"Sullivan Flip Watch"

At the end of the SotU last night, my wife turned and said, “You may want to steer clear of Andrew Sullivan's site for the next month or so.”

Later in the evening I found this on the blog of my favorite new political prognosticator, Black of Ace of Spades:

We've been watching Andrew Sullivan with a narrowed eye for some time. The man doesn't precisely claim to be a conservative; and there's of course nothing at all wrong with being a highly-opinionated independent who doesn't fit well into either party.

But for a while we've had a nagging suspicion that Sullivan was a bit of a Trojan horse, a hoaxer. He just seems to be awfully liberal on all social issues. Not just gay marriage— but legalizing Ecstacy. His politics seem to be focused nearly exclusively on the vindication of his own lifestyle choices. …

We've had opportunists and hoaxers presume to speak for us before — David Brock, Arianna Huffington — only to make their all-too-predictable jump to the left, and receive the inevitable LoveFest from the liberal media.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Thus we inaugurate our Andrew Sullivan Flip Watch. We wanted to begin it yesterday, but we were having too much fun with Howlin' Howard Dean.

Tonight we must start it, for George W. Bush crossed Sullivan's own private Rubicon— he expressed support (albeit somewhat conditional) for a constitutional amendment to outlaw judge-imposed gay marriage.

And so the clock begins ticking. Soon Mr. Sullivan will begin “evolving” away from Republicanism, conservatism, and Bushism, and towards a more “mature” politics, to wit, gung-ho support for either John Kerry, John Edwards, or Wesley Clark. He'll be feted as a major defector from rightist politics, hailed by the liberal press as a maverick and free-thinker.

How soon, exactly? 1:00 am this morning close enough?

Whatever else this president is, he is no believer in individuals' running their own lives without government regulation, control or aid. If you're a fiscal conservative or a social liberal, this was a speech that succeeded in making you take a second look at the Democrats. I sure am.

As Black updates: “Like Effin' Clockwork…”