The Daily Beast’s Andrew Sullivan has long been a must-read as not just a blogger but in particular for any of his long-form magazine or newspaper pieces. One reason he’s a must read is that he marches to his own independent drummer and doesn’t always follow the journalistic or Republican Party pack. And now he’s doing it again on two fronts.
He has written a post formally endorsing Rep. Ron Paul for the 2012 Republican nomination and President: perhaps becoming the first mainstream opinion writer and media political celebrity to do so. And he has also put a focus on how Fox News has been hammering on a political narrative that will be shattered if Paul wins Iowa. Here’s a small part of his endorsement post (which needs to be read in full):
The constant refrain on Fox News that this man has “zero chance” of being the nominee is a propagandistic lie. Nationally, Paul is third in the polls at 9.7 percent. In Iowa, he may win. In New Hampshire, it is Paul, not Gingrich, who is rising this week as Romney drifts down. He’s at 19 percent, compared with Gingrich’s 24. He is the third option for the GOP. And I believe an Obama-Paul campaign would do us all a service. We would have a principled advocate for a radically reduced role for government, and a principled advocate for a more activist role. If Republicans want a real debate about government and its role, they have no better spokesman. He is the intellectual of the field, not Gingrich.
I am, like many others these days, politically homeless. A moderate, restrained limited government conservatism that seeks to amend, not to revolt, to reform, not to revolutionize, is unavailable. I’m a Tory who has come to see universal healthcare as a moral necessity that requires some minimal government support, who wants government support for a flailing recovery now, but serious austerity once we recover. I favor massive private and public investment in non-carbon energy, because I am a conservative who does not believe our materialism trumps the need for conserving our divine inheritance. I back marriage equality and marijuana legalization as Burkean adjustments to a changing society. I see a role for government where Paul doesn’t.
But Paul’s libertarianism may be the next best thing available in the GOP.
In his last line he has some pointed advice for Fox News chief Roger Aisles. And he has made it clear he is sticking with Paul. He also this has to say about Ron Paul’s electability.
Some thoughts on this:
I am now reading (despite his truly excessive and total turn off sales hype) Chris Matthews’ excellent Kennedy book on my new Kindle. I noted to friends a few days ago how our politics has changed so much from the days when members of the Greatest Generation dominated our political scene. Like them individually or not, they were adults, tough adults, and they had a strong sense of stewardship when it came to their parties and their country.
Now it’s like the kids took over the family business.
And the kids in both parties are failing.
Speaking of which, THIS JUST IN!
Here’s a just-released photo of Boehner and Cantor and the other House Republicans at the photo op which they called to declare they are really seriously working hard to get a payroll tax extension out there to middle class Americans at a time when they have nixed all forms of tax increases to millionaires:
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.