Monday, September 1, 2008

Boycotting Sullivan?

Ace sent an e-mail to "heavy hitters in the right-leaning respectable blogosphere" to suggest a boycott of Andrew Sullivan. See-Dubya got the e-mail. I've checked my inbox, but am not on the list, so I guess I'm at liberty to link Sullivan in explaining what this is all about.

Sully repeatedly gave vent to, and defended, the horrid and baseless speculation -- apparently originating with a DKos vermin -- that Sarah Palin's fifth child, Trig, was actually her grandchild, having been born to Palin's teenage daughter, Bristol. (See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.)

So, in no fewer than nine blog entries, this contributor to The Atlantic Monthly pumped oxygen into one of the most bizarre and disgusting conspiracy theories ever to emerge from the fetid swamps of the Leftosphere. This prompts Ace to engage in his own theorizing:
Since we're airing "uncomfortable theories" of a medical type here which need to be explored, I doubt there is anyone on the blogosphere who hasn't wondered -- frequently -- if Sullivan is suffering from AIDS-related dementia.
Ugly, yes, but we're all thinking the same thing; and as we're now apparently free to speculate about such ugly things, I see no reason why Sullivan should be further shielded.
He's gone f---ing bananas, due to AIDS or steroids or other reasons, and if we're not observing a minimum level of politeness and civility anymore -- if innocent 16 year old girls are now valid targets -- I see no reason to continue extending the courtesy
of polite silence to Sullivan.
Yeah. I guess this suspicion has been in the back of a lot of people's minds for a while, and "the courtesy of polite silence" has generally prevented other bloggers from wondering aloud whether Sullivan's erratic moods might be related in some way to his illness.

Nietzsche famously went mad due to syphilis, and while AIDS-related dementia is a less well-known phenomenon, I very well remember Sullivan's 7,000-word paean to the joys of testosterone therapy. Given that he was resorting to such exotic treatments eight years ago, heaven knows what manner of mood-altering medications he might be using now.

In light of Sullivan's indulgence of the Trig Palin conspiracy theory, however, he clearly has drifted far afield from the sober judgment he exhibited as editor of the New Republic 15 years ago. There was never a shred of credible evidence for that cheap smear -- akin to idiot rumors of a lesbian affair between Janet Reno and Hillary Clinton -- and thus no reason why any journalist should acknowledge it, except to denounce it.

Of course, I'm not a "heavy hitter" and probably not "respectable," either, and I once got an "Yggy" nomination from Sully, so I might be more sympathetic than some others on the Right. Sullivan has written at length about Oakeshott and the importance of humility in conservative thought, and therefore ought to be humble enough to admit that he was wrong in allowing himself to go wading into the DKos muck. And in making such an admission, perhaps he will have cause to reflect on exactly why he's drifted so far afield.

Having done my own share of drifting over the years, I am wary of the notion of irredeemable errors. A Christian ought to consider that when he is chastised, there is always a reason, no matter how unfair the chastisement seems at the time. And an admission of one's own faults does not justify one's enemies. God used the heathen Babylonians to chastise Israel, but this did not signify God's favor toward heathenism, neither did it ultimately exempt Babylon from judgment, nor did it mean that God had broken His promise to Israel.

Sullivan has done wrong, and ought to make amends. But I am too great a debtor to grace to suppose that he is beyond hope of redemption.

UPDATE: Great day in the morning! Sully's fairly sane, compared to some of the DKos/DUmmies whose wild conspiratorial fantasies Ace has unearthed now. It's all a plot by Karl Rove, you see . . .

5 comments:

  1. In addition to its slimy aspect the "Trig's actually her grandchild" story was utterly stupid.

    "Prominent female politician fakes pregnancy while high school student daughter hides pregnancy" might work for a third rate soap opera but to actually believe it happened?

    Did The Atlantic vet this guy?

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  2. Sadly enough, i am not surprised lefty bloggers ran with this unfounded rumor but would not say a thing about the real sex scandal involving John Edwards--who was once a less qualified than Palin Veep candidate.

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  3. Sully is no "lefty blogger." He was one of the most vocal pro-Bush cheerleaders for years and a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq before Bush condoned torture. You can't put him in the same category as Kos. Maybe with Christopher Hitchens, but not the "lefty blogs."

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  4. FEMINISM OVER FEMININITY BODES ILL FOR MC CAIN

    Richard Barrett

    Many had predicted that the Republican Party would fail at the polls,
    not because of any strength or attraction by the Democratic Party,
    but because of backlash from its own, betrayed constitutents. Some
    had, even, pronosticated that the GOP had become so mired in lies,
    corruption and perfidy, which trashed its own "Contract With
    America", that it would go out of existence, altogether. The naming
    by John McCain of a female, miscegenationist running-mate, however,
    came crashing through like the last water-tight doors, bursting on
    the doomed "Titanic", sweeping aside any hopes to keep the hulk
    afloat. It's being denominated as "sad" and "tragic," but predictable.

    The modern Republican Party had taken shape in 1964, as the
    last-resort of opposition to the Civil Rights Bill, integration and
    what Southern-Democrats blasted as the "communization" of the
    country. It became known for what were termed "little old-ladies in
    tennis-shoes," who fanned out across the nation, knocking on doors
    and appealing for "traditional values" of "home, family and country."
    There wasn't a "pants-suit" in the bunch. They called themselves
    "conservatives," unabashedly seeking to "turn back the clock" on
    "Brown v. Board", the Voting Rights Act, the Forced-Housing Law
    and all the "Great-Society" measures, which had forced minorities over
    the majority.

