Andrew Sullivan, the flip-flop blogger king

There’s a precious post by James Wolcott today that calls attention to Sullivan’s maddening tendency to 1.) ignore reality, 2.) see the light once it’s too late, 3.) go on belated tirades against Bush, and 4.) finally give Bush the benefit of the doubt all over again so the cycle can begin anew. (He points to this post as a prime example.)

Sullivan seemed to take forever to recognize what was apparent to the statues on Easter Island, that the Republican Party is hostile to gay marriage and gay identity, eager to support homophobia for political gain, and that the only gays it’s comfortable with are white men and women who look like wedding-cake couples and stay discreetly in the closet. He kept holding out hope that because Bush, based on anecdotal evidence, was personally comfortable with gay people, he wouldn’t push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Then came the inevitable disappointment. One by one the inevitable disappointments succeed one another, like a line of tumbling dominos, and each day Sullivan returns to his little fort, ready to give the Bushies the benefit of the doubt yet again.

And Sullivan plays the exact same scenario in regard to Iraq, Albert Gonzales’ torture memo, Rove’s dirty tricks, tax cuts for the rich and just about everything else. As Wolcott says, it’s as though he were “herkily-jerkily battling with himself as if being yanked by an invisible leash.”

All that said, he’s still one of the smartest and most interesting bloggers around and my day is never complete without reading him. (Is that a flip-flop on my part?)

The Discussion: 3 Comments

Admit it, you totally have a crush on him 🙂

Regardless of his views, if you think he is one of the smartest and most interesting bloggers it seems to indicate that you need to read some more blogs! He quotes a lot, but he rarely seems to add any value himself, any significant insight, logic, reasoning, or personal experience to make his blog actually worth reading.

I mean, you quote a lot too, and you’re less annoying than he is. So what does he have that you don’t? Pledge drives? Hypocritically titled “awards”? More typos? A rabid and unexamined aversion to Chomsky?

Bleh.

January 5, 2005 @ 6:03 pm | Comment

No, he’s absolutely not my type. (I can’t be too emphatic about that.) But he writes beautifully, and I usually find enough nuggets of wisdom to justify my daily visit. And as much as I detest his fund-raisers and his equivocating, I have to say he’s been more in my camp in recent months than Bush’s. I always admire someone who’s brave enough to acknowledge he was wrong, and to consider alternative viewpoints as Sullivan has. (Of course, the macho Republicans see him as a wimp and a traitor, which says way more about them than it does about Sullivan.)

January 5, 2005 @ 8:18 pm | Comment

congrats mate! Fine job and fine site!

May 7, 2005 @ 9:05 am | Comment

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