS willing to sacrifice our institutions when out of power (See, court system and impeachment of Clinton) and so I recommend that we stop listening – just turn them off, and stop sending blue state dollars to uncooperative red states. I admit I am not into violence, but more intelligent warfare and lets face it, most of the brain power today is not in that GOP Klan rally. They can all just f_ck off and I hope that soon some Democrats start saying it out loud.
LoveMonkey
@Brick Oven Bill:
Lame, Bill. I win.
I delcar you an enemy of civilization, and banish you to Northern Nevada.
Oh, wait.
Brick Oven Bill
James Madison clarifies the intent of the Commerce Clause in Federalist 45:
“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part; be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people; and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.”
“The operations of the federal government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger, those of the State governments in times of peace and security.”
The Commerce Clause has been grossly abused by politicians seeking to consolidate power.
Comrade Dread
While I might agree with your sentiment, the Supreme Court has backed the Congress on this, the modern interpretation of the Commerce Clause is now precedent and considered the proper interpretation of the Constitution.
If you wish to change this, I suggest drafting an amendment to clarify things.
Chad N Freude
@Brick Oven Bill: Is codification the same as ossification? What exactly does the Supreme Court do vis-a-vis the Constitution? Oh yeah, they interpret the plain language, which apparently is not plain enough to not require interpretation. Fidelity to the Constitution is a fluid concept.
I don’t think the the people in the 10th amendment were envisioned by the Founders to be a screaming torches-and-pitchforks mob.
Brick Oven Bill
Fidelity to the Principles of the Enlightenment is a biological force. It is not fluid, and cannot be stopped. As evidence, behold the Indigo Girls, behold the King:
How long till my soul gets it right
can any human being ever reach that kind of light
I call on the resting soul of Galileo
King of night vision, King of insight.
PTirebiter
“…nor prohibited by it”
I know it’s pesky Bob, but the Constitution isn’t at all like the Bible.
No substitutions and you can’t order ala carte.
Zifnab
@Chad N Freude:
Hey, I don’t think the Founders envisioned Tan Boehner as Minority Leader when they were drafting Article 1 of the Constitution either, but here we are.
I mean, if you want to get really super serious, you could point out that all that strict constructionist nonsense went out the window when Thomas Jefferson signed off on the Louisiana Purchase. Or when we bought Florida from Spain.
But… you know… whatever.
slippy
@Chad N Freude: I doubt a single Conservative left in the movement actually understands the entire purpose of the 1st Amendment, and we all know the stupid fucktards can’t read the modifying clause of the 2nd Amendment because apparently they’ve got those words burned into their retinas in white pixels so that they can’t ever see them.
As for the rest of the Constitution, I don’t know of any Conservatives who understand the whole “common welfare” business, nor any of the rest of the Amendments nor even how many of them there are. Hell, we have a conservative Supreme Court justice who thinks that the 4th Amendment is toilet paper but throws an infantile shit-fit when a camera is pointed at him.
Shorter slippy: conservatives are stupid. There is no getting around it.
JoeC
Love this blog. BTW, you can get “Hi Ho Silver Lining” on the Jeff Beck “Truth” reissue, what a dorky song!
Xenos
Is that really a modifying clause in the 2nd Amendment? The damn thing is ambiguous because, like the rest of the Constitution, it is written by committee of lawyers. It is a legalistic kludge that has required re-writing, re-interpretation, and significant amendment right from the very moment of its inception.
And don’t try to tell me that Madison’s blogging, I mean pamphleting, about the commerce clause means a damn thing in the face of two centuries of USSC precedent. Founding father John Marshall settled that issue a long, long time ago.
Brick Oven Bill
It is now time for reading comprehension with the Left. Spelling is tomorrow, to brush up for the bee.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor [those powers] prohibited by it [the Constitution] to the States [this means the things that the States are not allowed to do, like coin money, or set up a post office], are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
LoveMonkey
@Brick Oven Bill:
Ah Bill, you populist dog. The Commerce Clause!
I see a run for public office for you, you really know how to draw a crowd.
Xenos
@Brick Oven Bill: Sorry, the Tenth is pretty much a dead letter. If you want it back, start you stupid revolution already. Good luck with your guns and ammo supply – we are the side with the professional army, and the tax system to keep it paid and fed.
If you want to prove me wrong, go Shepardize the Tenth, read the case law, and get back to me.
JK
@Brick Oven Bill:
What do pizza, buffalo wings, and garlic knots have to do with politics?
Are you going to fill my order or not?
Brick Oven Bill
James Madison is smarter than Xenos. From Federalist 46:
Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger. The highest number to which, according to the best computation, a standing army can be carried in any country, does not exceed one hundredth part of the whole number of souls; or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms.
This proportion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops.
Regardless, most military campaign contributions went to Ron Paul. And that’s cool.
LoveMonkey
@Brick Oven Bill:
Bill, James Madison is dead.
It’s up to us now. Try to keep up.
Brick Oven Bill
So is Galileo. But he’s not. See above.
LD50
I say if BOB wants to vote for James Madison in 2012, let’s just let him.
Xenos
BOB – Are you aware of the relative legal enforceability of the Federalist Papers? That is, that they have no legal significance?
This is like citing Jules Verne on the subject of submarine design.
LoveMonkey
@Brick Oven Bill:
Yeah, I am just not one who thinks that all the smart people died 240 years ago.
