The Sullivan Award

There have been times when Andrew Sullivan writes something with which I agree, but mostly I find him rather irritating. He has certainly made no bones about his preference of Barack Obama over any other candidate, especially Hillary Clinton. (Oh, how Andrew loathes those evil, narcissistic Clintons! Don't get him started...) Every once in a while, he writes something so patently unfair it is beyond belief.

Take this assessment of Hugh Hewitt's views of Obama. Sullivan has just created "the Hewitt Award, named after the absurd partisan fanatic, Hugh Hewitt, is given for the most egregious attempts to label Barack Obama as un-American, alien, treasonous, and far out of the mainstream of American life and politics."

Sullivan uses this example:

Its most proximate inspiration was this quote from Hewitt himself about the Portland, Oregon, rally:

"And did the Obama rally begin with the Soviet National Anthem?"

Since subtle attempts to describe Obama as a commie atheist alien are a central plank of Republican attacks, the Hewitt Award is reserved for those that border on hilarious extremity.

You might read that and think Hewitt probably wrote that out of the blue without any kind of context whatsoever. It turns out, he did not. He asked the question because the rock band The Decemberists, who "opened" for Obama when he spoke in Portland, typically begin their concerts with the Soviet National Anthem. Hewitt, in that particular post, makes no connection between Obama and communist ideology.

When someone writes something that is incredibly unfair, be sure to hand out The Sullivan Award.