37 Comments

1. Mark Buehner:

Wait, Andrew SULLIVAN suddenly changing horses midstream and desperate to justify it? Surely not!

Aug 20, 2008 - 8:29 am 2. jedrury:

Gergen’s lasting legacy is that he worked for Reagan and Clinton and
now after, being the turncoat, has fled to Boston to kiss up to the liberals at the Kennedy School. His MSM street cred is a second string
TV commentator on PBS and on a slow “no news” Sunday in August “Meet the Press.”

Aug 20, 2008 - 8:38 am 3. Lightnin' Hopkins:

Remember Clinton’s staged photo-op at Normandy with the rocks from nowhere he tearfully arranged into a cross on the beach? I don’t know about Andy but it is seared, SEARED in my memory.

If it’s details he seeks, let exciteable Andy dig into the Daley Library stonewalling on the Annenburg Challenge papers which would shed further light on Obama’s close ties with the loathsome Bill Ayers.

Come on November.

Aug 20, 2008 - 8:58 am 4. Shannon Love:

I view modern leftism as being increasing fantasy driven. They make choices based more and more on what they wish to be true instead of exerting the discipline required to see ugly reality. They choose Obama because of what they desired him to be instead of looking at what he actually was. The rigors of a presidential campaign, however, have evolved exactly to test candidates. The campaign will strip away the fantasy leaving only Obama’s ethereal reality.

Aug 20, 2008 - 8:58 am 5. Captain Hate:

Why does anybody pay attention to Thilly Thully? He jumped the shark years ago, a prisoner to his single issue obsession. He called himself a “conservative” just so he could suck up to his MSM heroes by letting them be able to say that they knew at least one. Now he occasionally appears on the Chrissy Matthews Show, a “mission accomplished” of sycophancy.

Aug 20, 2008 - 9:13 am 6. Minerva:

I have been waiting for Mickey Kaus to write all of the above, but Roger and PJM are always ahead of the curve (except for some of PJM’s writers who, like excitable Andrew, once loved McCain but now don’t or can’t bring themselves to criticize Arnold).

Aug 20, 2008 - 9:32 am 7. Steve_NO:

Andrew is being such a lesbian about the whole cross thing. He wants to be a leftie swiftboater, and can’t seem to grasp the extent to which voters outside P’town are repelled by the whole schtick.

It is reminiscent of his waterboarding obsession, which fueled most of his writing for months. He has gone from at least a semi-serious observer to a self-parody in the last five years.

His sloppy kisses for Obama are becoming increasingly embarrassing to read.

Aug 20, 2008 - 9:43 am 8. Jim:

Youse are still playing whack-a-sophist? Amazing.

Aug 20, 2008 - 10:10 am 9. Jeff Mitchell:

Hillary might be getting that 3:00am call after all… 3:00am next Thursday.

“Hillary, this is Howard. We’ve made a terrible mistake…”

What fun!

Aug 20, 2008 - 10:17 am 10. Charlie (Colorado):

It really is increasingly difficult to figure out Sullivan without considering the possible deleterious neurological effects of HIV.

Aug 20, 2008 - 10:19 am 11. Insufficiently Sensitive:

Sullivan was generating and writing about good ideas back in his New Republic days. His observations on the 2000 elections, and the Florida ballot hysteria, were excellent. But, at some point he was bitten by Bush Derangement Symptoms and has progressively warbled off into an alternate fantasy world. Pity.

Aug 20, 2008 - 10:21 am 12. kynna:

Because Bush and Republicans came out against gay marriage, Sully decided they had to be stopped. Whether it hurt the US or the world effort against Islamic terrorism, he had to stop them from stopping gay marriage.

So he took the side of America’s enemies to take sides against Bush and Republicans.

He used to have a huge crush on McCain, too.

What is really sad is that Sullivan used to appear to have honor. Now he’s just another hack with personal problems.

Gay marriage is an issue that will be around for a long time. Republican efforts didn’t stop it. Sullivan’s hate didn’t help to further the cause he supports. And his latest favorite Islamic terrorists certainly haven’t stopped burying gay men alive because Andy hates George/John.

