Andrew Sullivan is sounding more and more like someone who doesn't get invited to good parties anymore. You can tell by his dreamy eyes when talking about the uniting factor of Barack Obama on Real Time. Last night, the right wing pundit was animated about the possibility of an Illinois Senator bringing everyone back into the fold.
'Uniter Not a Divider' was such a draw 8 years ago it pulled Mark McKinnon over from the left. Now he's gearing up to back away from the right if Obama is the Democratic Party's nominee. The guy just can't stop uniting.
Glenn Beck thinks there's another big switch about to happen. He has said that conservatives have pulled so far from John McCain, progressives are going to love him by default. Beck feels someone will eventually think, 'I was going to vote for Clinton or Obama, but maybe McCain is onto something because this Beck fellow hates him so much."
Whether or not there's more switching ahead, the big divide is still for guests like Sullivan who are hoping to make it back into a big tent. Five years ago it wasn't hard to run into a Michael Moore-booing, Dixie Chick CD-smasher certain that at least one of the 9/11 terrorists was from Iraq. Now that 70 percent of Americans say the war was not worth the cost of blood and treasure, progressives can invite conservatives to parties again without fights breaking out over the dip. But do they want to?
Or are Mary Matlin and James Carville the only mix of left and right still in existence, aside from that Superbowl commercial where Carville shares his beverage with a Republican?
So much has changed in connotation as the war winds on. 'Right wing' brings to mind Jack Abromoff in his black hat backing away from the White House. John Mellencamp had to tell McCain's campaign to back away from "Little Pink Houses." Boston had to tell Mike Huckabee to back away from Boston and stick to songs written by the far right wing.
Ted Nugent's going to need to put together a hell of a party mix.