I'm Jewish, strongly support Israel, and am certainly not a conservative.

On the other hand, I have no problem criticizing Israel when it does something I don't like (in much the same way I have no problem criticizing the US when it screws up) and am not a liberal. I'm not a Democrat either, but it's been a looong time since there was a Republican who was worth voting for.

AIPAC doesn't speak for me, and certainly Norman Podhoretz does not. By the same token, I think much of the left overreacts to what it perceives as "the Israeli lobby". As we've seen recently, Israeli supporters/lobbyists don't have nearly the power of the Health Care Industry, the Oil Lobby, the NRA, or any number of other special interests. Too often, critics of Israeli policy use ANY lobbying effort in the US as somehow validation of their criticism. That's as stupid as anything Podheretz says.

Neocons are wrong in almost every issue. They happen to be more-or-less right about Israel, but blind loyalty helps no one except right wingers who want to use wedge issues to browbeat far more worthy opponents.

Aside: My Congressmen is Keith Ellison, and I'm a proud supporter. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2360434&l=6bf385b6e3&id=530260137

Two points, Glenn: The president is not the king and we are not disloyal to question or even insult the person, but the office deserves respect. Pottymouth Joe Wilson violated House rules with his outburst. He is not Scooter Libby, convicted of a felony, but he is lowering himself to Mark Foley levels within the code of conduct of his office.

Second, the right has an amazing double standard. As you point out, anytime a Republican or conservative does something wrong -- which seems to be happening at a frenzy pace these days -- they don't have the personal responsibility to simply admit they were wrong. The first and sometimes only thing the right can do is point fingers.

And don't be fooled: The reason they point the finger is to absolve themselves of blame and transfer their shame to someone else. If you then take them up on the "Everybody Does It Defense" and say, "okay, it's bad all the time. That means that it's bad when Joe Wilson does it" the right will get all grumpy and deny it. It's worse when you point out that everybody does not do it and the apologists owe a further apology.

The shame of being a conservative has never been greater. And they are in complete denial.

The Family is already rather inbred. That's what happens when cousins marry.

I have no problem with Jenna Bush as a "reporter", since most American journalism is a right wing echo chamber to begin with. At least Jenna has insider knowledge, and can dig up those unnamed sources with more than a wink and a drink.

To be fair, I'd rather have a Bush on tv than desperately trying to run the country into the ground. On the other hand, she's no Maria Shriver.

The modern independent, non-partisan, newspaper is a fairly recent invention, going back to the rise of the big department stores circa 1890s. Macy's didn't care who you voted for as long as you bought their clothes, and advertised in the papers with the widest circulation. The BBC, that socialist, government run radio and tv network, is objective because it speaks for the nation. Television news in the US was, for a long time, was part of the network competing for ad dollars.

Before then, the Rural Republican spoke to the Republicans in the area, the Big City Democrat was slanted to its readership, and similarly with the Tories and the Liberals in England and most of the world.

Only recently, with the rise of cable, has news been targeted at a specific audience. Entertainment, Wall Street, Black, Home and Garden, etc. And, of course, the extreme right.

It's to our credit, as a nation, that we don't need a "liberal" news network. As Stephen Colbert observed, "Reality has a notorious liberal bias." That is, the facts can be used by liberals to bolster their position. By the same token, facts do not support conservative views. Indeed, as Glenn so often observes, conservative views are often the exact opposite of reality.

Unfortunately, we have gone beyond spinning the story to fit a political viewpoint. Now, in order to bolster untenable positions, the right spins the facts to fit their political viewpoint.

And that's where Joe Klein and company fit in: In order to justify their own wayward behavior, they have to cut down anyone who tells the truth. Keep up the good work, Glenn, and don't let the bastards get you down. I don't always agree with you, but I always respect where you're coming from.