I'm sorry, but I really don't imagine Sarah Palin reading a lot of anything, no less obsessively. And Andrew, of the oceans of words written about Sarah on a daily basis, I think every blogger/journalist/comic should think twice before claiming the failed VP/gov/Levi-mistress "obsessively" reads anyone of them.
As gay man who rather obsessively reads gay political blogs, this whole point kinda wraps up why I don't read (obsessively or leisurely) Andrew Sullivan. #andrewsullivan
@manchops: Andrew Sullivan, you mean the gay Catholic publicly HIV+ conservative Republican apologist who ties himself up in knots explaining why the people he chooses to align himself with work so hard to make life harder for people with any/some/all of his characteristics, except of course his wealth and privilege, except for him? Don't want.
@If_I_Had_a_Poodle: I know poodle--and I think the richest part of the whole thing is how still obsessed he is to be taken seriously and read obsessively by this old republican lackeys. It's like still wanting mommy's approval or something after she's kicked you out of the house #andrewsullivan
@manchops: Perfectly said. He is desperate for the approval of those who repeatedly kick him and those like him across the spectrum. And yet. #andrewsullivan
@skt.smth: I'm trying to get the word "glennbeckery" to mean "Deliberately repeating innuendo and unfounded rumors while ostensibly and disingenuously expressing disbelief."
Example: Perhaps Sarah Palin and Barack Obama can exchange records and we can put an end to all this glennbeckery.
With there being so many admitted publications Sarah doesn't read, I always gave her literacy the benefit of the doubt, and figured there were a few things she did read. When guessing what that very short reading list would include, I don't think I would have guessed a gossipy blog by gay conservative. I was thinking the Sweet Valley High series would take too much room for much else.
Also, Levi might be an ex-boyfriend but he will always be da baby's daddy.
To be fair to the Alaskan idiotrix, Andy really was obsessed with the timeline of her uterine contractions to an unseemly degree. But he's right, it was a shady story- Palin as Amelia Earheart crisscrossing North America after breaking water and keeping it all a deep dark secret.
I'm already gagging on the sheer self-serving lies this Wasilla woman is dishing up, so- Team Sullivan really. #andrewsullivan
@Baroness: When I read what she did AFTER her water broke in regards to heading to a hospital to insure that her child was born alive... I was kinda shocked. You would think that knowing a 'special needs' child is about to be born that you would want immediate medical monitoring to insure a safe delivery -- not only for your child, but for yourself -- especially at her advanced child-birthing age. #andrewsullivan
"charges were mysteriously dropped without explanation"
- Really?
"But the U.S. Attorney's Office insisted on dropping the charges, to keep Sullivan's record clean so his immigration can go through." - Ryan Tate, Gawker
It seems Gawker provided me with an eminently plausible explanation and reported it as fact not speculation.
Dropping the charges may be hypocritical, but mustering up some faux-outrage over Sullivan's silence seems misplaced.
@John Cook: The reason he got special treatment is twofold.
1) He is rich and famous (relatively speaking).
2) The effective penalty here would not have been a fine in the hundreds of dollars, but the likely denial of his immigration application. An application still in flux because the United States still bans HIV+ immigrants despite a Congressional vote to reverse the ban back during Bush's administration and also because the federal governement affords zero significance to his legal MA marriage to a US citizen, despite doing so for straight Americans.
@Dudezebel: The only reason he has been spared the injustice you outline in (2) is that he matches criteria you outline in (1). In any case, (1) is the explanation for the dismissal, which was ostensibly undertaken "in the interest of justice." How many foreign nationals are in the U.S. in Sullivan's situation? How many live in terror of getting arrested and screwing up their immigration status? Good thing Sullivan doesn't have to worry about that.
@John Cook: I don't know the answers to the questions you pose. But since you definitely argue point 1 is the only reason Sullivan was spared the injustice outlined in point 2, it would seem incumbant on you to prove that point, i.e. find someone who wasn't spared.
Furthermore, it seems we are both on the same page regarding the drug laws and harsh messiness of immigration proceedings. Aside from not speaking publicly on this delicate issue on the advice of his counsel, has Sullivan acted hypocritically. Has he argued in the past, no exceptions should be made? It's my understanding that he is vocal about relaxing our drug laws. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I just don't understand what larger point you are trying to make. Is it that if some suffer the capriciousness of our justice system, all should?
