I’m sorry if this topic causes embarrassment to Larry Craig and his family, but I assume by now they’ve figured out that politics in 2006 is a thoroughly rotten business. Still, there’s nothing new under the sun. Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr fought a duel when their personal animosity reached a tipping point. In short, the Republic will survive the odious presence of Mike Rogers and Glenn Greenwald.

I haven’t heard from a single conservative who gives a hoot about Larry Craig’s sexuality. I assume he’s straight as do most readers, but the overwhelming sentiment we all share is indifference.

But this story is an important one because it reveals so many pathologies of the left. Sadly, the Larry Craig “outing” reveals what the left has become.

THE FIRST LEFT WING PATHOLOGY “OUTED” by the Craig story is the relentless meanness that characterizes modern day liberalism. This is an old topic, and doesn’t deserve revisiting. If there are still people out there who think lefties lose elections because they’re too gosh darn nice, there’s nothing left to say that will convince them otherwise.

More interesting is what this line of attack tells us about the left’s beliefs regarding the right. The left strongly believes that conservatives detest homosexuals and will be disgusted by the presence of a Lavender Mafia in the GOP tent. I can understand how they would reach this conclusion – certain chronic right wing embarrassments like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson have historically fed such a notion.

But if those on the left actually knew more practicing Christians, they would know that the stuff about condemning the sin but loving the sinner isn’t mere lip service. If the members of the left actually knew the people that they so casually and easily defame, they would also understand that infinite forgiveness is a hallmark of America’s Christian community.

In short, this entire offensive rests on notions hatched in the left wing echo chamber without any dissenting voices available to disabuse the strategists of the their faulty assumptions. If the left actually took the time to understand the dynamics of the community they so loathe, they would know that professional Outing Scumbag Mike Rogers will inspire the Republican base, not the opposite.

BUT MOST DAMNING OF THE LEFT is the casual assumption of group-think that this exercise demonstrates. The logic is that if you’re gay, you must therefore support gay marriage. What’s more, you must support everything that someone like Glenn Greenwald supports. To do otherwise evidences self-hatred and a betrayal of the cause.

Parenthetically, a word about my personal views: I have nothing against gay marriage. While I abhor the idea of such a controversial subject being decided by fiat by a gaggle of Massachusetts judges, I don’t consider gay marriage a threat to the union and would vote for any referendum that legalized it.

That being said, I understand the arguments against gay marriage. Some people I respect very much (hell, most of the people I respect very much) disagree with me on this. And while I disagree with them, I know that their beliefs are formed in good faith.

But it is the leftists’ assumption that opposition to gay marriage is the exclusive province of bigoted heterosexuals, self-hating homosexuals and venal Republicans. This has long been a misstep of many liberals – they reflexively assume that people who disagree with them are evil. I remember in the 1980’s liberals were convinced that conservative Reagan supporters wanted to incinerate the world. They refused to even entertain the notion that we wanted no such thing, but instead thought we had a better way to prevent such a disaster.

In the Greenwald/Rogers worldview, it is simply impossible to be gay and oppose gay marriage. Glenn Greenwald is always quick to tout his massive intellect. Let’s see if he can get his mind around this:

I have Cystic Fibrosis. My continued survival depends on medical advances. And yet I oppose embryonic stem cell research. Amazing, isn’t it? In this instance, I put principle ahead of self-interest. And I’m no saint. Good people live their lives routinely putting principle ahead of self interest.

THE MOST DEPRESSING THING about Greenwald and his ilk is that their sincerity is unquestionable. They truly believe that they have a monopoly on decency and goodness and that no person of good faith could possibly disagree with them.

The irony is that it’s always people like Greenwald and Rogers who blast President Bush for having a simplistic Manichaean world view that divides the world into good and bad. Look in the mirror, guys.

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