There’s a precious post by James Wolcott today that calls attention to Sullivan’s maddening tendency to 1.) ignore reality, 2.) see the light once it’s too late, 3.) go on belated tirades against Bush, and 4.) finally give Bush the benefit of the doubt all over again so the cycle can begin anew. (He points to this post as a prime example.)

Sullivan seemed to take forever to recognize what was apparent to the statues on Easter Island, that the Republican Party is hostile to gay marriage and gay identity, eager to support homophobia for political gain, and that the only gays it’s comfortable with are white men and women who look like wedding-cake couples and stay discreetly in the closet. He kept holding out hope that because Bush, based on anecdotal evidence, was personally comfortable with gay people, he wouldn’t push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Then came the inevitable disappointment. One by one the inevitable disappointments succeed one another, like a line of tumbling dominos, and each day Sullivan returns to his little fort, ready to give the Bushies the benefit of the doubt yet again.

And Sullivan plays the exact same scenario in regard to Iraq, Albert Gonzales’ torture memo, Rove’s dirty tricks, tax cuts for the rich and just about everything else. As Wolcott says, it’s as though he were “herkily-jerkily battling with himself as if being yanked by an invisible leash.”

All that said, he’s still one of the smartest and most interesting bloggers around and my day is never complete without reading him. (Is that a flip-flop on my part?)