The desperation of the Right

It seems that conservative pundits are hanging their hopes on a desperate ploy to discredit the Progressive Blogosphere, by accusing blogs such as The Huffington Post and others of allowing repulsive anonymous comments about situations like the attempted bombing of Dick Cheney while he was on vacation in Afghanistan.

There are several issues at play here, which of course the wingnuts choose to ignore. Such as, these comments are mostly anonymous, so some percentage of the authors may actually be right wing wackos simply trying to "pee in the pool". It's happened before...a wingnut makes an outrageous anonymous statement, then said wingnut publicly denounces the blog for allowing such awful comments. And these comments aren't pre-moderated; they are immediately posted when the person hits the "post" button.

For the record, The HuffPo removes those comments that advocate violence as quickly as possible. But the one thing they won't do is stop the free exchange of ideas or censor valid comments. Unlike the conservative blogs, which either disallow commenting or requires registration to comment, Huffington allows anonymous comments.

I've run into the same problem with this blog. I allow anonymous comments here, and I don't pre-screen them. I'm one of the few Connecticut blogs that allows this. Sometimes I feel compelled to remove a particularly nasty or obnoxious comment, but I do this only in very rare cases. I've left quite a few comments up that contain personal attacks on myself, although I do tend to reply in kind.

Or worse. Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.

But right wing commentators are quick to pick up on the occasional violent comments and use them as examples of why the lefty blogosphere is "out of control" and should be curtailed. They LOVE to post the exact same comments that they condemn, making hypocrites of themselves.

...Does this prove "the fury, bile and idiocy of the sub-moronic left right"? Of course not. But it does prove how wrong Rush was. And how phony was his outrage.

Same with Hannity. He led off his show Tuesday night with this non-story, his knickers in a twist over the very idea that some people had anonymously expressed regret that Cheney had escaped unharmed. He'd clearly never heard such things said before!

Trouble is, this was the same Sean Hannity who just the night before had been joyously joined by his good friend, the infamously toxic Ann Coulter. The same woman who said "We need somebody to put rat poison in Justice Steven's crème brulee," questioned whether it was more appropriate "to impeach or assassinate" Bill Clinton, suggested New York Times staffers be "executed," and titled a column on Lincoln Chafee, "They Shot the Wrong Lincoln." And she did so proudly, openly, and in her own name -- not in an anonymous comment.

So, please, spare us the bogus indignation. And stop trying to build an illogical but politically-convenient thesis on the backs of a few unhinged and clearly fringe commenters.

The faux fury routine is getting very, very old.

One thing about the right wing "dumbosphere" (that's what I call the righty blogs) that always amazes me is how quickly they would give up everyone else's right to free speech, while giving themselves free reign.

I guess for them, freedom is in the eye of the beholder.