Doug Henwood wrote:
>
> Justin Schwartz wrote:
>
> >I don't care about hypocrisy: it is a venial sin at worst; and I
> >don't think he's guilty of it here anyway. Please, let's do get back
> >to attacking his political views, and not his private life!
>
> Maybe it's my residual Catholicism showing through, but I think
> hypocrisy matters if people prominently go about telling other people
> how to live their lives, and then act in a completely different way
> in private (writing a piece denouncing abortion, say, almost at the
> very moment one is paying for one's girlfriend's abortion).
>
Some real slimeballs have had things to say worth listening to; I think I go with Justin on this (but with Doug on his parenthesis). I tend to have somewhat higher standards for those at least allegedly on my side, so the column itself was something of a betrayal, and the hypocrisy just underlined the betrayal. On the other hand this Sullivan (about whom I know nothing at all) appears to be a jerk all the way down, so what's a little hypocrisy on the side. Focusing on that blurs the rotteness of the politics to begin with.
Carrol