Federalist Paupers

High Priest of the Church of O has finally admitted what most of us have known for a long long time.

Of course he couches it in ridiculous Sullivan Double-Speak about the right not really being conservative or conservatism leaving him. Its all complete bunk of course, Andrew by virtue of his changing opinions, his use of emotion to drive his “thinking” and his complete adulation for a man that stands for everything he is allegedly against, left the right long ago.

This is not to say that I don’t agree with some of the things Sullivan lists here – I too am disgusted with much of Republican governance over the last decade. The important distinction is that my reaction is to become more conservative (actually in my case libertarian), not support a radically leftist politician.

Good riddance.

BTW Andrew I’m going to quote your little list of why you can no longer support conservatism but I’ll include some hyperlinks to help you out:

I cannot support a movement that claims to believe in limited government but backed an unlimited domestic and foreign policy presidency that assumed illegal, extra-constitutional dictatorial powers until forced by the system to return to the rule of law.

I cannot support a movement that exploded spending and borrowing and blames its successor for the debt.

I cannot support a movement that so abandoned government’s minimal and vital role to police markets and address natural disasters that it gave us Katrina and the financial meltdown of 2008.

I cannot support a movement that holds torture as a core value.

I cannot support a movement that holds that purely religious doctrine should govern civil political decisions and that uses the sacredness of religious faith for the pursuit of worldly power.

I cannot support a movement that is deeply homophobic, cynically deploys fear of homosexuals to win votes, and gives off such a racist vibe that its share of the minority vote remains pitiful.

I cannot support a movement which has no real respect for the institutions of government and is prepared to use any tactic and any means to fight political warfare rather than conduct a political conversation.

I cannot support a movement that sees permanent war as compatible with liberal democratic norms and limited government.

I cannot support a movement that criminalizes private behavior in the war on drugs.

I cannot support a movement that would back a vice-presidential candidate manifestly unqualified andt duplicitous because of identity politics and electoral cynicism.

I cannot support a movement that regards gay people as threats to their own families.

I cannot support a movement that does not accept evolution as a fact.

I cannot support a movement that sees climate change as a hoax and offers domestic oil exploration as the core plank of an energy policy.

I cannot support a movement that refuses ever to raise taxes, while proposing no meaningful reductions in government spending.

I cannot support a movement that refuses to distance itself from a demagogue like Rush Limbaugh or a nutjob like Glenn Beck.

I cannot support a movement that believes that the United States should be the sole global power, should sustain a permanent war machine to police the entire planet, and sees violence as the core tool for international relations.

Posted by Jamie in Conservatism, What Ever Happened to Andrew Sullivan?

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Conservatism, What Ever Happened to Andrew Sullivan?. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “FINALLY!”

Geoff says:

I think that Charles Johnson’s announcement, which inspired Sullivan’s, is more interesting. I used to associate LGF with a lot of the Right’s worst impulses; I never thought that about Sullivan (even back when he was clearly a conservative).

December 1st, 2009 at 2:58 pm

Apollo says:

After years of being dishonest about being a conservative, he can’t even make an honest liberal of himself. You’re right to point out how many of the things he says about the conservative movement (by which he means George Bush) can be said about Democrats, and particularly about Obama.

I repeat my hypothesis that incessant angry blogging of the sort that Sullivan does is not conducive to sound thought. It keeps one from maintaining perspective, from appreciating the difference between momentary phenomena and larger trends. It tends to focus the mind on particular data points that may not represent the overall trend line. For example, take his idiotic Katrina throwaway. What’s more indicative of conservative governance – the slow federal response to a disaster in one of the worst-run, most corrupt, and most Democratic cities in the country, or the amazing state response in Mississippi (perhaps the most conservative state, with perhaps the nation’s most conservative governor), or the consistently excellent hurricane responses in conservative Florida? I bring up this example not because I believe the answer to it is obvious, but because it’s the sort of question Sullivan can’t bring himself to ask, because the answer might make it too hard for him to make dozens of angry posts a day.

I miss the days when he only made a few posts each day, and spent time thinking over each one. He was a thoughtful blogger then, even when I disagreed with him. Now he’s too busy spewing the hate to ask questions or check facts. That bit with Krauthammer is particularly risible. Back when Sullivan thought, he thought very highly of Krauthammer. Once said of him something like “He’s never said a stupid thing.” Now, Krauthammer’s just another conservative bogeyman to hate on.

December 1st, 2009 at 3:03 pm

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