And... Better News for the Disenfranchised

The divine Frank Rich breaks down why the Mel Gibson fallout is a sign of progress:

Six years ago he was not merely an A-list movie star with a penchant for drinking and boorish behavior but also a powerful and canonized figure in the political and cultural pantheon of American conservatism. That he has reached rock bottom tells us nothing new about Gibson. He was the same talented, nasty, bigoted blowhard then that he is today. But his fall says a lot about the changes in our country over the past six years. We shouldn’t take those changes for granted. We should take stock — and celebrate. They are good news.

Check out the full op-ed for an entertainment/politics time travel back to 2004, when Mel was already openly anti-Semitic, Haggard was still closeted, and Gibson was actively supported by conservative leaders from the WSJ op-ed page to the Vatican.