The Unbearable Malice Of Sullivan

Andrew Michael Sullivan of South Godstone, Surrey, England is an extraordinarily well educated and accomplished man. He has a bachelor’s degree in modern history from Magdalen College, Oxford. He has a master’s in public administration and a Ph.D. in government from Harvard University. He was elected president of the Oxford Union (the premier debating society in global higher education). At the age of 33, he was tapped by The New Republic to be its editor-in-chief, and served in that role for roughly 5 years. He’s a published author with four books touching on various aspects of public policy thought under his belt.

He’s also one of the most mean-spirited bloggers on the Internet (and that’s saying a lot with Michelle Malkin out there….who looks more and more like an angry Filipino hooker each time she goes on Fox News…she’s the same chick who said it was great that Japanese-Americans were interned in camps in the American Southwest during World War II).

For those of you not familiar with him, Dr. Sullivan is the driving force behind a website called “The Daily Dish”, which is now part of The Atlantic magazine’s website (where he is also credited as a Senior Editor). Since joining The Atlantic, Dr. Sullivan has made it his mission to be as shrill as human possible about quite a few targets...in particular anyone remotely affiliated with Bill or Hillary Clinton, and any person of faith in the United States…but he does it in that delightfully stuffy and oh-so-self-important British way (quite the pity he doesn’t have the delivery of John Cleese—at least then, his self-righteous appearances would be entertaining).

Dr. Sullivan states (and the broad-spectrum press aids him in the delusion) that he is a conservative. The interesting part is that outside of fiscal policy, he has very little in common with conservatism as it is known in the United States. In fact, Dr. Sullivan actually goes out of his way to start fights with other writers in what is supposed to be the world of conservative thought. His most recent book was called “The Conservative Soul—How We Lost It And How To Get It Back”. I bought the book, and I did make an honest effort to read it….but children, let me tell you something—after the first chapter, I had to put that piece of crap down. It was one of the most boring books I had ever picked up (I should have taken it back to Barnes & Noble and demanded my money back for buying such an expensive drink coaster).

Dr. Sullivan was talking about how American conservatism was diseased and needed to be fixed. The punchline of the joke is that the idea he was talking about hasn’t existed here. I’m still trying to figure out just who that book was aimed it, since it wasn’t any conservative I know. Just so we are clear, I do NOT claim either conservative or liberal as my ideological home. My ideological home is Big-Mouthism….that is the ideology of saying whatever f’ing thing pops into your head. Makes life unpredictable since I never know what will come out of my mouth, but at least it’s never boring.

Over the past couple of years, Dr. Sullivan has made it his personal mission to be viciously insulting to Hillary Clinton. I’m still trying to grasp why he spews so much venom at her, since I don’t think he has ever actually met her face to face (or at least he has never disclosed meeting her). The nasty, mean-spirited, ad hominem attacks he throws at her on a daily basis would make more sense to me if he has met her and found her away-from-the-cameras-personality unpleasant. Since no evidence of a meeting exists, the wellspring of his venom is a mystery (then again, who knows why bitchy queens do what they do—they can take a dislike to someone for simply wearing the wrong pants). For all of his education, Dr. Sullivan forgot there is a difference between attacking a person’s ideas and attacking the person. Dr. Sullivan is far happier to attack Hillary Clinton the person and pretty much leave her policy proposals on the table.

Dovetailing quite nicely with his seemingly personal hatred of Mrs. Clinton these days is his supine behavior regarding Senator Carter of Illinois (see Break A Deal, Face The Wheel). For as slavish as Dr. Sullivan is in his writings about the Gentle-Empty-Suit from Illinois, one would think someone was getting blown. It seems Dr. Sullivan likes his politics vague, fluffy and LSD-like, and his politicians convictionless and disinterested in saying either “Aye” or “No” on an issue. He seems to prefer they vote “Present” on way too many issues….or he likes them to talk “uplift” and vote hard-left.

The second big thing with Dr. Sullivan is how he prattles on about being a Roman Catholic…yet he freaks out with public expressions of faith in this country and also makes regular attacks on the Catholic Church itself. Dr. Sullivan said once on the Charlie Rose Show that he’d become radicalized. One has to wonder if that has spread to the spiritual realm, since he doesn’t like people discussing God unless it’s him. Any public figure who mentions religion he terms a “Christianist”—he went so far as to paint John McCain (of all people) with that brush. Maybe it’s because I’m from the South, or maybe it’s because I had a grandfather who was a minister, but I don’t get bent out of shape when someone talks about Jesus…then again, I’m just a poor white fag and not an upwardly mobile white fag, so I don’t see Jesus Christ as a threat to be subdued. JC has come through for me during some tough times, so maybe I’m biased.

Another thing about Dr. Sullivan’s religious perspective—would a sincere person of faith be as personally hateful as he is to some people? If no one has ever done anything to you personally, do you deserve the right to cast that stone? The way he seems to reconcile personal faith and public nastiness makes him almost sound like a Southern Baptist—I know, because I used to be one…before I became a Catholic.

Just a few thoughts, children....