Former GOP Prodigy Lowers the Boom on the 'Grand Old Party'

From Crooks and Liars:

Jonathan Krohn just came out with a scathing and funny piece at Salon.com yesterday called "I was a right-wing child star". CNN had him on to talk about it. And no doubt Krohn would be completely insufferable if he didn't seem to have a wicked sharp sense of humor and perspective on things.

This sort of stuff won't make conservatives happy campers:

But then, earlier this week, Politico released an interview in which I announced I wasn’t a conservative anymore — and the proverbial crap hit the fan. Since then, I have been treated by the political right with all the maturity of schoolyard bullies. The Daily Caller, for instance, wrote three articles about my shift, topping it off with an opinion piece in which they stated that I deserved criticism because I wear “thick-rimmed glasses” and I like Ludwig Wittgenstein. Why don’t they just call me “four-eyes”? These are not adults leveling serious criticism; these are scorned right-wingers showing all the maturity of a little boy. No wonder I fit in so well when I was 13.

Boom!

More here, with video.

Heh. Good point about fitting in well with conservatives at such a young age. This guy, if you click through to watch the interview, is obviously intelligent and articulate, so it's no wonder that the Republicans pulled him into their freak show four years ago. Sort of like a talking dog, or a bearded lady: Come one, come all and see the amazing conservative teen, who makes as much sense as any of us!!! Roll up, roll up!!! And that's kind of the point. Who really gives a shit what a thirteen year old kid has to say about the way the world works? I mean, it's nice when I hear young teens mouthing liberal platitudes and all that, but I entertain no serious notion that this is how that kid will be thinking in a decade. Same with conservative kids. They've barely figured out how to shave, if even that, much less what's going on outside their homes and schools. So it's a meaningless freak show, whether it's the Democrats or the Republicans, when you hand over the podium to some articulate kid to speak for the party.

On the other hand, I'm sympathetic. I used to be that guy to some extent. As a middle and then high school debater, I fucking loved politics, and was definitely more informed than most of my peers. Because of the family, church, and part of the country in which I came of age, I was a conservative. Sure, I thought that I freely chose my ideology. I thought that I understood both liberal and conservative arguments and had, after careful contemplation, rejected liberalism as impractical. But I didn't know shit. I was conservative because there were social rewards for being conservative. Because it made my parents happy. Because it made church elders praise me. Because Reagan was the President. But I didn't know shit. I was just a kid.

So, in the end, it doesn't matter one way or the other what ideology this young guy is currently embracing. He's only seventeen. I hope he keeps moving to the left, but even he probably won't know what he's about for another decade or so. But like I said, I'm hopeful: the so-called Millennial Generation is apparently much more liberal than my sucky Generation X.

It's always about the fucking children, isn't it?

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