    They sensed that forcing Negroes into jobs and offices was only a
    prelude to forcing women, then homosexuals, then aliens in. Their
    organizing and campaigning paid off a decade later, when the Equal
    Rights Amendment was proposed, to supposedly make women "equal"
    to men, the same way the Civil Rights Bill, which had never been
    submitted to popular-vote of the people, was supposed to make
    Negroes "equal" to whites. Phyllis Schlafly turned out to be the
    leading-light, telling enthusiastic audiences that she thanked her
    husband, Bill, for allowing her to appear, that evening, and that she
    just didn't want the ERA "pulling women down to the level of men."

    Crowds loved the newfound "conservatism" and the ERA, once considered
    as much a "shoo-in" as Hillary Clinton, went down down at the polls
    in the same Wicked-Witch-of-the-West melt-down. As a result,
    Schlafly, who had chosen the Republican-Party as her political-base,
    drew new minions and strength to the GOP, resulting in the ouster of
    ERA-backing, VRA-supporting Democrats in 1994 and an historic,
    clean-sweep of the Congress. Not all who chose "femininity" over
    "feminism" chose the GOP, however. Alice Hall, a staunch,
    George-Wallace backer, who delivered impassioned TV-broadcasts
    against the ERA, refused to evacuate the party of FDR and Jefferson
    Davis.

    Clair Baucum, who had campaigned against the ERA in New Jersey,
    even relocated to Tennessee, convinced that casting her lot with the
    Old Confederacy would be a springboard to even greater victories. Her
    fondest dreams of North-South unity seemed to finally be coming true,
    when Nationalists held their massive "Neighborhood, Home, Family and
    Country" rally in Boston. Young Jackie Paul brought down the house
    with her ringing appeal to have more children and stronger families
    and to overturn, once and for all, the demands of minorities,
    particularly the "feminists." Her ranks were swelled by Christians,
    who chimed in that "the man should be the head of the home."

    The "pedestal" for women was not new. A "patriarchal" society, as
    opposed to the "matriarchal" tribalism of Africa, where bastardy
    reigns, had been the key to Western Civilization. Women were
    shielded from the sordidness of politics, drudgery of the workplace and
    bloodshed of warfare, as an attribute of civilized society. Mississippi,
    even, drew raves, when it mocked the "International Women's Year"
    conference by electing men as delegates to oppose what they termed
    the "lesbian-festival." According to delegate Laura Huff, who
    described herself as a "militant-conservative," the ERA would mean
    the "end of marriage." "We've got to protect our children," she warned.

    Huff's worst fears played out when George H. W. Bush elevated
    Clarence Thomas, a Negro married to a white woman, George W.
    Bush installed Condeleeza Rice, a Negress, as Secretary of State,
    and Republican-judges in California ruled that lesbians could
    "marry" each other. "Affirmative-action" was, then, used by the
    Bush-Administration to shove women into the military, promote women
    over men and, eventually, coronate McCain with the "crown-jewel" of
    feminism, Sarah Palin. Had Schlafly been offered the post, she likely
    would have politely declined, saying, "That's a man's position." It
    was immediately dredged up that Palin had boasted of having lesbian
    "friends."

    Palin had used her veto-power, as Governor of Alaska, to pass a
    law granting "equality" to state-employed lesbians, placing their
    "partners" on par with normal couples. She had, also, stated that
    lesbians were being "discriminated against," which meant "okay, let's
    get more lesbians in here and, while we're at it, how about some more
    Negroes, Mexicans and, well, anybody but straight, white males."
    Palin is touted for toting a gun, not exactly the most ladylike of
    attributes, and for having a genetically-retarded child, not exactly
    the dream of Margaret Sanger, who strove for genetic-improvement of
    humanity. Palin, who knew of her defective fetus, refused an
    abortion.

    Palin is under investigation for trying to fire state-trooper Mike Wooten,
    which drew no rebuke from McCain, because, after all, Wooten was
    only a "man." Palin's husband, Todd, is an Eskimo, part of the
    Yup'ik tribe. McCain, who had adopted an Indian-baby, had praised
    Bobby Jindal, an Indian, as a possible running-mate, so stringing the
    GOP up on the noose of miscegenation, as well as feminism, was
    hardly out-of-character. Paulette Simpson of the Alaska Republican
    Women's Federation described Palin as "tough," the euphemism
    for "mannish" once accorded to Harriet Miers. McCain might as
    well have picked Ellen DeGeneris or Oprah Winfrey, but he wanted
    a "Republican."

    http://www.skinheadz.com/news/articles/2008/083001.html
    Copyright 2008 Skinheadz

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  5. I cannot do the skinhead thing. Simply put, they are against me for a dozen reasons. I almost wonder if this is a leftist's or socialist's (McCain, the not other one) way of pro-actively attacking any attack against Palin. However, the arguments do have meaning to me. Most of them are exact. And yes, McCain has just dropped a Republican from the roles, well, another one.

    Now I am dissociated with American politics. I am also single. As well, I am not alone. Even the weaker students of history understand the problems when large such demographics are pushed out into the cold. Just waiting for the wave to decide. I will either ride or just watch and eat popcorn. Oh, and grin.

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