THE TENSION: Liberal Blogs, Lanny Davis Says,"Gotcha!"

COMMENTLINES
I mention this story only because, in part, it's another example of how the legitimate media loves to tell the world how lowly a form of life mass-bastard bloggers are, especially after bloggers catch the media in scams like the recent photogate at Reuters.

In his opinion piece in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, ex-Clintonista and political hack Lanny Davis backhands conservatives while dogging left-bloggers:

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.

Unlike conservative discussions on the Web, the Internet-savvy on the left take their vitriol to a new low when they devour their own for the sake of their cause -- as Joe Lieberman found out today -- when hackers hosed his campaign Web site http://www.joe2006.com/, which when accessed this afternoon, displayed the message below:

UPDATE ON THE ATTACK ON THE LIEBERMAN CAMPAIGN WEBSITE

STATEMENT FROM SEAN SMITH: "For the past 24 hours the Friends for Joe Lieberman's website and email has been totally disrupted and disabled, we believe that this is the result of a coordinated attack by our political opponents. The campaign has notified the US Attorney and the Connecticut Chief State's Attorney and the campaign will be filing a formal complaint reflecting our concerns. The campaign has also notified the State Attorney General Dick Blumenthal for his review."

"We call on Ned Lamont to make an unqualified statement denouncing this kind of dirty campaign trick and to demand whoever is responsible to cease and desist immediately. Any attempt to suppress voter participation and undermine the voting process on Election Day is deplorable and has no place in our democracy."

Welcome to the real world, Lanny. It's been a long time since liberals have been, "inherently more tolerant and less hateful." The problem with liberalism is in attempting to to be so many things in order to please so many people it has lost the measure of its own soul.

My question is, why did a stand-up rag like the Journal run this foolishness posing as an op/ed piece?

NEWSBYTES
Liberal McCarthyism
Bigotry and hate aren't just for right-wingers anymore.
By Lanny Davis
WASHINGTON (WSJ) --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.

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