Andrew Sullivan On Why I am Supporting John Kerry

[Jon8503]

"...it is simply foolish to ignore what we have found out this past year about Bush's obvious limits, his glaring failures, his fundamental weakness as a leader. I fear he is out of his depth and exhausted. I simply do not have confidence in him to navigate the waters ahead skillfully enough to avoid or survive the darkening clouds on the horizon."

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?pt=qFFINfAm4eR7PMnY1tkQ2m%3D%3D

[Skinner]

1. Whoa

Thanks for posting that.

[Jon8503]

4. Sorry Skinner for posting twice, thought they were different,

could'nt believe Bush did this. He is already pissing off some right wing groups I am reading.

[newsguyatl]

2. "I fear he is out of his depth and exhausted."

bingo.

also,

Kerry? I cannot know for sure. But in a democracy, you sometimes have to have faith that a new leader will be able to absorb the achievements of his predecessor and help mend his failures. Kerry has actually been much more impressive in the latter stages of this campaign than I expected. He has exuded a calm and a steadiness that reassures.

sullivan is spot on here! and i agree, that it's this calmness, steadiness, and confidance, that will win it for kerry.

[TexasSissy]

13. Wow. This is a surprise endorsement! Wow and wow again.

[indigobusiness]

3. He seemed to be turning lately. Coming to his senses.

Can he vote?

[connecticut yankee]

5. Have you read the Lucianne.com comments about this?

When Sullivan was on their side, they loved him.

Now that he's a Kerry supporter, they're throwing every filthy name in the book at him -- practically all about his being gay. They say that it's all about the gay marriage issue, that his brains are about 2 1/2 feet below his head, etc. etc. And those are the clean ones!

They're such incredible bigots!

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[Jon8503]

6. Unbelievable; I know not really

[The Doctor.]

20. Yes... I've noticed a bit of

Hypocrisy on the right lately.

LOTS of Real Republicans have noticed as well.

[Carl Yasutomo]

28. That's what the right wing said about David Brock...

...when he started to come to his senses. That he was "acting out" as a result of the emotional problems that come with being gay, or some such nonsense.

[Bush was AWOL]

7. I think he's a good guy to have on your side

his blog has been excellent since he's become pro-Kerry.

[edbermac]

8. Sully supporting Kerry?? WOW!! Who's next, Bill O'Reilly?

:wow:

[PROGRESSIVE1]

9. He's ABB!

He still thinks Iraq was a just war and thinks that tax cuts for the rich are good.

:eyes:

[Bucky]

10. At the risk of sounding ungrateful... I'm not impressed.

Sullivan is still a jack ass. He still supported a diversionary war against all common sense; he still apologized for an administration that demonized all its critics, he gleefully joined in on the suggestion that anyone opposing the invasion of Iraq in the middle of a different war was gullible and naive about world politics...

He's a me-too goofball who somehow thought if he could talk tough enough he'd be accepted by the right-ball idiots who hate him for his sexual orientation. He fell for Bush's faux macho posturing and thought that THAT substituted for a foriegn policy. And now he suddenly realized what a fuck up it's been and wants to bail out on Bush because of how the wind is blowing.

Sullivan is still a me-too anchorless weasel. Thumbs down, Roger. Send this dog back to the pound. Kerry's "steadiness" is only news to people who've been willingly sucking down Rove's bullshit. Well, Sullivan is free to swallow shit if he likes, but don't come around trying to kiss my candidate afterwards.

[MotownLew]

11. Not So Fast...

I thought that was a well-written column. Senator Kerry was not my first Democratic choice, though I've grown to totally support him. I voted for the first George; but think the second one is an utter puppet cum symbol of all that is wrong.

I've sent this piece to three friends who are 99% sure to vote Bush unless I can get to them in time. This column may do it.

[Bucky]

18. Welcome to DU, Motown Lew! (That's a big Texas howdy)

Glad to see a new DUer. Your point is well reasoned. I don't object to his endorsement of Kerry. But I want to place this in the context of someone who has villified Bush's opponents and called us saps for not seeing that knocking over Saddam was a way of attacking al Qaeda.

If his column turns a few votes, I welcome the help. But Sullivan is not to be admired or forgiven. I find the timing curious--suspect even. When a rat jumps off a sinking ship he may survive. But he's still a rat.

[Jane Austin]

21. Here's another one to share with conservative friends.

The following opinion piece by Charley Reese is worth
reading and circulating.

For those who don't know, Reese is a columnist for the King Features Syndicate. He turns out three columns a week and is known as a STAUNCHLY COMMITTED CONSERVATIVE. I guess that's why this column is causing such a stir. He apparently took a good hard look at the Bush Presidency record vs. rhetoric, and came to some inevitable conclusions.

Vote for a Man, Not a Puppet, by Charley Reese

<snip>

Bush has the most dangerously simplistic view of the
world of any president in my memory. It's no wonder the president avoids press conferences like the plague. Take away his cue cards and he can barely talk. Americans should be embarrassed that an Arab king (Abdullah of Jordan) spoke more fluently and articulately in English than our own president at their joint press conference recently.