Although he certainly might ever-so-slightly help in getting McCain elected with this latest obsessive nonsense, he’s still a sad sack of no historic consequence. It must suck to be him.

Aug 20, 2008 - 10:59 am 13. Bob_R:

Is there a better example than Sullivan of a writer whose writing has disastrously deteriorated as a result of blogging. His past books (and reportedly his latest book, which I have not read) are thoughtful and well written. Blogging exposes his every flaw of character and thought in the most unflattering ways. I guess people like watching the train wreck but I can’t imagine why.

Aug 20, 2008 - 11:00 am 14. David Thomson:

“…the possible deleterious neurological effects of HIV.”

You have touched on an unpleasant and awkward possibility. Indeed, Andrew Sullivan’s intellectual deterioration could be related to the devastating consequences of his HIV affliction.

Aug 20, 2008 - 11:05 am 15. Debbie:

Consider this: Is that all this talk around the blogosphere about the Dems buyers remorse a projection of OUR fantasy? I’d love it to be true, and it does truly appear that his favorables go down the more people get to know him,But is this my own brand of wishful thinking?

Aug 20, 2008 - 11:46 am 16. Jay:

After the Swiftboat business of ‘04, you had to expect that there’d be some sniffing around on something McCain has used in multiple campaign ads, books, and speeches. The injection of military service into debates about the course of our government always produces negative results, given that that government is civilian-run.

Sorry, but those are the breaks.

Aug 20, 2008 - 12:07 pm 17. Alan Weick:

Deb:

A good dose of reality. This race is far from over and every election cycle has its ups and downs for the candidates. Do I like the trends? Yes. Does it look like Barry Obama is starting to perspire? Yes. But, let’s remember that regardless of all the stats regarding Democratic leads in the summer, etc., the past is not necessarily a forecast of the future. If after Labor Day the race is moving toward McCain then a smile may be in order. Toss a coin 100 times. If the first 99 come up heads the next toss is still 50-50 for tails.

Aug 20, 2008 - 12:15 pm 18. jedrury:

Sullivan and his crew really stretched themselves on this McCain criticism. He is offended that McCain claimed a reliance on religion
back in the Hanoi Hilton days (who would not?), publicized it, and is now effectively reaching out to evangelicals and garnering them too. This offends Sullivan as he claims that he is still a practicing Catholic and wants to corner that market even tho the latest polls show that Obama is failing to attract Catholics.

Aug 20, 2008 - 12:27 pm 19. Minerva:

The Democrats used a mean commercial like that regarding the Dan Quayle as vice-president pick in 1988.

Jeff Mitchell:

Hillary might be getting that 3:00am call after all… 3:00am next Thursday.

“Hillary, this is Howard. We’ve made a terrible mistake…”

What fun!

Aug 20, 2008 - 12:36 pm 20. Mike_K:

kynna, I agree that Sullivan turned on Bush over gay marriage although it is odd that he would expect Bush to do anything other than what he did. I also wonder about Sullivan’s neurological situation and once emailed him after some outrageous statement he had made and asked if he was OK. Needless to say, he replied with a nastygram. I was a supporter of his blog at the time and I left it not long after. His attacks on McCain are no better than ankle biting and even some left wing sites are now backing away from the “cross” subject.

One obvious reason why McCain did not mention that guard and the cross back in 1973 is the fact that it would have been a poor reward to a guard who had treated him well to “out” him as a Christian. I think I have seen something about him talking to one of his former guards on a trip to Vietnam since he became a Senator. Wouldn’t it be funny if the guard came forward this fall to confirm the story?

Whoops !

Aug 20, 2008 - 1:31 pm 21. gk1:

I think there is a bit of wishful thinking of “buyers remorse” on the dems part (its far too early for that) That usually kicks in beginning of October when they see the “shoe-in” states like Ohio or Florida go red. I just detect signs of panic that there chosen candidate is tanking and they have no means of propping him up. If the MSM 24/7 cheerleading is not getting it done, they know they are toast.

Aug 20, 2008 - 1:32 pm 22. AlanC:

gk1: I think that you may be right, but, given the bizzare nature of the Dems voting method maybe not. The fact that they CAN do something still about their buyer’s remorse (or doubts) might bring the pot to a boil much faster than if the nomination was truly over (i.e. Barry had enough pledged delegates).

