The left left him.

I'd be more impressed if this guy would stop claiming that morality instead of self-interest drove him to the Republicans. Sure, he might have felt queasy about the "entitled, selfish and irresponsible thinking" that he now associates with the Left. But there appears to be a roughly 15 year period when he knew about it and either ignored it, didn't have a problem with it, or rationalized the supposed moral issues away.

I notice he never mentions telling others of these misgivings he may have had. What misgivings about the "Right" is he going to pass on in a couple of decades when he has moved on to a more convenient ideology?

My take is that he switched after 9/11 when he figured (correctly) that the Republican party was more likely to take care of his interests than the Democrats. I have no problem with that. But I've come to associate well-publicized bashes on liberals by ex-liberals, thinly disguised as a mea culpa, with slippery opportunists trying to insinuate themselves with those in power. Maybe this is a genuine shift in beliefs, but it strikes me more that he's echoing what (I presume) the Right wants to hear.

"In 1971, when I was 11, I wrote vitriolic letters to President Nixon demanding an end to the Vietnam War."

And pull out we did. There followed mass executions, "re-education" camps, the exodus of the boat people and the Cambodian genocide - none of which shook his faith. But now it makes sense: Congress takes military advise from 11-year-olds.

He does give a good explanation of the rationale for the Iraq war. It may not work out the way we hoped, but the theory was reasonable, and worth a shot if it helps prevent either an eternal religious war of civilizations or the need to drop the big one in genocidal numbers.

> I'd be more impressed if this guy would stop claiming that morality instead of self-interest drove him to the Republicans.

Nice start, but let's see where it goes.

> Maybe this is a genuine shift in beliefs, but it strikes me more that he's echoing what (I presume) the Right wants to hear.

In what universe are his self-interests served by saying what "the Right wants to hear."? He's a pop song-writer and apolitical author. In those communities, being on the right is a disadvantage.

Andy, you make a good point. I'm still dubious of his motives, but I grant he doesn't seem to get a lot of benefit out of this.