...[N]: That turn--liberal Democrat to Republican Bush-supporter--was almost as big a turn as the other, Socialist to liberal Democrat. How did the recent one come about?

[B]: We all were traumatized by 9/11. I’m a native New Yorker who's lived in Seattle since 1987. I knew people who died at the WTC. It was impossible to believe, shocking. The difference between 9/11 and 12/7/41 [Pearl Harbor] is that with 9/11 some people went into denial, and therein lies our disunity.

After 9/11, I was thinking “I’m a patriot.” To me it was a December 7th moment. But I knew there was an antiwar movement waiting in the wings, who would seek to disrupt the unity. When I mentioned that fact back then, everyone was shocked. It was thought to be a quirky point of view. I called up Barry Farber, a New York talk show host from the past whose show I’d appeared on before. He'd been the voice of New York talk radio for conservatives in the 60s, 70s, and 80s.

I called him--he was elderly now--and asked, “Do you remember me?” I'd been on his show a lot in the past as a Socialist, a union guy. I said I want to speak as a former antiwar person on why I support this war, and against disunity. That started to lead to my transition. At that time everyone was still agreeing. But soon the antiwar movement grew and disunity began.

I contacted every blogger and talk show I knew of, and Young Democrat and Young Republican chapters, saying, "Here’s my bio, here's my website, I want to come to your campus and speak." And already, at that early time, I got lots of hate mail from the Young Democrats: don’t send me that, you’re a traitor...