daveman
Diamond Member
Y'know, I haven't read the essay, but I'll bet that's not the only reason he gives.OK, let's do it. Let's see why Mamet started believing he was a conservative:
Exhibit A (from the essay)
I found not only that I didn't trust the current government (that, to me, was no surprise), but that an impartial review revealed that the faults of this presidentwhom I, a good liberal, considered a monsterwere little different from those of a president whom I revered.
Bush got us into Iraq, JFK into Vietnam. Bush stole the election in Florida; Kennedy stole his in Chicago. Bush outed a CIA agent; Kennedy left hundreds of them to die in the surf at the Bay of Pigs. Bush lied about his military service; Kennedy accepted a Pulitzer Prize for a book written by Ted Sorenson. Bush was in bed with the Saudis, Kennedy with the Mafia. Oh.
Alright, so Mamet begins to doubt his liberalism because he realizes (eureka) that many of Bush's evil deeds (and yes Mamet makes clear he despises Bush and Bush's actions, which separates him from about 3/4's of America's self-identified conservatives)
were comparably committed by the liberal Kennedy.
THAT is why you suddenly abandon your belief system? Because you've found someone who's supposed to be a liberal who in certain instances didn't act like one? Didn't adhere to the principles and ideas that liberalism is meant to stand for?
THAT?
That's about as daft as if I were to become a conservative because Clinton signed NAFTA, or because Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan.
DAFT