Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Andrew Sullivan

For some reason, many on the left still love to take digs at Andrew Sullivan and treat him as if he's enemy #1. I really don't get it, as he's probably the most intellectually honest and candidly repentant of the high-profile conservative pundits. He's one of the few conservatives trying to rescue conservatism from the theocrats, and to analyze how our foreign and domestic policies have gone so pear-shaped under Bush. Yes, he said some ridiculous things after 9/11. But read this:
On these grounds, I have indeed come to see that many, many liberals are indeed my brothers and my sisters. And increasing numbers of conservatives as well, thank God. For some on the far left, Bush could never have done any right, ever. I'm not going to exculpate the hate-filled parts of the far-left. But many, many others on the left were right about these people in power; and I was wrong. I threw some smug invective their way and, in retrospect, I am ashamed of it. Sure, I recognized my error before the last election, but that doesn't excuse it. Sure, some of it was just misunderstanding each other, in a climate of great fear, and some of it was just my arrogance that I was right. But that doesn't excuse it all either. My book is an attempt to rescue something from the wreckage - an atonement of sorts - and to move forward.

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