The super-delegate contingent is still up for grabs no matter what they’ve said to date.

My wishful thinking scenario is that when Hillary speaks on day one she drops a big smelly scandal right on Obama’s head (eg new info on Ayers, Klonski, Rezko, birth certificate, whatever she’s got) then looks at the super-delegates and says “You’re here to fix this kind of disaster, what are you going to do?”

Of course this would destroy the Dem party so I doubt that it will happen but it would be fun. My guess is that she sandbags him for the election to position herself for her redemption (can’t you just see her doing an “I told you so!”) run in 2012 against either a very old McC or the Repub replacement.

Aug 20, 2008 - 2:02 pm 23. tim maguire:

Alan, I think you have it there. At this point, Hillary has to be looking at 2012 after Obama loses 2008. Her slogan goes something like:

McCain: I could have beat him in 2008, I can still beat him in 2012

Aug 20, 2008 - 2:18 pm 24. Paul M Hupf:

The mask that Senator Obama has been wearing is slipping and will soon fall off completely. He wishes us to believe in a phantom, a sterling and politically pure young man who will bring change. His past belies this and his past is now being exposed, in great measure by his own actions and words, to reveal the real Barack Obama, a candidate who seeks public office for his own good and for the good of those around him, not for the United States of America as a whole.

Aug 20, 2008 - 2:33 pm 25. The Fop:

At the time that we invaded Iraq, the anti-war leftists were a small fringe group. But when we didn’t find WMDs and the insurgency raged, the leftists were able to convince a large percentage of Democratic voters that Bush was the worst US President in American history. Obama saw an opportunity to tap into Bush Derangment Syndrome. He understood that there were enough Democrats out there hungry for an “anti-Bush”, as opposed to a run of the mill Democrat who would simply disagree with Bush while still playing to the center.

The truth is, when Obama loses, he’ll be a lot less heartbroken than his loving devotees, as well as rank and file Democrats, who know that he’s a weak candidate and aren’t crazy about him, but will hold their nose and vote for him because they desperately want a Democrat in the White House after eight years of Bush.

Obama knows that he will make history, win or lose. He’s the first Black man to win the nomination of a major political party. His place in the history books is sealed. He took advantage of Bush hatred and outfoxed Hillary for the Dem nomination. He wins the silver medal! He doesn’t care about what’s best for his party, anymore than the Clinton’s do.

In the face of a Republican President who dealt aggressively with the most devastating attack on American soil, Obama played on naive liberal idealism FOR HIS OWN PERSONAL GAIN.

Considering what’s going on now with Russia, you can be sure that there will be lots of 527 ads featuring Obama’s laundry list of how he plans on gutting our military that he reeled off during a Democratic debate. He said what he had to say and did what he had to do to win the nomination. So what does he care if he loses the big prize? He’s already an icon.

Aug 20, 2008 - 3:50 pm 26. ricpic:

Gergen never fails to tell us how “thoughtful” Obama is. Hysterical.

Aug 20, 2008 - 4:42 pm 27. kynna:

Mike_K, I remember the day he turned. I used to be a big supporter as well. Even sent him some money. He had been writing anxiously for a week or so about what the Republicans were doing with the ‘defense of marriage’ act and hoping Bush wouldn’t go along. The day Bush came out in support of it Andy wrote: so this is war.

He basically declared war on George Bush and Republicans and he’s stuck with it. Everything he ever supposedly supported or believed in with regard to the GWoT took a 180 and he was a complete and total moonbat from that moment on.

The most dishonest thing he did after that was to continue to accept gigs under the banner of ‘conservative blogger’.

I sure wish I had that money back.

Aug 20, 2008 - 4:51 pm 28. qrstuv:

I read the Daily Dish fairly often, and I basically agreed with his take on Islamofacism, the war in Iraq, etc.

But when it became apparent that Bush wasn’t going to wave a magic wand and legalize gay marriage (against the wishes of the majority and the Constitution’s description of the executive branch), Sully turned into his own opposite.

