Then and Now

A few weeks ago, a podcast listener asked for a few, handy examples of where Liberals hand been right and Conservatives had been wrong.

We were happy to oblige with a few, and here's another.

In 1999 -- nearly 20 years after "...after Reagan had delivered the Conservative movement to the tender mercies of filth like Jerry Falwell" -- this was Andrew Sullivan's deeply held belief about the nature of Liberals, Conservatives, Teh Gay and, in passing, the plight of those poor, poor black Conservatives:

"[H.L. Mencken] reminds me of conservative friends who oppose almost every measure for homosexual equality yet genuinely delight in the company of their gay friends. It would be easier for me to think of them as haters, and on paper, perhaps, there is a good case that they are. But in real life, I know they are not. Some of them clearly harbor no real malice toward me or other homosexuals whatsoever.

"They are as hard to figure out as those liberal friends who support every gay rights measure they have ever heard of but do anything to avoid going into a gay bar with me. I have to ask myself in the same, frustrating kind of way: are they liberal bigots or bigoted liberals? Or are they neither bigots nor liberals, but merely people?

...

"So may other forms of minority loathing -- especially hatred within minorities. I'm sure that black conservatives like Clarence Thomas or Thomas Sowell have experienced their fair share of white racism. But I wonder whether it has ever reached the level of intensity of the hatred directed toward them by other blacks? In several years of being an openly gay writer and editor, I have experienced the gamut of responses to my sexual orientation. But I have only directly experienced articulated, passionate hate from other homosexuals. I have been accused over the years by other homosexuals of being a sellout, a hypocrite, a traitor, a sexist, a racist, a narcissist, a snob. I've been called selfish, callous, hateful, self-hating and malevolent. At a reading, a group of lesbian activists portrayed my face on a poster within the crossfires of a gun. Nothing from the religious right has come close to such vehemence.

"I am not complaining. No harm has ever come to me or my property, and much of the criticism is rooted in the legitimate expression of political differences. But the visceral tone and style of the gay criticism can only be described as hateful. It is designed to wound personally, and it often does. But its intensity comes in part, one senses, from the pain of being excluded for so long, of anger long restrained bubbling up and directing itself more aggressively toward an alleged traitor than an alleged enemy."

...

It is now 13 years later. Clarence Thomas has proven himself to be exactly the sort pliant wingnut cipher that the Left thought he would be (although outside of a Hunter Thompson novel that was never written, I don't know anyone who foresaw what a perfect caricature of a teabagging, drunk-dialing nutcase his lobbyist-wife would turn out to be) and Thomas Sowell has long since given up any pretense of seriousness, instead preferring to (predictably and profitably) embrace just about every batshit scrap of party-line nonsense that rolls off the Fox News/Hate Radio

 

assembly line.

It is now 13 years later.  And here is Mr. Sullivan's revised assessment of his Special Conservative Friends: those who, 13 years ago, some people might have mistaken for haters "on paper" but who, "in real life" Mr. Sullivan knew were not:

But [if Mitt Romney held the same positions on issues related to gay rights as President Obama] the bigots would flee. And without the bigots, there is no Republican majority. My long ago dreams that the GOP would end up where the Tories have on gay equality are ashes now. Bitter, tragic, unnecessary ashes.

Observe how effortlessly Mr. Sullivan referred to Thomas and Sowell and "the bigots" (and so many, many more)  as "conservatives" back when he believed they all had each other's back.  But now that the horde he used to run with and proudly appellate as "Conservative" have proven themselves to be exactly what the Liberals always said they were?



I am genuinely sorry that Mr. Sullivan's dreams ended up as ashes, but far from being "unnecessary", this outcome was inevitable. But before forgiveness comes atonement, and until I start to see a few less "I am the True Conservative and they're all posers!" columns and a few more -- or even one -- "Liberals were right and I was wrong" columns, expect no forgiveness from me.