Well done, Andrew! It's not easy to alter one's self-concept in midlife but you've made a good beginning. Now please tell all your friends, and then do us all one more favor: stop voting for wingnuts.This isn't just about gays, although we've felt the sting of the movement more acutely than most. It's about science, stem cell research, the teaching of evolution, free access to medical prescriptions, the legality of living wills, abortion rights, censorship of cable and network television, and so on. The Schiavo case woke a lot of people up. I was already an insomniac on these issues. ... I'm genuinely troubled by all of it, and by what is happening to the conservative tradition. I'd like to think that a qualified doctor like Bill Frist could say on television that tears cannot transmit HIV. But he could not - because the sectarian base he needs to run for president would not allow it. I'm sorry but that's nuts. [emphasis added]
Friday, April 29, 2005
A conservative wakes up
Pundit Andrew Sullivan wakes up to the fact that his beloved conservative movement is insane. He notices that Republicans are shaping social policy to fit the dictates of a highly vocal minority religious sect, and furthermore that this might be a bad idea:
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5 comments:
I'm hoping you're talking about his congresspeople and senators. You know he voted for Kerry, right?
p.s.
I also think he's pegged this squarely, as have others, as the Right's objection to science. At our UU service Sunday the pastor read from a 20 or 30 year old book he'd written about the difference between politics and religion and this was one of the major distinctions between Liberals and Conservatives.
Reason vs. Revelation, it's a no brainer for me.
You're right - Sullivan did (holding his nose and being a drama queen till the last second) vote for Kerry; he also has come out strongly against torture, and in an alternate universe where the 2nd Bush administration didn't happen, I would like Andrew Sullivan. But I'm holding every one of these guys accountable until they take responsibility for the whole mess they helped create, not just a piece here and there.
Further down the page from his theocracy piece, Sullivan posts some quotes about how excellent Bush was in his press conference, how refreshed and engaging and convincing he was on the topic of Social Security... (I'm paraphrasing because I don't want to go back there!) Sullivan is still shilling for the Bush Administration and he's still promoting the "conservative agenda," not admitting that BushCo's coalition of theocrats and neocons is, in fact, radical.
Sullivan is waking up and speaking up a little more each day, and that's good. I don't know how much sway he has on other conservatives, though. I mean, [gasp!] he's gay!
You're way more informed about Sully than I am. I started reading him a long time ago, but now pretty much only see him when he's being a drama queen on Bill Maher's show.
Gack, "engaging, convincing." I couldn't tolerate Bush for more than a few moments. Relied on Kos posters for the blow by blow.
I'm glad I missed the asbestos comment. I might not have had a television when I got up this morning.
I really ought to quit all this national stuff and focus on Maine like I'm supposed to... but every time I turn on my computer I'm treated to more stupendous stories of Evil, Hypocrisy, Greed & Fear and I cannot turn away!
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