First, let me say that I really enjoy blogging. It’s a brilliant format for keeping readers up to date on the things I care about””and for exchanging information with them. I recently asked Swampland readers with military experience to comment on whether it was General David Petraeus’ “duty” to tell the unvarnished truth about Iraq when he testifies on Capitol Hill in September. About a dozen readers responded with links to treatises about “duty” in various military journals. Furthermore, I’ve found that some great reporting takes place in the blogosphere: Juan Cole’s Iraq updates are invaluable, Joshua Micah Marshall’s Talking Points Memo did serious muckraking about the U.S. attorneys scandal, and Ezra Klein (no relation) is excellent on health care. I love linking to smart work by others, something you just can’t do in a print column.
But the smart stuff is being drowned out by a fierce, bullying, often witless tone of intolerance that has overtaken the left-wing sector of the blogosphere. Anyone who doesn’t move in lockstep with the most extreme voices is savaged and ridiculed””especially people like me who often agree with the liberal position but sometimes disagree and are therefore considered traitorously unreliable. Some of this is understandable: the left-liberals in the blogosphere are merely aping the odious, disdainful””and politically successful””tone that right-wing radio talk-show hosts like Rush Limbaugh pioneered. They are also justifiably furious at a Bush White House that has specialized in big lies and smear tactics.
And that is precisely the danger here. Fury begets fury. Poison from the right-wing talk shows seeped into the Republican Party’s bloodstream and sent that party off the deep end. Limbaugh’s show””where Dick Cheney frequently expatiates””has become the voice of the Republican establishment. The same could happen to the Democrats. The spitballs aimed at me don’t matter much. The spitballs aimed at Harman, Clinton and Obama are another story.
Yeh . . . and it’s all Rush Limbaugh’s fault!!!
LOL.
He’ll be ecstatic, of course. ; > )
Ah yes, once again Liberal Fundamentalism shows its true colors, attacking one of its own who was not perfectly orthodox in his liberalism.
Klein has been under attack since he outed the Clintons in Primary Colors.
The same could happen to the Democrats.
COULD happen?!?!?
Apparently Mr. Klein has never heard of DailyKos, Atrios, Huffington Post, MoveOn.Org, and about a thousand other hateful lefty sites.
Next topic, please.
The big difference is that Rush Limbaugh is genuinely humorous and much of what offends the left is done as humor. He is not foul mouthed and bitter. On the other hand the left wing blogs mentioned, at least in comments, are filthy sewers that can barely be read without needing decontamination. The insane rage and bile on the left surpasses by far any animosity from the right towards Clinton or whomever. I for one am sick to death of politics as practiced by both political parties.
The left takes its clue from HRC, who, if you have been around her, and know those who have, life Secret Service Agents, know that she has about the filthiest mouth since Richard Nixon or Lyndon Johnson, both real champs in the vulgarity department. Rush can take what ever you throw at him and loves it. He at least has a great sense of humor, of which the left seems to have little or none.
They are also justifiably furious at a Bush White House that has specialized in big lies and smear tactics. . . . The spitballs aimed at Harman, Clinton and Obama are another story.
Soooo, it’s o.k. to smear Bush, but not o.k. to smear Clinton and Obama. Uh, huh.
Newbie, now your catching on.
There’s a great deal of missing the point here. Klein is not talking about whether or not it is permissible for conservatives like Limbaugh to go after Obama or Clinton. Though he deplores this, he accepts it as par for the course. He’s talking about the tendency of (political) liberals to eat their own.
And the point applies across the board. I can think of few groups who can be more vicious to one another than those who consider themselves orthodox Christians.
“There’s a great deal of missing the point here.”
No kidding. And in some cases, rather predictable.
The point a writer wants to make and the point he unwittingly reveals can be two different things.
I don’t move in step with the liberal left. While I was attacked and frequently ridiculed in the early days of my protest four years ago, the revisionists apparently have gotten used to me, or perhaps I’ve learned to not take their criticism lightly.
I should have added this: everyone wants to feel that they are being heard.
RE: “There’s a great deal of missing the point here.”
I think we’re merely pointing out what we disagree with, personally.
It is strange to watch the Liberal blogs tearing into Joe Klein for not being a perfect uber-liberal. He is much more of an ally of theirs then an enemy and yet they are taking the opportunity to bully one of their own.
An Ode for Steve
He stood firm at the helm when the wind blew against him and those about him assailed him for not taking their direction,
His eyes were not on the shoals or the reefs or the waves they made as though he could make the selection,
No, he looked up and followed that pillar of cloud in the day and fire at night,
For there in the heights above the dark clouds of heresies and the rolling swells of those who dealt him spite
The Lord sent His Spirit to fill Steve’s sails
And now that mighty Breeze carrying him along through the darkest night
Has brought Him home to rest, moored safely, serenely and eternally in the Father’s eternal Light.
Is there more we can say about our faithful brother
As we are called to the helm manning the rigging with one another?
Yes, Steve told us all, grab the lines and heave ho into that ocean and go
Make disciples for Jesus, on with the show!
Rev.Whitey Haugan
I bet he’s never listened to Rush.
#18, OF COURSE he’s never listened to Rush. Limbaugh specializes in satire, and he’s often very funny. Compare Rush calling Sen. Edwards “the Breck girl” to leftists calling Bush “Hitler.” Which is amusing satire, and which is odious?
In spite of all the crying about the “loss of freedoms,” I note that people are still free to make ugly comments on websites and to march in the streets with “Bush=Hitler” signs.
I agree with Matt above, and the David Frum quote. It’s a free country, thank God. If you’re a public figure, stick with your principles and let the criticism roll off your back.
Scary, isn’t it, Matt? And yet, take heart. We’ve only agreed that disagreements should be expressed rationally and with civility, and that criticism within those limits is acceptable. Adults understand that there are educated, intelligent, well-intentioned people who disagree with their most strongly-held convictions.