The Other English Andrew

Andrew Sullivan doesn't get much respect from anybody. He writes for such publications as Time magazine and The Sunday Times of London, as well as serving as senior editor of The New Republic. He's an open, unapologetic gay man living with HIV. He's a pro-life Catholic. He usually embraces conservative causes over liberal ones, but he endorsed John Kerry in 2004.

That said, he's usually able to piss off both sides in any political debate. And today, he makes a few observations about the "tolerance" he's found from folks who ought to know better:

No right-wing group has picketed a book-signing with posters depicting my face behind the cross-hairs of a gun, as the gay left did. No one on the right has gone nuclear on my private life, as the gay left did. No one on the right has threatened to find me in Ptown and split my skull open, or called me the anti-Christ, as some on the gay left have. Yes, I get homophobic hate mail from the right all the time; and many conservative blogs have blackballed or slimed or smeared me in various ways. But that's, sadly, what you get for being provocative and opinionated on the web.

Can we get back to some middle ground? Does anybody even remember what the middle ground looks like?