It was an astonishing about-face.

Aug 20, 2008 - 5:22 pm 29. Terrye:

I think Sully is starting to lose his mind, maybe his illness has something to do with it.

As for the Democrats, they might be getting as tired of Obama as the rest of us are.

Aug 20, 2008 - 5:30 pm 30. Victor Erimita:

I too was an Andrew Sullivan fan and supporter back when he was still honest and relevant. I exchanged some ghood emails with him. He was an orginal thinker and not a knee-jerk partisan tape recorder.

The Bush statements against gay marriage during the 2004 campaign came at the end of a period when Sullivan was going through an honest, heart-rending analysis of his relation to the Catholic Church. The Bush position seemed to throw him over the edge, and that is when he jumped the shark. It was obvious to every fan of his what happened when he suddenly reversed course on nearly every issue and became obsessed with gay marriage and a Foucault-like fascination with “torture.”

Sad, but really who cares? Certainly the conservative movement wrote him off years ago, and he is now just another anti-Bush ranter, of which there are already legions. He adds nothing to their cause. I have paid zero attention to him since he went wack.

Aug 20, 2008 - 5:31 pm 31. Mwalimu Daudi:

The MSM always believed that it would be able to drag the Messiah across the finish line in November. Buyers’ remorse on steroids!

But if the MSM’s hearts are really set on installing an empty-headed overexposed celebrity in the Oval Office, why not Paris Hilton? She is young, fresh and exciting (well, young, anyway). She is at least a dumb as He Whose Middle Name Must Not Be Mentioned. Second, in her reply to McCain’s ad she showed that she has a sense of humor. The Messiah had his expunged when He passed Hilly the Hun in delegates. Finally, having a woman at the head of the ticket might mollify the PUMAs.

So by the end of next week Democrats might be chanting: Paris 2008 – Spread Thighs Not Lies. It actually makes sense after the pants-down Presidency of William Jefferson Clinton.

Aug 20, 2008 - 7:33 pm 32. Gary Rosen:

“So by the end of next week Democrats might be chanting: Paris 2008 – Spread Thighs Not Lies. It actually makes sense after the pants-down Presidency of William Jefferson Clinton.”

At this point it would actually enhance the intellectual credibility of the Democrat party.

Aug 21, 2008 - 12:45 am 33. Larry J:

To paraphrase Homer Simpson, “Andrew Sullivan? Is that thing still around?”

Seriously, who cares what Andrew Sullivan writes? Anyone?

Aug 21, 2008 - 6:31 am 34. TG Poll:

Andrew Sullivan has a history of supporting candidates (Clinton 92, Dole 96, Bush 00, Kerry 04) who either lose or lose his support in the upcoming election. I’d still read him if he was just a disgruntled gay conservative but he sounds like a mouthpiece for the Democrats. When he writes about Obama, I feel as if I’m reading something written by a sophmore in college. I get really tired of his catchphrases du jour like “chistianism”, “south park republicans” and “soft power”. He thinks he’s doing Obama a big favor by characterizing him as the champion of soft power. To me, soft power sounds kind of “soft”.

Aug 21, 2008 - 7:15 am 35. Captain Hate:

The hits just keep on coming. Now Andi is accusing McCain of sucking up to those eeeeevil evangelical “christianists” (love those snarky made-up words by Sully) by making up stuff about Mother Theresa being personally involved with the adoption of one of his children. The underside of the Ostammer bus is about to get more crowded.

Roger, either Sullivan is a Rove plant or he’s on a mission to destroy the PJM credibility by his stupidity leaking out across the innerwebbz.

Aug 21, 2008 - 11:32 am 36. Mike_K:

The Mother Teresa story is weak and will only remind people about Cindy McCain adopting the little child with the cleft palate. The allegation that Mother Teresa spoke to her is actually only in one reporter’s material (two stories, both not American media).

McCain seems to attract dumb enemies. The “How many houses” story is another one that will bring up Obama’s house and Rezko.

Aug 21, 2008 - 3:24 pm 37. Lem:

..”regarding the shallow Obama”

Class envy - this is the one we all been waiting for

Aug 21, 2008 - 9:11 pm

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