Meet the new, kinder, gentler Andrew Sullivan
I don’t like to link to Sullivan, so I’ll link instead to Ann Althouse’s post about him, which alerted me to the following passage representing his new attempt to talk about his béªte noire Sarah Palin while taking the high road of civility in order to “make strong and lively points without demonization” [emphasis mine]:
…[T]here is no conceivable way in which, in my judgment, her presence on the national stage can improve our discourse, help solve our problems or improve public life. But that does not forbid one from noting the great example she has shown in rearing a child with Down Syndrome, whatever his provenance, or noting her effectiveness as a demagogue, or from admiring her father’s genuineness or her skill in exploiting new media. I’ve consistently tried to do this without undercutting my still-raw amazement that an advanced democratic society could even contemplate putting such an unstable and irresponsible person in a position of any real power.
There is actually no conceivable way (note Sullivan’s use of that highly appropriate word) that anyone newly-committed to making “strong and lively points without demonization” can doubt the provenance of Trig Palin, as Sullivan continues to do in his ever-so-pompous (give me a break: “provenance?”) aside.
“Unstable and irresponsible,” thy name is Sullivan. At least he’s not in a position of any real power.
I wonder if Mr Sullivan can concieve of etching his column on a piece of slate with a rock. Which is exactly what he’d be doing without all those types of people he can’t concieve of solving problems and improving American lives.
I once had an online conversation with someone who gave as proof of his overall high level of political knowledge that he read Andrew Sullivan daily, and considered him a good source.
I decided that was grounds to terminate the conversation. No one who considers Andrew Sullivan a reasonable person is worth arguing with.
Poor Sully. I mean that. In those halcyon days of yore, he was a wonderful writer, terrific editor and voice at The New Republic(for gawdsakes)of balance and steady conservatism. Gone are those days–long gone–and, I’m afraid, too many years of treating active AIDS.
Iowahawk does a script for a CSI investigation of Tucson. Sully contributes to the resolution of the case.
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/01/csi-tucson.html
I don’t know how Iowahawk does it.
I think Sullivan has truly gone off the deep end with his endless Trig analysis/conspiracy theories and it’s a shame that no one will intervene. Reading him is like staring at an obviously crazy homeless person argue with an invisible foe.
He could be completely ignored if only the MSM would stop using him as a representative conservative voice (e.g., Chris Matthews show).
Iowahawk is glorious.
But he didn’t go to Princeton.
Libby says:
“Reading him is like staring at an obviously crazy homeless person argue with an invisible foe.”
hehehe . .
But, seriously, Libby; working in NYC I’ve had passing conversations with some of those obviously crazy homeless people – and guess what!? – They come across as more rational and in control than that batshit crazy Brit.
I honestly don’t understand why Sullivan will be granted U.S. citizenship.
He’s been charged with violating drug laws, but the charges were mysteriously dropped. He doesn’t engage in cutting edge scientific research that could benefit society, nor does he engage in hard manual labor like picking strawberries in the hot sun.
He writes political commentary. None of it is insightful. Much of it is delusional. He’s clearly got an unhealthy obsession with trying to convince others to accept his irrational belief that Trig Palin is not Sarah’s son.
So, why does he deserve to be a U.S. citizen when he offers nothing to benefit society? I don’t mean that as a joke. I really wonder why.
I honestly can’t understand how anyone can even pay any attention to him anymore. I mean, WHO CARES what A.S. thinks or writes? I don’t.
A.S. should be turned into the FBI gun purchase check list. He’s come unglued.
About the only thing I can say about Andrew Sullivan (without resorting to obscenities) is to recall an exchange from one of Ayn Rand’s novels (I think it was The Fountainhead):
“What do you think of me?”
“I don’t think of you.”
Sullivan judging Sarah Palin as mentally unstable is rich. He seems to have a delusional disorder.
Ah, Roark against Toohey. The problem is that Sullivan is real while Toohey was only to make a philosophical point. I wonder if Sullivan sees the irony.
I keep seeing that name. Who is Andrew Sullivan? Oh that’s right. He’s that person who still claims to be a conservative and keeps trying to look “below ones nose” Trouble is he went all the way around to his ass but he can’t tell the difference.
It is a sad commentary to look at Sullivan today and compare him to the writer he used to be. While I often disagreed with him, I used to read him all the time, both because I valued his perspective and because I thought he was a very good writer. Unfortunately, with his veer to the Left during the Bush administration, both the substance and the style of his writing has suffered. His bizarre fixation on Trig Palin is simply the most obvious example of his descent from his former glory. It is simply sad.
The essential difference between Andrew Sullivan and every other prominent or public liberal, journalist, politician, or otherwise, being…?
Sullivan became unhinged over the failure of the Bush Administration to endorse gay marriage. Oddly. several of the biggest chunks of the Democrats are more against gay marriage than run of the mill Republicans, see the black and, for that matter, the Westboro Baptist Churge.
Still, Sully’s declaration of war on Palin is more than passing strange. During Palin’s term as Governor the Alaska Lege voted to strip the benefits to partners of state employees of civil unions. Palin vetoed that.
Funny how Sully attacks the most gay-friendly Republicans around, Palin and Dick Cheney. Was he ever smart or did he somehow rot his brain?
I’m always amazed how quick liberals are to call conservatives ‘crazy’ while ignoring the genuinely unhinged voices on their own side.
Perhaps if Jared Loughner hadn’t spent the last decade steeped in 9-11 conspiracy theories and claims that the entire Bush administration was holding power illegally, he might not have resorted to violence. . .
As to Excitable Andy’s obsession with Palin –given his focus on her physicality– one wonders how much it stems from the visceral loathing for the female body common to many gay men –homosexism run amok.