Not good. Not principled.

Yglesias, on the Bush tapes, says

As Andrew Sullivan said of the White House on just this point, they're "closet tolerants" who know perfectly well that what they're doing is wrong. When I meet people who, out of sincere conviction (usually religious) believe homosexuality is sinful and that public policy ought to be deployed to prevent this sinful behavior, I disagree with them, but understand that this sort of deep moral disagreement rooted in faith is a part of life.[...]

When you see someone who knows perfectly well that the view he's adopted for political purposes is wrong, but who adopts it anyway out of cyncial thirst for power, well, then, that's just disgusting.

To that I would add that it's not just disgusting but harmful.  People of all ideologies realize that there's a time for compromise, but Bush's support of the marriage amendment, and his tacit approval of the rabidly anti-gay rhetoric of his allies, is not one of them.  And if he knows what's right, I suppose, he'll have to live with the knowledge that he has aided and abetted the flourishing of bigotry in this country.  I hope he's happy about that.

Furthermore, if Bush knows that gay-bashing is wrong, yet allowed it to take place anyway, it's hard to extend to him the "I may disagree with his policies but I think he's a good man" consideration that some have.  A good, principled man would think twice before sacrificing such a thing to political expediency.  A good, principled man who just got finished campaigning on what a good, principled man he is ("you may not agree with me but at least you know where I stand") is doubly wrong, and truly deserves our scorn.

-- Michael

Comments

[Incertus]

A good, principled man would think twice before sacrificing such a thing to political expediency.

True--but when was the last time a good, principled man was elected to the presidency? or to any high office, for that matter?

This is where my cynicism circuit kicks in--I expect this kind of shit from elected officials, so it's no real surprise when it happens. Don't get me wrong--I still inveigh against it, and I'm glad I'm not alone, and I wish the situation weren't thus, but it's still what I've come to expect from the system.