@Dudezebel: Uh, all of them do, Dudezebel. If you have no idea how harsh the rules are for people seeking citizenship- well getting caught with drugs on Federal land is a sure way to fuck up your chances. Misdemeanors on Federal property carry triple the penalties as well- a DUI in San Francisco is one thing, but if you're driving through the Presidio, Federal land, you're triple fucked. That's the way it is, it escalates the peril Sullivan put himself in there.
Look, I see your point, and pot laws are dumb, but Andrew can be as well. Most people without his access to good lawyers, and probable status as a "desirable alien resident" in immigration terms would never have gotten off as scot-free as Andrew. That's Cook's point, he is correct, and it's not incumbent on him to prove your negative.
Frankly, i don't understand your point, and I wonder if you're high.
Nothing wrong with that! Don't get busted with drugs on federal land if you're applying for citizenship, is all. And I mostly like Sully, for the record.
@John Cook: I understand your point and the need to wrap the video around something, but possession charges are dropped or not pursued every day in this country against an assortment of defendants for a variety of reasons.
Just off the top of my head: I can recall seeing lots of kids being granted a deferred judgment because they were going into the military or because it'd mess up a scholarship. Personally, I've been charged at least six times that I can remember and I'm pretty sure that once or twice, the charges have been dropped.
I don't know the specific circumstances of Sullivan's arrest, but the prosecutor felt that the punishment would be greater than the crime. It was his perogative, much like it was the judge's to ask for an explanation and Mr. Sullivan's to go along with the arrangement.
@Baroness: He was facing a $125 fine. It would've cost more to bring-in a run-of-the-mill lawyer than pay the fine and one assumes that if it weren't for his immigration status, he would've just signed the card, mailed-in a check and be done with it.
Oh, and he probably would've also taken note that though his possession would've been legal most everywhere else in Massachusetts, he needs to watch himself on federal land.
@Magister: I'd argue with you, save for the fact that Sullivan's a nation-of-laws conservative. I'm not making any sort of judgment about this - I agree with him pretty regularly, since he realized his head was up his own ass about the entire Bush administration - but there's something pretty unseemly and hypocritical about obeying the laws you like and not obeying the laws you don't like, mostly because you're a big shot columnist and you can.
I mean, were the situation somewhat different, Sullivan would argue that the law is what it is and that, if you disagree, it's your responsibility to work to change it. Not to break it, get away with it, then snicker about it.
But then again, he's never been one for recognizing hypocrisy and is often a walking example of cognitive dissonance.
@Go Like Hell Machine: If you click through, you'd find that Mr. Sullivan had what would've been a legal amount of marijuana, but either didn't realize that he was on federal property or that the state's decriminalization didn't apply.
When he was approached by the Ranger and was asked if he had any more, he reportedly volunteered the rest of his stash, while saying that he had a legal amount.
Now, I'll assume that once he had been charged, he did contact an attorney, who contacted the prosecutor's office to inquire about the options. I don't know this, but if it had been me and if a conviction would've cost me more than a simple fine or a standard sentence, I (or anyone) would've done the same thing.
ETA: In Provincetown, the beach wraps around town, so though I don't know exactly where the infraction occurred, it is quite possible that Mr Sullivan didn't know that he was on NPS land.
george will, thomas friedman and david brooks should really get one entry as they are all pretty much the same: mildly bright establishment figures working as hard as they can at repackaging the ideology of the ruling classes for consumption by everyone else
Ooooh! Michelle Malkin didn't make the list. Mr. Malkin is going to get anger sex tonight. Though I can't imagine Michelle does anything but anger sex.
11/16/09
Thank you. #andrewsullivan
11/15/09
How do we know these children weren't kidnapped from aliens who landed on the tundra?
Have the Palins denied this? What are they hiding? #andrewsullivan
11/15/09
11/15/09
What do you mean, Charlie? #andrewsullivan
11/15/09
As gay man who rather obsessively reads gay political blogs, this whole point kinda wraps up why I don't read (obsessively or leisurely) Andrew Sullivan. #andrewsullivan
11/15/09
11/16/09
11/16/09
11/14/09
And on Palin, she probably bought that baby from a shady Mexican medical practice.
