LOVE AND POLITICS

A typically smarmy piece by Andrew Ferguson in the current Slate about the alleged “failing upward” of Mary Matalin. Ferguson cannot believe that anyone would fall in love with someone whose politics is diametrically opposite. Mercifully, I don’t know anything about the romantic life of Andrew Ferguson but his aspersions on the Matalin-Carville hook-up are truly cheap. I see no reason to believe that either Carville or Matalin are insincere in their politics or their love. In my occasional interactions with them, Mary seems about as smart and as kind a person one can find in this city and James seems like a crackpot – but a sincere one. Both are acquired tastes and have done their fair share of political hustling – but their genuineness I don’t doubt. As to their love, why should it be odd that opposites attract? Personally, I have only been attracted to people who disagree with me. There’s nothing less erotic than a yes-man, or less exciting than the cooing echoes of a fellow political hack. The alarming thing about so many politicos in this city is precisely their desire to find love consonant with their politics, a trait Ferguson seems to admire. It’s amazing how many neo-cons marry each other; and how many professional liberal power-couples there are. Maybe being gay has saved me from this. It takes you out of the professional dating game and throws you into a more diverse subculture where you can meet literally anyone. (Let’s think. Of my last few serious emotional attachments, all have been liberals, none journalists, most of them have denied to their friends that they’re seeing me, and the friction has made all the difference.) My suggestion to Ferguson is to open up a little. And before he writes any more snide attacks on people allegedly failing upward, he might ask why he’s writing about them, and not the other way round.