Tuesday, October 12, 2004

If Amy Tan Says Tomato Then I Say Toe-MAH-Toe

I don't often read Andrew Sullivan. His most recent post offers ample reason why:
POSEUR ALERT: "I'm voting for Kerry, because I have a brain and so does he" - Amy Tan, novelist. Barf. Every time I come close to supporting Kerry, I come across comments like this one that make me want to rush out and back Bush. Or I read the latest pearl of wisdom from Teresa. If I were running the Bush campaign I'd send a copy of this nauseating Slate symposium to every swing voter in the country. More effective than the Swiftees for the bobo angst-ridden pro-war blue-stater like, er, me.
Sullivan presents himself as an angst-ridden pro-war (homosexual) conservative and sometime supporter defender opponent ?? of George Bush. He purports to rationally analyze issues, albeit through his unique frame of reference. All that is well and good. And if he's honestly conflicted, who am I to quibble with his inability to make a decision.

But here's the thing. All of his supposed angst loses whatever patina of legitimacy it might have had when he writes, apparently seriously, that the flippant attacks of others on a candidate somehow affect his vote. More than that, who the fuck is Amy Tan and why the fuck do I care one way or another what she thinks? Why does her opinion (on a non-policy matter, no less) drive Sullivan toward or away from either candidate?

It's the dumbest reason I've ever heard upon which to even contemplate basing your vote.

NB: Yes, I do know who Amy Tan is and what books she's written. The point is that she's a nobody when it comes to this topic, at least insofar as proferring an opinion on substantive issues. And even on the non-policy viewpoint upon which she opined: Why does anyone -- Andrew Sullivan in particular -- care that Amy Tan think Bush has no brain?