John Kerry is at least an educated man, well-read, who knows how to think and who knows that the world is a great deal
more complex than Bush's comic-book world of American
heroes and foreign evildoers. It's unfortunate that in our poorly educated country, Kerry's very intelligence and refusal to adopt simplistic slogans might doom his presidential election efforts.

But Thomas Jefferson said it well, as he did so often, when he observed that people who expect to be ignorant and free expect what never was and never will be.

People who think of themselves as conservatives will really display their stupidity, as I did in the last election, by voting for Bush. Bush is as far from being a conservative as you can get. Well, he fooled me once, but he won't fool me twice. It is not at all conservative to balloon government spending, to vastly increase the power of government, to show contempt for the Constitution and the rule of law, or to tell people that foreign outsourcing of American jobs is good for them, that giant fiscal and trade deficits don't matter, and that people should not know what their government is doing.

<snip>

This election really is important, not only for domestic reasons, but because Bush's foreign policy has been a dangerous
disaster. He's almost restarted the Cold War with Russia and the nuclear arms race. America is not only hated in the Middle East, but it has few friends anywhere in the world thanks to the arrogance and ineptness of the Bush administration. Don't forget, a scientific poll of Europeans found us,Israel, North Korea and Iran as the greatest threats to world peace. I will swallow a lot of petty policy differences with Kerry to get a man in the White House with brains enough not to blow up the world and us with it.

<snip>

I goes on to encourage the reader to go to Kerry's website to read some of the magazine profiles about him.

The whole article is here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Divo]

25. Reese is OK

I have read Reese for years. He leans conservative and I often do not agree with him but he seems honest. I don't think he distorts the truth or is blind to reality.

[newyawker99]

30. Hi Divo!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[newyawker99]

29. Hi MotownLew!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[newsguyatl]

14. omg, i LOVE your sig pics!

[krkaufman]

15. Bullsh--!!

Not you. Sullivan.

I'm not ungrateful for another endorsement for Kerry, or unaware of the potential benefits, but Sullivan's editorial comes across as rationalization of his earlier support for Bush and the war and is a half-hearted endorsement, at best.

Without going after every bit of nonsense, the following struck me right off as total bullshxt:

And when you see women bravely exercising their right to vote in Afghanistan, you are seeing something that would not have happened without our current president. That moral achievement can never be taken away from him.

WHOEVER had been in the White House would have done exactly the same thing (gone after the Taliban & Al Qaeda after the attacks), and it's ridiculous to think otherwise. However, it is arguable that another President might have maintained focus on Al Qaeda and insuring the stabilization and democratization of Afghanistan.

A single election does not a democracy make, and continued warlord control of remote regions, the return of the Taliban, and increasing violence are indicators that it is wildly premature to be crediting anyone with an Afghanistan "achievement."

Sullivan is largely still full of al Qa Qaa.

[cprise]

23. Couldn't agree more

Sullivan is full of the neocon brand of moral certainty-- which makes him dead wrong.

[kodi]

16. sullivan realizes he rode the wrong horse, but his destination isnt kerrys

looking at randy andy's political and social philosophy its clear that the political vehicle that is george bush has not taken america where sulivan wants his adopted homeland to go, but that place sullivan desires still lies nearly opposite to kerry's on most issues.

[Sparkly]

12. Amazing.

Wasn't he Media Whores Online's Whore of the Year only a few years ago?

[Was_Immer]

17. WOW WOW WOW

HAHA, well these are the true concervatives. The bible belt concervatives have hijacked the party. Not that I care, good actually.

BUT its refreshing to see true concervatives are begining, and truely only begining, to see what has happened to the GOP.

The only thing that has, or had, kept the GOP together the bible belters and true concervatives, was the dislike of Clinton. Now that he isnt in office they are dividing.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

19. Wow. It was only a few months ago that Sully was an ardent Bush-backer,

or at least no fan of Kerry. No wonder the Right doesn't like him anymore.

[tsuki]

22. Something about the article

does not ring true with me. It's like he is hedging his bets. He repeats a lot of the rhetoric of the right (Kerry is mediocre and do nothing), and reluctantly endorses.

This article was written by and for, Sullivan.

[JSJ]

24. yup, another fairweather 'liberal'- watch how they multiply...

...in the closing days. Scum.

[ohtransplant]

26. Game on !!!

It seems the fight for the heart and sole (sic) of the Repukelican party has begun in earnest!!!

Don't expect right wingers to go down without a fight. If America is lucky, they'll burn down the whole thing. Where's Nero when you need him?

Dems need to simmer,stir and stand back so as not to get splashed.

Kerry should also reach out to their moderates.

Kerry on !!!

[Carl Yasutomo]

27. What a bizarre article

I don't think I've ever seen an endorsement for Kerry that spends so much time bashing Kerry and praising Bush.