He Was A Teenage Libertarian

“...they turned to prayer, beseeching
that the sin which had been committed
might be wholly blotted out.”

-- 2 Maccabees. 12:42

Behold the lucrative moral cowardice of Andrew Sullivan, conveniently boiled down into a single bullshit bouillon cube by the Greatest Blogger in the World himself:

"Yes, the right has moved inexorably to the fringe, but you shouldn't judge the conservatism of the 1990s by the standards of today's degenerate rump."

Gee, Andrew, which 1990s Conservatism was that?

The 1990s Conservatism that smiled approvingly as George Herbert Walker Bush's campaign was saved* by Lee Atwater blowing the Giant Conservative Bigot Dog Whistle loud and long?

The 1990s Conservatism that shrugged off record deficits?

The 1990s Conservatism that saw radical deregulation tank the S&L industry and said "More please!"

The 1990s Conservatism that cheered on Reagan as he sold weapons to terrorists? Got Marines killed in Middle East foreign adventures? Cut and ran from said adventure?

The 1990s Conservatism that was cool with using that weapons-to-terrorist dough to fund an illegal war?

The 1990s Conservatism that immediately set to work delegitimizing -- not opposing, but delegitimizing -- that "socialist" Clinton Administration?

The 1990s Conservatism that gave the keys to the party van to scum like Tom DeLay and Jerry Falwell?

That 1990s Conservatism, Andrew?

The 1990s Conservatism that threw a fucking parade for "Majority Maker" Rush Limbaugh?

The 1990s Conservatism that delighted in Newt Gingrich bending the full power of the political and corporate Right to the task of creating a new generation of mass-produced Orwellian hatespeech specifically designed to demonize all opposition and destroy our national capacity for political comity?

The 1990s Conservatism that launched Fox News?

The 1990s Conservatism that spread Hate Radio from coast-to-coast?

The Ralph Reed 1990s Conservatism?

The Paul Weyrich 1990s Conservatism?

The Phyllis Schlafly 1990s Conservatism?

The Oliver North, Superhero 1990s Conservatism?

The Jesse Helms 1990s Conservatism?

The Dick Armey 1990s Conservatism?

Or perhaps you're referring to the "Hunting Clinton like an animal for eight years" 1990s Conservatism?

The 1990s Conservatism of Ken Starr and a dozen officially approved, taxpayer-funded witch-hunts?

The 1990s Conservatism of investigating the White House Travel Office? Of "Filegate"? Of the Clinton Christmas Card list?

The 1990s Conservatism of Bill Clinton the murderer? The rapist? The assassin? Of Hillary the Lesbian?

The 1990s Conservatism of the Impeachment Freak Show?

The 1990s Conservatism of the American Spectator and for-pay hit pieces on the Clinton's funded by a 1990s Conservative billionaire?

Or perhaps Mr. Sullivan simply means this -- The 1990s Conservatism, without which neither Mr. Sullivan nor Mr. Frum nor Mr. Brooks nor any other member of their very, very forgetful circle of well-remunerated Conservative friends would have a career? The 1990s Conservatism, without which Mr. Sullivan would be spending his days hacking out clever supplementary dialogue for B-list celebrities to prattle while on press junkets.

Because of course, being a Conservative, Sullivan is permitted to play the role -- endlessly and profitably -- of the Born Again Virgin who has long since worn the corners off of his

Get Out of the 90s Free card in a phenomenon I have already written about at great length here ("Like a Virgin") as part of a spectacularly damning bill of particulars that Sullivan is never going address or acknowledge...

...and which reader Ben Riddle was kind enough to commit to narrated video here:

Part I: The Public Record



And here -- Part II: Like a Virgin


I also have nothing to add to the sweet illegal ninja moves from the government visited upon Andrew Sullivan tag-team fashion by James Wolcott and John Cole here --

And I agree with Balloon Juice's John Cole that Andrew Sullivan is letting himself be played for a pious patsy yet again ad infinitum. He quotes from Sullivan's chiding of Obama for not releasing this info sooner, and writes:

The reason, Andrew, is because he already did everything he needed to do, and he did it in 2008...

Only for truly insane people and politicians who find advantage in race-baiting and de-legitimizing the President was this not enough. How evident was it that this was ALL he needed to do to prove he is a citizen? Try this on for size- not one god damned state contested his citizenship in the election. Jan Brewer just vetoed the birther bill in Arizona because it was an exercise in redundancy exercise and ran headlong into the full faith and credit clause. This new release will solve nothing, and the birthers will still continue to spew their nonsense.

[snip]

I know Sullivan’s reaction shouldn’t be pissing me off as much as it is, because he really can’t help himself. He really is just a stooge for whatever bullshit the right spews, either intentionally or accidentally. He doesn’t mean to be, I don’t think, just his self-identity as a conservative is so strong that he simply can not come to grips with the fact that conservatism is dead in the United States, and that those who call themselves conservative are just crazy people. But Andrew so yearns for a “sane conservatism” that he just can’t help himself, and as such, advances bullshit narratives like the Ryan plan being “serious” or it being Obama’s fault that he didn’t release this information earlier. Sully just can’t help himself.

other that one, small dissent regarding Mr. Sullivan's motives in this matter.

Specifically, that Mr. Sullivan needed to hype the patently absurd idea that Barack Obama somehow owed it to America to walk coast-to-coast taking every seething bigot and inbred lump of Conservative human livestock in-hand and personally reassure them in William Makepeace Thackerian detail that he really, really, really, really was an American...

...because as Mr. Sullivan himself has made a virtual franchise out of beating e-n-d-l-e-s-s-l-y on his own little conspiracy theorizing tin drum about the natal circumstances of another famous person, allowing any precedent short of "Famous Political Persons absolutely owe Andrew Sullivan any idiot with a megaphone and a conspiracy theory their undivided attention and 30-significant-digit Massive Overkill answers to their every question" would make Mr. Sullivan look like a kind of a dolt.

* (thank you typo-catcher Alex)