It’s not just Hitch who’s breaking with some elements of the left. Here’s an email I just got from a former key ACT-UPer:
I have always described myself as a liberal or progressive. I am a gay man living in Manhattan, I am pro-choice, a registered Democrat and have been active in gay organizations from ACT UP to HRCF. However since 9/11 I find myself growing more and more estranged from the left. They just seem clueless and adrift, bitter and angry. The immediate reaction of some on the left to 9/11 was appalling. The creeping anti-Semitism of the left is especially shocking and hypocritical. This one question of the Middle East has led me to examine all my left leaning beliefs. And I am not alone particularly here in New York. People who would normally be described as left are taking tentative steps in the same direction-rightward. We feel guilty about it and are afraid to discuss our new found politics with our friends. Indeed one friend who describes himself as a dedicated Marxist(read hypocrite) has written me off. My old ACT UP friends, with whom I have been arrested, are shocked at my center right views. My response is that ACT UP was actually founded on very conservative libertarian principles. At times it was even reactionary and dispalyed some facist tendencies. Nowadays you can find me reading downloaded and printed articles from National Review, Weekly Standard and,. happily, Slate at my favorite cafes in Manhattan. I still am a little embarrassed if anyone were to look over my shoulder and see me reading these publications but I am ready for any pithy comment that may come my way.
The Dish 