I think you've struck a nerve here, Glenn.

It's a dishonest tactic and one that I have yet to see employed by the left. To take the comment section and pass offensive or outrageous posts by users off as published and approved content to score political points has ONLY been done by the right, who feel threatened by the unfettered and unrestricted discourse found therein. Essentially, it's a smear on the blogosphere, who are identified in the mainstream media as being leftwing (and radical). I believe that their use of this tactic alone exposes the ADL's position for what it is.

Simply put, they're acting funny and responding defensively rather than being alarmed and reactive to your posts. Clearly they are not happy about someone pointing out the moral and ethical compromises they are making. What we have is a Jewish organization dedicated to defending the Jewish people from racial prejudice and hatred in bed with the very kind of people who in a vacuum would have outright disdain for them, if not much worse. They know that the warmongering right is desperate to move against Iran, their common enemy. I think the ADL feels a bit grimey rooting for at best and collaborating with at worst those who harbor prejudice against them. They resent your investigating the deal with the devil they seem to have made and their defensiveness reveals everything.

Keep sniffing, Glenn.

Glenn is dead on as usual here. The distinctions between the corporations, the media and the government have melted away.

Privacy is extremist now. Incredible. It would be nice if for once they could disagree with something and make an argument without resorting to this kind of belligerant demonization. They try to turn every argument into the fight of the century, like a bunch of hyperpolitical Don Kings.

www.leftopia.blogspot.com

Thank you Glenn for your diligence and passion.

I actually picked up the phone and called Senator Dodd's campaign to express my support for his efforts and principles on this issue - the first time I have ever done that. I'm wondering if Dodd could become the candidate that the Netroots rallies around? He will at least put the attention he gets in a Presidential bid to good use.

www.leftopia.blogspot.com

Glenn,

I'm wondering (aloud) what the endgame for the rightwingers is here. It feels like they are trying to make the military choose a side in our domestic politics. At the same time, I am thinking back to the phrase "Permanent Majority". In this Orwellian age of rightwing doublespeak, what does that really mean? Based upon the nightmare of Bush, this can't simply mean it's literal definition.

Does the rightwing intend to take control of the military and use against domestic political enemies? They certainly have abused every other department or governmental body for that means. Are they attempting to turn the military against the left and non-Republicans? Are they building towards a military coup or junta? Do they hope to be able to seize control of the military for the purpose of a military dictatorship or martial law?

It is well past time to stop regarding any normally far-fetched scenario as being impossible here.

We have a defacto corporate army operating outside of international law and domestic control and oversight. We have a military that is slowly being dragged into stateside political polarization. We have fascists among us desperately painting anyone and anything opposing them as fascist. And we have one year left of an anti-Democratic administration who are hugely unpopular yet breezily liberated from conscience and accountability.

I simply have this nagging feeling that Bush has one more great blunder left in him.

Something wicked this way comes.

It's amusing to me to hear those who would defend the general or merely urge caution and reason here insist upon a threshold of 100% smoking gun-level evidence before drawing conclusions.

I'd really like to know what country they have been living in the last 7 years.

This also underscores the fact that professionalism seems to be a lost art. We have seen a deliberate campaign to root out and drive away anyone who displays credible professionalism within our governmental institutions. Seeing every little issue through the lens of partisanship is corroding the very function of all our major governmental bodies and branches. This is deliberate.

Gone are the days when people would be more concerned about professionally doing their jobs and executing the tasks assigned them than how to exploit their position for partisan advantage.

This is a new phenomenon that is a direct effect of the hyperpartisan atmosphere that this rightwing movement has fostered and encouraged as part of their overall political strategy. I completely reject any moaning that this has been going on since the dawn of time. It hasn't and any honest, rational observer know it.

Here's Jon Swift's take on this mess:

http://jonswift.blogspot.com/2007/10/steven-boylan-is-not-moron.html

He seems to think that because Boylan is in the position he is in, then he can't possibly be this stupid.

"Since the email itself sounded like the work of an ignorant partisan hack, it would have been pretty ironic if a military spokesperson had actually written it since it basically proved Greenwald's point."

As with so many rightwing arguments, it is so stunningly oblivious to relevant facts that you scratch your head and wonder if the opinion is for real or simply for external consumption. We could actually get somewhere in this country if the rightwing had some semblance of intellectual honesty. Instead we can't even agree that someone in the Bush government could be a moron. Incredible.