October 19, 2006

"I discovered the old Andrew Sullivan whose blog I once very much enjoyed."

Says Gaypatriot.

11 comments:

X said...

Wow Ann, I thought that you seldom read the partisan blogs?

I think it's pretty amusing how many partisan bloggers never noticed how excitable and intemparate Sully can be until he started to disagree with them, and then rapidly stopped reading him.

Ann Althouse said...

Well, if you read the linked post, you'll see he linked to me. I notice when a blog is sending me traffic and click over.

X said...

Ann--

OK, I'll settle for that excuse!

GPW-- Just how far do you think we should go in 'respecting the private lives — and personal choices' of public figures who engage in semi-private conduct that's at odds with their stated beliefs and calls their judgement into doubt? That is what the latest accusations (which I'll reiterate that I'm assuming are false in the absence of any evidence, considering the source) involve. Do you think that Bill Clinton's personal life should have been off-limits as well?

Revenant said...

I think it's pretty amusing how many partisan bloggers never noticed how excitable and intemparate Sully can be until he started to disagree with them, and then rapidly stopped reading him

I think it was widely understood that Sullivan was excitable and intemperate, especially among people who've followed political commentary for a long time. He's a good writer, though, so sometimes he produces good material for whatever side he's on this week.

I think of it the way I think of libertarian party gatherings. When the speaker's ranting about how much the war on drugs sucks, I listen amusedly and make note of the clever barbs, if any. When the speaker starts ranting about how the Union was wrong in the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln was the most wicked and horrible President we've ever had, I tune out.

X said...

I think of it the way I think of libertarian party gatherings. When the speaker's ranting about how much the war on drugs sucks, I listen amusedly and make note of the clever barbs, if any. When the speaker starts ranting about how the Union was wrong in the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln was the most wicked and horrible President we've ever had, I tune out.

Good point, but woah would Sully have to get a whole lot twitchier to compete with a roomful of Libertarians!

X said...

AS for Bill Clinton, it ceased to be "private" when he chose to use his public office as a bedroom.

The outing incident that we've been talking about involves allegations of a politician using a public restroom as a bedroom. That's entirely public and illegal to boot. I assume that you'll agree with me that (assuming that the allegations are substantiated) outing would be justified in this case?

Revenant said...

Good point, but woah would Sully have to get a whole lot twitchier to compete with a roomful of Libertarians!

Just get him started on male cicumcision and watch the fireworks.

Unknown said...

Forcing people "out" for their personal political gain is WRONG. It was wrong then, it's wrong now.

Any worse than using gay people as scapegoats for all of society's ills as Bush has done?

Any worse than firing 10,000 proud gay Americans who were protecting our country, simply because they are gay - as has been done in the last ten years?

Any worse than advocating for the raiding of people's homes and arresting them for gay sex - as Governor George W. Bush did in 1994, and has yet to renounce?

Any worse than starting a whisper campaign that Governor Ann Richards was a lesbian, as George Bush and Karl Rove did?

Any worse than spreading a whsiper campaign that Hillary Clinton is a lesbian?

Are you really telling me that if we find evidence that one of Bush of Bush's daughters is a lesbian, that we have zero right to discuss that? Bullshit. We have zero qualms discussing the boys they are dating. To say that we couldn't discuss the women they are dating is homophobia at its worst.

tjl said...

"Any worse than advocating for the raiding of people's homes and arresting them for gay sex - as Governor George W. Bush did in 1994"

DTL, where are you getting this stuff? I don't recall any knocks on my Houston door when GWB was governor. Perhaps you are linked to some alternate-reality universe, and using daily kos as a "fact" source?

Revenant said...

DTL, where are you getting this stuff?

You're asking a "libertarian" who favors drafting people and forcing them to fight wars over hiring a volunteer army. Asking him to offer a rational explanation for his beliefs is asking too much.

In any case, DTL's just being inventive with the truth. Bush opposed repealing the Texas anti-sodomy laws when he was governor. He never advocated "raiding people's homes" and "arresting them for gay sex" -- that part's a lie. Or as DTL would put it, it is true in some context of DTL's own imagining.

Paco Wové said...

Somehow, I managed to miss the part of Bush's presidency where he "us[ed] gay people as scapegoats for all of society's ills", also.

(Where's the HTML encoding for an eye-roll when you need one?)