Madman of Chu outed . . .

. . . as a self-consciously conservative" historian and blogger. That's him on the left, a bit dazed and disoriented, emerging from his tomb-like closet.

You know, just the other day, Madman, Victor Davis Hanson, and I were lounging around the secret clubhouse, sipping puppy blood martinis, and coming up with our personal lists of the all-time best conservative punk rock songs (I voted for the Sex Pistol's version of "My Way"), when Madman suddenly broke down. The pressure, he explained, of constantly wearing a mask in public was getting to be too much for him. He told us how weary he was of having to remember to remove the American flag lapel pin from his sport coat before he arrived on campus in the morning, and he broke our hearts when he described the committee meeting where all the committee members went around the table telling their favorite "Republicans are stupid" jokes. When it was his turn, there was a moment of exquisite tension during which he considered renouncing the bitter lie he had been living, but in the end he merely reversed the terms of his favorite "Democrats are stupid" joke and shrank, sweat-drenched and exhausted, back into the darkness of the closet.

A new day is dawning for Madman of Chu now. Let's congratulate him and welcome him into the sunlight. Hold your head up, Madman . . . those first few steps as a "blogger of the right" are the hardest, but just put one foot in front of the other, and soon you'll be walkin' out that closet door . . . and striding confidently into the light of truth, justice, and the conservative way.