In the Arena

Bloggadocio

This is a suicidal waste of time. I especially love this from Kos, who promises a “vicious [primary] fight” for Ellen Tauscher’s seat:

“We’re creating real democracy,” he said.

Thus spoke Robespierre.

Update Fair point from Arbitrista:

have you made any similar observations about the decision of Hugh Hewitt to support challenges against Republican incumbents who voted against the escalation? If you are going to take a stand against what you label as political extremism, then it is your responsibility to place the same burden on all sides of the political debate. Otherwise you are not a pundit – you are a shill.

I wasn’t aware of Hewitt’s hubris–dreadful, certainly. Reminds me of Grover Norquist and his obnoxious no-tax pledge. But it doesn’t make Markos any less of a destructive extremist.

Speaking of smears, Terrapin reminds me that Kos got this one right, about the Murtha Amendment. As if the current Bush policy isn’t a “slow bleed.” I’m not sure I favor the Amendment, but it’s a serious proposal that reflects a strong feeling, especially in the Army, that the Iraq rotation schedule threatens to break the force. For Brit Hume, a persistent Iraq fantasist, to comment on anyone not knowing “what the heck is going on in the world” is rich.

Update Atrios makes my point for me. If you want to tell me how you’re going to guarantee a left-wing challenger won’t weaken Tauscher, or perhaps see her replaced by a moderate Republican, I’m all ears.
As for Ezra, I disagree with Tauscher on the estate tax and bankruptcy, but once again–you think a Republican would vote differently? And I very much liked Jane Harman, before she was mau-maued, and wish she were the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee now. Unlike the current Pelosi-selected chairman, she knows the difference between a sunni and shi’ite.

And finally: While you infants are getting all self-righteous about the sins of moderates and littering the space with pornographic comments, the Republicans have spent the day sending bombs like this to people like me. They’ve done one for each Democratic candidate for President. Some perspective, please, from the commentariat.

Correction and a Question: It’s been pointed out that I should credit BarbinMD with the Kos posting about the “slow-bleed” Murtha libel. Thanks. And several commentators assert that the infant pornographers cluttering the comments are wingnuts. How do we know this? And if we’re going to have truly free discourse, what do we do about it? I mean, if we purged all the expletives, you guys would be stripped of your most creative “Joe Klein Pundit Scum” epithets. Wouldn’t want that, would we?

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