Sullivan Does It Again

I really want to like Andrew Sullivan, even though I've never met him and never expect to. We agree on many basic issues, and then he comes up with something like this:

I have no idea why the Clinton administration should get a pass in dithering while a mortal threat gathered in the 1990s. I hope ABC stands firm.

The one who's getting a free pass in The Path to 9/11 is George Bush, who is, granted, apparently some sort of Sullivanesque wet dream. Sullivan apparently still sees Clinton as the Antichrist, in tandem with the more extreme elements of his party. So instead of questioning ABC's motives in airing this fiction rather than producing a factual account, he picks a self-serving quote by a Republican member of the 9/11 Commission as his "Quote of the Day."

It's fairly obvious at this point, even if you don't remember the 90s, that Clinton was repeatedly stymied in his efforts to combat terrorism, and specifically Osama bin Laden, by a Republican Congress that felt embarrassing the president was much more important than national security.

I've accused Sullivan of fuzzy thinking in the past, and this only underscores it. I really wish he would use a little more rigor from time to time, but I'm starting to think that he is essentially shallow. I hate that not only because he could be so much more effective, but it plays to stereotype.

Apparently, though, if Clinton isn't in the mix, Sullivan is able to see clearly what a lying scumbag Bush is.

How bizarre.

Update: As an antidote to Sullivan's shallow and highly partisan comments, see Kevin Hayden's very carefully researched commentary on the reality of the path to 9/11.