Andrew "fifth column" Sullivan reminds us tearfully that the world is divided between people who divide the world in two, and people who don't, but forgets which side he's on.**
What Change In Tone?
Here is Michael Goldfarb writing on the McCain campaign's blog today:
So what part of Governor's Palin's remarks are 'beyond the pale.' Perhaps Mr. Plouffe does not like Governor Palin's inference that Barack Obama palled around with Ayers because Barack Obama has a different view of America than most of us. Yet the Obama campaign has offered no alternate explanation--they have not conceded that the relationship was simply the result of a serious error in judgment.
Italics mine. Palin said that Obama palled around with "terrorists," plural. And Obama does not have a different view of America than "most of us." Most of us love this country but know that its imperfections are worth tackling. Palin believes the country is already perfect and all criticism is close to treason or "otherness". Palin is the outlier in American history: turning patriotism into an ideological neurosis.
New Republic columnist (and former editor) Andrew Sullivan had a more ominous warning (London Sunday Times, 9/16/01): "The middle part of the country--the great red zone that voted for Bush--is clearly ready for war. The decadent left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead--and may well mount a fifth column."
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