We have to soldier on.
r€nato
I realize I’m coming late to this, but the only reason Sully is not hearing about the gays from the teabaggers is because there’s not an election this fall.
Brick Oven Bill
I will keep James Madison, dead as he may be. Xenos can keep the lawyers. This game has been played before.
bago
r€nato
It’s amazing how much regard conservatives have developed for the Constitution in just 12 months.
Xenos
BOB- Who is the more legitimate founding father: Madison or Marshall? Explain why Madison is right and why Marshall was wrong. Please provide appropriate citations to support your argument.
You have three hours. This is an open internet exam.
Andy K
@Brick Oven Bill:
Too bad that the Constitutional Convention didn’t just pass, vebatim, The Federalist Papers, with all of its explanations.
AFAIK, The Federalist Papers is just a series of op-eds by three guys- Hamilton, Madison and Jay- not the law.
Brick Oven Bill
Both Marshall and Madison are legitimate and honorable. But Madison is the more relevant Founding Father as he authored the Constitution that the military pledges to support and defend.
‘Force shiites on reason’, and all that.
TEL
@Xenos:
One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies! And a sadly appropriate analogy for teabaggers and the constitution.
Midnight Marauder
It’s always amazing how the appearance of BOB can instantly derailed the best of discussions.
Lesley
What the hell? As long as all the hate is focused on the black guy, the gays can get a breather, seems to be the subtext.
gnomedad
This is all very amusing, but what I’d really like to see is the “Christian Nation” clause.
Chad N Freude
@Brick Oven Bill:
Now he drags the Middle East into the discussion.
Chad N Freude
@gnomedad: It’s intrinsic, a biological force, like Fidelity to the Principles of the Enlightenment. And by the way, (this is for @Brick Oven Bill), Fidelity to Principle may indeed be a biological force, but the Enlightenment is a human construct, just like religion. You could just as well say that Fidelity to the Principles of Islam is a biological force.
mutt
No, really- the Teabaggers are the inheritors of the Enlightenment?
BoBs value as entertainment in these sad times is quite high.
He has dead Madison on his side- that does mean something- and Gonzalez, Addington and the rest of them as well.
I think Madison would be checking his priming pan about now, were he to find himself with those vile servlings of the Unitary Executive.
No, Bob, the Beckies arent the equivalent of the Founders.
thanks for the laugh, tho.
HyperIon
@LoveMonkey: …wrote many things in his distinctive voice.
Glad you’re back, TZ.
Now how about giving JC some hell about the lack of editable comments.
Deborah
It’s kind of wild how rapidly gay marriage has become Not an issue anyone is talking about.
I’m amazed how fast the tea-baggers can think up new issues to be outraged about.
TeaBagger: Czars! You know who had czars?
Sane Voter: Reagan?
TeaBagger: No! Commies! Dirty Russian Commies! The guy is a commie; this proves it!
Sane Voter: Actually, the commies killed the czar…
TeaBagger: Communists! They’re under every bush I tell ya….
It does make it very hard to guess what they’re going to get het up about next month.
Chris Johnson
Hey, I think Madison is cool too, but I’m a lot more interested in his thoughts about the evils of faction. Way back when, he really made some terrific blogposts about that, pointing out that to simply go by force of numbers and let the majority stomp all over little factions would only cause them to become desperate and would eventually lead to disaster.
It’s almost like intentionally arguing for a fallible, compromised system in the belief that no single system or point of view can ever truly represent the USA.
I didn’t see Bush and the Republicans feeling especially sentimental about these ideas when they were setting up ‘free speech zones’ half a mile from the public event happening. Obama’s done much better at respecting these ideas, at some risk to himself.
And I thought BoB ate pie, not pizzas.
LoveMonkey
@HyperIon:
Man, I have tried everything. Bitching. Moaning. Sarcasm. Prayer. Bribery. Blackmail.
Nothing has worked. I propose that we call in some thugs to work ’em over. No more mister nice guy. Party, over.
Who’s with me?
Wile E. Quixote
Fuck Andrew Sullivan. I wish that he’d gotten the book thrown at him and had ended up having his gay, Catholic, dope-smoking, conservative ass deported back to Blighty. It wouldn’t spare us his bullshit, he could just as easily crap out the Daily Dish from Britain, but it would mean that we’d have one less moron in our country.
Wile E. Quixote
@LosGatosCA
No mystery, Andrew Sullivan is a self-pitying drama queen, the conflicted, gay, Catholic, libertarian, Tory, fascist endlessly wanking about Burke and Oakeshott is his schtick and he’s working it for all he can.
Seriously, Sullivan loves being gay, Catholic and conservative because it gives him endless opportunities to piss and moan and clutch his pearls and then write endless essays about how hard it is for him to be a gay man who wants to be a member of a religion and a movement that demonize him for being a gay man. If Sullivan converted to another religion that wasn’t run by a former member of the Nazi youth (Hey Andrew, ever think of trying the Episcopal or Lutheran churches? They’re just like Catholicism, except without the Nazi pope, child molesters and stupid hangups about sex. C’mon, give Catholic J.V. a try.) and stopped wanking about Burke an Oakeshott what would he be? Just another 40-something bald, gay, dope smoking Pet Shop Boys fan (not that there’s anything wrong with that, I’m going to be hanging with a bunch of those guys at the PSB concert in Seattle this coming Sunday) who would probably end up being replaced at The Atlantic by Peter Suderman McArdle.
ninja3000
A prize to JoeC (#142) for catching the Jeff Beck reference in the blog entry title!