With conservatives like these, who needs liberals?

Andrew Sullivan thnks that “Kerry may be the right man – and the conservative choice – for a difficult and perilous time.” If, on the issues that matter most to him, Sullivan prefers Senator Kerry’s views to President Bush’s, then Sullivan’s preference for Kerry makes perfect sense. But to claim that the most liberal member of the Senate, with a McGovernite track record that pre-dates McGovern’s 1972 candidacy, may be the “conservative choice” is sophistry.
The Islamofascists have bet that the U.S. is too unserious and decadent to sustain an effective war against terrorism. To the extent that Americans reject strong war leadership due to parochial concerns — for example, because the war leader doesn’t want a handful of state courts imposing gay marriage on the rest of the country — the Islamofascist wager doesn’t look like a bad one.
HINDROCKET adds: For a while, Andrew Sullivan was a powerful and effective pro-national security, and mostly conservative, voice. His web site was one of the inspirations that prompted me to start blogging. But once the possibility of gay marriage opened up, Andrew could think of little else. It has been obvious for the past year that he has been preparing to endorse the Democratic nominee, whoever he may be. Andrew may or may not be fooling himself when he paints a pro-security veneer on his support for John Kerry, but he isn’t fooling anyone else.
UPDATE: Here’s Melanie Phillips’ take on Sullivan’s “conservatism.”