Replies

Oh, come on. Not every one of our political opponents is a Nazi, or Dracula.

Some of the comments said he was creepy or disgusting. What I merely meant is that if he was your next-door neighbor he would be a fine person to share a fence with. He wouldn’t be leering at your wife or doing strange things in the garage at 2 AM. Your children would not be in jeopardy.

I think it’s important that we not demonize our political opponents, otherwise we descend to the level of the committed leftists, who follow the rules of Saul Alinsky. I think we corrupt our souls when we lie about character for the sake of political gain.

Guess I’m sensitive to the demonization because as a young man I was a Democrat, although never a leftist. I was a faithful reader of the NY Times and the Wash Post, and recall believing that Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina was an eeeevil man, basically a devil, with perverse ideas about women and sex and modern culture. About the time I got married, at age 30, I started going back to church again and became a dedicated Christian. Also was a confirmed conservative Republican. This was in the late 1980s. And with unblinkered eyes, I saw Jesse Helms truthfully. The left had made gross mis-characterizations about him (1) because he was deeply opposed to abortion, and (2) he was an old-fashioned, patriotic American.

Then I watched the media do the same thing to Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah — why? Because he was a candidate for the Supreme Court.

Both men were made to look like monsters. And it was all bullsh-t.

Lying for political gain corrupts one’s soul. I do not especially care for the souls of NYT editors, but I care about mine and those on FR.

Hence, my post clarifying things about John Holdren.