Amusing

Everyone's favorite punching bag, Andrew Sullivan (because he tends to write before he thinks and contradicts himself from one column or blog post to the next), picked on the wrong guy.  The retaliation is painful to watch.

Charles Krauthammer:

The quintessential Andrew Sullivan

Blogger Andrew Sullivan charged Sunday that, whereas in December of last year I advocated a gasoline tax, in my “latest column” on climate change, “the gas tax idea is missing.”

“Why?” asks Sullivan. Because: “In the end, the conservative intelligentsia is much more invested in obstructing and thereby neutering Obama and the Democrats than in solving any actual problems in front of us. It’s a game for them, and they play it with impunity.”

He calls this “The Positioning Of Charles Krauthammer,” a demonstration of rank partisanship and bad faith.

However, there’s a slight problem with Sullivan’s analysis.

Note the date: May 30, 2008. A year and a half ago. At the time, George Bush was president. Barack Obama hadn’t even won the Democratic nomination, let alone become president of the United States. The column has absolutely nothing to do with Barack Obama.

Sullivan's entire ad hominem conclusion -- that my views are animated by nothing but the basest, most corrupt partisan motives -- turned out to be a complete invention based on his inability to read dates. And, characteristically, on total ignorance of the subject he is writing about -- in this case, my views on a gasoline tax.

Sullivan’s post merits reading as the quintessential Sullivan, leaping from nonexistent fact to blanket ad hominem without even a pause for a reality check. Enjoy it here.

The quintessential Andrew Sullivan.  Excellent.