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This sentence from Andrew Sullivan's original post caught my eye:

"Apart from backing a party that wants to strip gay couples of all legal rights by amending the federal constitution, kick them out of the military where they are putting their lives on the line, put them into 'reparative therapy' to 'cure' them, keep it legal to fire them in many states, and refusing to include them in hate crime laws, Coulter is very pro-gay."

Strong stuff. But Sullivan himself opposes hate crimes laws and covering sexual orientation under anti-discrimination laws. So he wouldn't include gays (or anybody else) in hate crimes statutes and would keep it legal to fire them in many states. Moreover, until at least 2003, he frequently backed the Republican Party even though its positions concerning the law and homosexuality -- minus Sullivan's tendentious and pejorative framing -- were pretty much the same as they are now.

So why the presumption of bigotry and bad faith on Sullivan's part toward people who disagree with him on these issues? Maybe it is justified in Coulter's case, but for all conservatives? This must be the new self-righteousness of doubt.

topics:
Constitution, Law, Military