Smarter Andrew Sullivan

Reading Between The Lines

Andrew Sullivan (R), self-promoter extraordinaire, today writes, about himself (“natch,” as Andy might say):

“WHAT CONSERVATIVES MISS TODAY: My Bradley lecture, given earlier this month, has just been transcribed by the American Enterprise Institute. It’s posted here. It’s about the relevance of Michael Oakeshott to contemporary conservatism. A couple of caveats: especially in the question and answer section, this is obviously not a vetted scholarly text. My only notes - apart from quotes - were scribbled on a postcard. I hope to nail it down and turn it into a real essay this winter. Until then, please treat the lecture as an extemporaneous work-in-progress. And forgive occasional grammatical (and other) errors.”

In other words…Prepare yourself for a piece-of-shit stream of consciousness.

I’ll tell you one thing, if I sponsored “the Bradley lecture,” whatever the hell that is, and the honoree showed up without a prepared address, only notes “scribbled on a postcard,” to deliver “an extemporaneous work-in-progress” about the subject of his doctoral dissertation--easy fallback, that is--I’d be pretty unhappy. Pissed, even. I might even think the whole damned enterprise was a waste of money.