The passage of time has made his once ardent liberalism look like sold-out lumpen conservatism.
It's so bad that it's making even ardent environmentalists look longingly at dirty old coal.
I was an ardent nationalist, looking around at the opportunities that existed for me in Scotland, seeing few, and signing up to the argument that the English were responsible.
Maybe it's just some ardent supporters looking to intimidate people with a show of force.
I now wonder if part of his ardent embrace of Look Back in Anger - "I doubt if I could love anyone who did not wish to see Look Back in Anger," he memorably pronounced (an odd bit of emotional blackmail for a critic to pull) - wasn't rooted in the hostility towards women that seethes through the play.
If Mr. Obama approves the pipeline as a concession to Republicans, Mr. Terry argued, environmentalists, who are historically among his most ardent supporters, might look the other way.
All but the most ardent racists can look at Burns's documentary and agree that Robinson was mistreated, that he was courageous, and aren't we glad we have overcome?
Some people even find Nichols and May too precise to be funny at all, among them a number of ardent admirers who look upon the team less as entertainers than as important social critics, or even leaders of a crusade for a more decent world.
Approached with an ardent, trusting spirit, they listened to you, looked at you, took you in.
Undeterred, ardent believers went looking elsewhere: in Scandinavia, the Bahamas and the Aegean Sea.
