| OpinionJournal - Extra: "WASHINGTON--My brief and unhappy experience with the hate and vitriol of bloggers on the liberal side of the aisle comes from the last several months I spent campaigning for a longtime friend, Joe Lieberman.
This kind of scary hatred, my dad used to tell me, comes only from the right wing--in his day from people such as the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy, with his tirades against 'communists and their fellow travelers.' The word 'McCarthyism' became a red flag for liberals, signifying the far right's fascistic tactics of labeling anyone a 'communist' or 'socialist' who favored an active federal government to help the middle class and the poor, and to level the playing field.
I came to believe that we liberals couldn't possibly be so intolerant and hateful, because our ideology was famous for ACLU-type commitments to free speech, dissent and, especially, tolerance for those who differed with us. And in recent years--with the deadly combination of sanctimony and vitriol displayed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Michael Savage--I held on to the view that the left was inherently more tolerant and less hateful than the right. "
Dear Lanny: Refer to posts
News Snipet 'Blog: The Far Left
and
News Snipet 'Blog: IDEOLOGICAL
and
News Snipet 'Blog: THE LEFT AND FASCISM
and
And many many more that were written when the News Snipet was hosted by Ebloggy. |
It needs to be mentioned that he mentions next that
"Now, in the closing days of the Lieberman primary campaign, I have reluctantly concluded that I was wrong. The far right does not have a monopoly on bigotry and hatred and sanctimony."
"Mr. Lamont and all other liberal Democrats should remember the McCarthy era and not fall into the trap of the hypocrisy of the double standard--that it's not OK when Ann Coulter dispenses her venomous hatred, but it is OK when our side's versions of Ann Coulter do."