To the Left of Sanity

Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen dared to deviate from far left wing orthodoxy by criticizing the "unfunny performance" of Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents Dinner. For his efforts, he learned that at least in the blogosphere liberal politics do not denote a generous spirit. He describes the volume of violent and vulgar e-mail responses here.

In the process, Cohen experienced a sad sense of deja vu. The left wing blogosphere is driving the Democratic Party with a sense of anger not experienced since the Vietnam War, when leftist irrationality helped push the rest of the country into Nixon's camp. Cohen writes:

The hatred is back. I know it's only words now appearing on my computer screen, but the words are so angry, so roiled with rage, that they are the functional equivalent of rocks once so furiously hurled during antiwar demonstrations. I can appreciate some of it. Institution after institution failed America -- the presidency, Congress and the press. They all endorsed a war to rid Iraq of what it did not have. Now, though, that gullibility is being matched by war critics who are so hyped on their own sanctimony that they will obliterate distinctions, punishing their friends for apostasy and, by so doing, aiding their enemies. If that's going to be the case, then Iraq is a war its critics will lose twice -- once because they couldn't stop it and once more at the polls.

The Post includes links to the blogs linking to Cohen's article, and scrolling through the links only serves to confirm his thesis.