The conservative conscience

Maggie says:
For so many of us, our problems with Republicans lie as much with the resoluteness of their righteousness and their angry condemnation of any opposition as it does with their policies. So often, I seek out some intelligence, some global perspective, something besides macho talking points in their directives, and I nearly always come up empty. I want the intelligent debate, I want the clear differences in philosophy being presented as honest options for Americans to side with. Yet with the Right, I hear only rabid calls of patriotic strength on the one hand and self-righteous moral lecturing on the other. Their middle - or rather, their honest core - is so often unheard.

But in this fascinating Salon interview, we hear the compelling thoughts of Andrew Sullivan, a conservative pundit who sees the error of his ways and admits his mistakes in supporting the administration. Besides making some damning points about the turning tide for gay Republicans – Andrew Sullivan is gay himself – he offers the following really remarkable statements about Iraq. Read the interview for the full breadth of his thoughts… they’re worth it. And I can only ask: what would American rhetoric look like if the other side was willing to be as humble as Sullivan is here?

This question that you put your finger on is going to be the critical historical debate. Was this adventure so conceptually flawed that there was no way it could win, or was it so fantastically screwed up in its execution that it was a good idea just wrecked?

I don't want to be wishy-washy about this. I certainly think that the way Rumsfeld and Cheney ran it made it impossible for it to succeed, because they refuse to provide the manpower and resources for what needed to be serious nation-building. I think they essentially sabotaged the war out of their own arrogance, because they'd rather lose a war than concede a point. That's the pettiness of these people.

I don't know why, by the way, the angriest people in this country are not those who opposed the war but those of us who supported it. I mean, we were completely deceived. It never occurred to me that they would not send enough troops to keep the peace or establish order, or, when presented with the evidence that they needed to do so, would simply refuse to entertain the argument. It's still incredible to me.

I do believe that the case many of us made for the Iraq war -- those of us who didn't have access to inside intelligence -- was made in good faith, based on what we were told. Obviously, I feel differently now. And I feel a deep sense of responsibility for not being more skeptical about the Bush people and what they were telling us before the war. I think I was way too gullible. I wanted, in a time of war, to give the president every benefit of the doubt. I was dumb to do so. And I certainly also feel, as a supporter of the war, extreme anguish about the lives that are currently being lost in that country by innocent people, as well as the horrible betrayal of American values.