Neocon Converts

"Did any of these men (or any other high-profile politician/journalist/muckety-muck convert not listed here) change his public opinions about any idea, policy, or other matter of public significance after his conversion?" asks Jeremy Beer of the Gingriches, Brownbacks, Novaks, Borks, Kudlows and other "high-profile converts to Rome among political conservatives and neoconservatives" — Another Irrelevant Conversion. Mr. Beer rightly suggests that the the only thing important is "what it ostensibly means for Mr. Gingrich’s personal life and postmortal fortunes."

"The church doesn’t declaim authoritatively on anything that isn’t a matter of faith or morals because it can’t," he reminds us. "Outside the quite small realm of faith and morals, there’s ample room for disagreement and debate even among Catholics of good will and well-formed consciences."

In my decidely low-profile conversion, I didn't really "change [my] public opinions about any idea, policy, or other matter of public significance," rather, I refined them and discovered much to my surprise and delight that I had been for the most part a paleoconservative all along.