[www.cnn.com] #andrewsullivan
11/14/09
11/14/09
"factually verifiable questions is obviously not libel."
Can we call that "The Beck Defense"?
11/14/09
I don't know about that. But what I do know is that Glenn Beck hasn't denied claims that he raped and murdered a young girl in 1990. #andrewsullivan
11/15/09
Example: Perhaps Sarah Palin and Barack Obama can exchange records and we can put an end to all this glennbeckery.
See also Dobbsian. #andrewsullivan
11/15/09
11/18/09
11/14/09
Also, Levi might be an ex-boyfriend but he will always be da baby's daddy.
11/15/09
11/14/09
I'm already gagging on the sheer self-serving lies this Wasilla woman is dishing up, so- Team Sullivan really. #andrewsullivan
11/15/09
10/01/09
10/01/09
10/01/09
- Really?
"But the U.S. Attorney's Office insisted on dropping the charges, to keep Sullivan's record clean so his immigration can go through." - Ryan Tate, Gawker
It seems Gawker provided me with an eminently plausible explanation and reported it as fact not speculation.
Dropping the charges may be hypocritical, but mustering up some faux-outrage over Sullivan's silence seems misplaced.
10/01/09
10/01/09
1) He is rich and famous (relatively speaking).
2) The effective penalty here would not have been a fine in the hundreds of dollars, but the likely denial of his immigration application. An application still in flux because the United States still bans HIV+ immigrants despite a Congressional vote to reverse the ban back during Bush's administration and also because the federal governement affords zero significance to his legal MA marriage to a US citizen, despite doing so for straight Americans.
Which strikes you as the larger hyprocrisy?
10/01/09
10/01/09
Furthermore, it seems we are both on the same page regarding the drug laws and harsh messiness of immigration proceedings. Aside from not speaking publicly on this delicate issue on the advice of his counsel, has Sullivan acted hypocritically. Has he argued in the past, no exceptions should be made? It's my understanding that he is vocal about relaxing our drug laws. Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I just don't understand what larger point you are trying to make. Is it that if some suffer the capriciousness of our justice system, all should?
10/01/09
Look, I see your point, and pot laws are dumb, but Andrew can be as well. Most people without his access to good lawyers, and probable status as a "desirable alien resident" in immigration terms would never have gotten off as scot-free as Andrew. That's Cook's point, he is correct, and it's not incumbent on him to prove your negative.
Frankly, i don't understand your point, and I wonder if you're high.
Nothing wrong with that! Don't get busted with drugs on federal land if you're applying for citizenship, is all. And I mostly like Sully, for the record.
10/01/09
Just off the top of my head: I can recall seeing lots of kids being granted a deferred judgment because they were going into the military or because it'd mess up a scholarship. Personally, I've been charged at least six times that I can remember and I'm pretty sure that once or twice, the charges have been dropped.
I don't know the specific circumstances of Sullivan's arrest, but the prosecutor felt that the punishment would be greater than the crime. It was his perogative, much like it was the judge's to ask for an explanation and Mr. Sullivan's to go along with the arrangement.
10/01/09
Oh, and he probably would've also taken note that though his possession would've been legal most everywhere else in Massachusetts, he needs to watch himself on federal land.
10/02/09
10/02/09
I mean, were the situation somewhat different, Sullivan would argue that the law is what it is and that, if you disagree, it's your responsibility to work to change it. Not to break it, get away with it, then snicker about it.
But then again, he's never been one for recognizing hypocrisy and is often a walking example of cognitive dissonance.
10/02/09
I'm almost 50, a "Contentious Objector" and for the record, I haven't spent an hour in jail.
10/02/09
When he was approached by the Ranger and was asked if he had any more, he reportedly volunteered the rest of his stash, while saying that he had a legal amount.
Now, I'll assume that once he had been charged, he did contact an attorney, who contacted the prosecutor's office to inquire about the options. I don't know this, but if it had been me and if a conviction would've cost me more than a simple fine or a standard sentence, I (or anyone) would've done the same thing.
ETA: In Provincetown, the beach wraps around town, so though I don't know exactly where the infraction occurred, it is quite possible that Mr Sullivan didn't know that he was on NPS land.
10/01/09
09/16/09
09/16/09
09/16/09