Joe Klein and "extremist" left-wing bloggers

Joe Klein

basically, i haven't bothered to post on joe klein because i seriously don't give a rat's ass, but this pushed me over the top...

obviously, jokeline just can't give it a rest...

[T]he 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.

but, ya gotta understand, this isn't ABOUT JOE... oh, no... he's ever so concerned about our POLITICAL PROCESS...

The spitballs aimed at me don't matter much. The spitballs aimed at Harman, Clinton and Obama are another story. Despite their votes, each of those politicians believes the war must be funded. (Obama even said so in his statement explaining his vote.) Each knows, as Senator Jim Webb has said repeatedly, that we must be more careful getting out of Iraq than we were getting in. But they allowed themselves to be bullied into a more simplistic, more extreme position. Why? Partly because they fear the power of the bloggers to set the debate and raise money against them. ... In the long term, however, kowtowing to extremists is exactly the opposite of what this country is looking for after the lethal radicalism of the Bush Administration.

you don't get it, joe, and you aren't being honest either... the liberal, progressive, democratic, anti-war - whatever label you want to stick on us - aren't EXTREMISTS... moreover, you can take your goddam concern for our precious political process and stick it directly up your ass... the united states is in the middle of the biggest constitutional crisis in its history and those who are speaking out about it and insisting that the united states halts its criminal behavior are EXTREMISTS...? it's precisely the demonstrated lack of urgency and concern on the part of those we thought we had elected to represent us that drives us into hissy fits... that you don't see that and don't appreciate just how much we care, is a pathetic demonstration of narrow vision... and comparing us to those who advocate murdering innocents, torturing detainees, castrating gays, and assassinating leaders of other countries is despicable...

whatever credibility you might have had with me, joe, is gone...

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