Leaving The Right (re: Charles Johnson)

The Atlantic ^ | 12/1/09 | Andrew Sullivan

[steve-b]

The list of reasons given:

I cannot support a movement that claims to believe in limited government but backed an unlimited domestic and foreign policy presidency that assumed illegal, extra-constitutional dictatorial powers until forced by the system to return to the rule of law.

I cannot support a movement that exploded spending and borrowing and blames its successor for the debt.

I cannot support a movement that so abandoned government's minimal and vital role to police markets and address natural disasters that it gave us Katrina and the financial meltdown of 2008.

I cannot support a movement that holds torture as a core value.

I cannot support a movement that holds that purely religious doctrine should govern civil political decisions and that uses the sacredness of religious faith for the pursuit of worldly power.

I cannot support a movement that is deeply homophobic, cynically deploys fear of homosexuals to win votes, and gives off such a racist vibe that its share of the minority vote remains pitiful.

I cannot support a movement which has no real respect for the institutions of government and is prepared to use any tactic and any means to fight political warfare rather than conduct a political conversation.

I cannot support a movement that sees permanent war as compatible with liberal democratic norms and limited government.

I cannot support a movement that criminalizes private behavior in the war on drugs.

I cannot support a movement that would back a vice-presidential candidate manifestly unqualified and duplicitous because of identity politics and electoral cynicism.

I cannot support a movement that regards gay people as threats to their own families.

I cannot support a movement that does not accept evolution as a fact.

I cannot support a movement that sees climate change as a hoax and offers domestic oil exploration as the core plank of an energy policy.

I cannot support a movement that refuses ever to raise taxes, while proposing no meaningful reductions in government spending.

I cannot support a movement that refuses to distance itself from a demagogue like Rush Limbaugh or a nutjob like Glenn Beck.

I cannot support a movement that believes that the United States should be the sole global power, should sustain a permanent war machine to police the entire planet, and sees violence as the core tool for international relations.

[Mojave]

I cannot support a movement that exploded spending and borrowing and blames its successor for the debt.

He'll swallow camels and strain at gnats.

[Moose4]

I cannot read a columnist who is totally obsessed with Sarah Palin’s reproductive system despite being homosexual.

}:-)4

[the invisib1e hand]

leaving the right

c-ya.

[chris_bdba]

Too bad that he wasn’t really ever on the “right” to begin with and this is just publicity for his dying blog.

[Servant of the Cross]

IMHO, promoting Andrew Sullivan(?!) and Charles Johnson(?!) on FR is way worse than promoting Romney.

[Pan_Yan]

There are some legitimate points in that list. Unfortunately those problems were Republican problems, not conservative problems. In fact, the whole list is a smear on Republicans and not conservatives. The other things he lists are byproducts of his personal demons and have nothing to do with the role of government.

[Carl LaFong]

You’re more than welcome to join them ,’steve-b’.

[astyanax]

Steve, why don't you quit trying to pretend you're a conservative and go hang out on LGF?
You, Charles Johnson, and Andrew Sullivan (have you posted any David Frum today?) will not be missed.
(btw: climate change IS (and always has been) a hoax.)

[gunnyg]

Not THIS Johnson, huh?

http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/what-captain-johnson-usmc/

[dforest]

Actually, he could just leave and quit talking about it.

Hes gone, is he really gone? Good. He is gone.

Now, who cares?

[Cicero]

In the end, homosexuality trumps all. Too bad. He has a good mind, but prefers to think with his *****.

[Dr. Thorne]

Are Andy and Charles dating?

[Tired of Taxes]

I’ve never even heard of the guy, but good riddance to him.

[VeniVidiVici]

I think Sullivan needs a new goat.

[marktwain]

“There are some legitimate points in that list. Unfortunately those problems were Republican problems, not conservative problems. In fact, the whole list is a smear on Republicans and not conservatives. The other things he lists are byproducts of his personal demons and have nothing to do with the role of government.”

Nailed it.

[Hardastarboard]

To have supported Reagan and Bush and Clinton and Dole and Bush and Kerry and Obama suggests I never had a party to quit.

The list of politicians Sullivan claims to have supported suggests that he really doesn't understand politics, ideology, or the Constitution. Or, more bluntly, he's either stupid or psychotic.

[steve-b]

those problems were Republican problems, not conservative problems

Well, then, you and Sullivan are in complete agreement:

I found it intolerable after 2003 to support the movement that goes by the name "conservative" in America.

[IDRATHERNOT]

To paraphrase Reagan, I didn't leave the conservative movement. It left me.

And increasingly, I'm not alone.

Uh - yeah - you are...40% of American's identify themselves as "CONSERVATIVE" while just 21% identify themselves as "LIBERAL".

Admit it Andrew - conservatives just don't get jobs as columnists at the ATLANTIC or TIME.

[PapaBear3625]

Steve, Charles Johnson NEVER WAS a right-winger, so he cannot be said to have “left”. Back in a 2004 interview, he characterized himself as “center-left”. His only point of congruence with the Right was that he was opposed to militant Islam.