"When he was on the left"...what a joke. Regarding his background, he is an Englishman with an Oxford-honed accent, his father was a commander in the US Navy. The first time I saw him on television I thought he was an idiot, which is what I'm sure most working class Americans think when they see someone like him or Michael Kinsley on television.
Snitch was compared at one time to Gore Vidal. When I see Gore Vidal I think he is a fat, WASP, upper class liberal fairy living in some villa in Italy or wherever. Being that he currently has a somewhat enlightened liberal view of the worldwide workers movement, I would be polite enough to be polite to him if I ever met him, and would out of politeness refrain from mentioning any of the negative characteristics I have seen when observing him. But if an upper class WASP like him decided he was going to sign on board to the Bush program, I would not really be shocked, and would feel less constrained to speak of any negative aspects of him that I have observed. Of course people held their tongue somewhat about Snitch being a drunken boor. The concept of politeness, social niceties and the like seems to be a foreign concept to you. I think Michael Moore is overweight, but that seems fairly obvious to all, and since I've always had a good impression of him, I wouldn't mention it if I met him, or amongst people friendly to him. Of course, a little time on the treadmill can cure that, Snitch's character deficiencies are more deep-rooted. And as I said before, I never considered Snitch, and I don't consider people like Gore Vidal on my side, a comrade, a fellow worker or whatnot. While they are allied to my side for whatever reason, I will certainly be polite and whatnot, but if they turn against me, then there's no reason for that any more.
Lance