My earlier post on Rudy's 'proclamations' inspired a debate over at AmSpecBlog, where my friend Philip Klein's first post on the subject included this:
If this is Lewis's attempt at gotcha journalism, it falls far short. Giuliani was mayor of perhaps the most diverse city in the world, and so he showed tolerance for evangelical Christians as well as homosexuals. That shouldn't be considered an assault on conservatism.
After Dave Holman came to my defense, Philip fired back with this:
Dave, what bothered me was not that Lewis chose to provide a counterweight to Brody, but what he cited as examples of Rudy's divergence from conservatism. Objectively, the gay and lesbian community is an important part of New York City. The city has days that salute Israel, the Irish, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, evangelicals, etc. I honestly don't see why acknowledging the contributions of gays and lesbians should be seen as a bad thing, worthy of derision.
So what do you think? Am I a gotcha journalist, or is Philip a bit too open to the "diversity" of New York City? Either way, it's a good debate to have ...
