What he's saying (obviously Glenn can speak for himself) is that this pack of worthless sycophants aren't able to mobilize to stop the rule of law from being shredded, but they sure can mobilize to say how shocked, SHOCKED they are about the MoveOn ad.

The context of the last sentence isn't this specific post, but what Glenn's been writing about for weeks and months, namely the bipartisan inability to have some fucking vertebrae.

I assumed that was what happened given that every other post in this thread was not by him. Did that happen, or did the light come on in the empty room? Am I inviting calamity by merely asking?

There's something going on. But you don't know what it is. Get a screen name and let the fun begin.

You bust me up--I was thinking the same thing as I followed this letters thread hoping it wouldn't turn into a trainwreck like yesterday.

I could take or leave this column every month. Mostly leave.

But the letters thread that follows every one just can't be beat.

Wow, you are seriously humor-impaired if you took Godfrey's post literally. Go back and read it again. Are you telling me you seriously thought he was saying Glenn was setting himself up for a post in the GRAVEL ADMINISTRATION?

I believe it was a bit of a misquote, or a misreference. I understood the author to be referring to Marx's quip that the road TO hell is paved with good intentions.

I learn a lot from reading this blog. Seriously. And one of the things I learn the most from is the daily shooter shootdown. So let those who wish to respond, respond. I learn. And it's almost never compelling to post my own response, as there are so many saying what I would have said, and far better besides.

I must, however, say that I sometimes have difficulty believing that he's not a sockpuppet. After watching so many other trolls come and go long these many months, yet this screen name is the same dumbass dipshit day in and day out. It's suspect.

But unfortunately, probably an actual human being. One of the many reasons why our future as a species ain't so bright.

That's a topic that we could go on a long time about, and would bring this comments thread WAY offtopic, so I'll decline to do that here. Short answer would be probably not, and in just the same way as you noted. Whether it's billiard halls, reefer madness, demon rum, or what have you, there's always a temptation to pick out one thing in every generation and pin some cultural defects on it. I see games as being of a piece with that phenomenon (me=gamer, software developer, and ex-Army).

Is it a contributing factor? Quite possibly. A dominant one? I personally doubt it. Mr. Goldberg, for instance, probably isn't a gamer, nor are any of the prime movers frequently named in Glenn's columns. In the gaming culture, from what exposure that I have to it, I haven't seen any connection to political or moral views that appear to be influenced by that activity. One might as well pose that the popularity of football and basketball games should see a big spike in participation, owing to all the training that players of that genre of videogames are supposedly getting, if there's a connection between real-world and virtual-world activities.

If you're going to go there--that these cultural influences are having a real-world effect, then you might as well get started with depictions of violence in film, TV, songs, et cetera, which have been around since dirt was new, and for equally long have been being cited as factors in violence or attitudes in our society--and definitively establish those before moving on to games.

I got this advertisement in the e-mail yesterday from a videogame retailer and I thought you might get a kick out of it:

"Bonus Authoritarian City Building Set!

We're not sure whether that means you'll be able to build a city with an authoritarian form of government or if you'll be able to build a city in an authoritative manner. Whatever the case may be, SimCity Societies for PC gives you the power to create the environment, culture and government of your choosing. Shipping today, in stores tomorrow."

You just can't make this stuff up. Anybody want to pitch in to buy a copy for shooter242 for Xmas?

Here's the test...have you ever written anything negative (or, hell, scratch that, let's just try objective) about Bush...or admitted you were wrong...or responded in any substantive way to any of the zomgwtfbbqpwnages you get here on a daily basis and without which my day would seem several hours longer, thank you very much for playing?

I'd write something positive if I could find a single goddamn thing that hasn't been at the very least overshadowed by everything else this administration's been responsible for. And he's responsible for the administration, so he gets the call. Ta-da.

Thank you for your service here. Best of luck to you and to all of us.

Oh, I do not believe for a SECOND that shooter can reach.

Respectfully disagree. When you have no spine it makes that kind of a torso bend possible.

Seriously. Did any of the interviewees name anything that private citizens like ourselves can do that may assist? Is there anybody specifically to write to or harangue that might yield any result?

That the administration party line hasn't been fully drawn on this is that I have yet to see any of the usual troll suspects plying their crap in either of the McClellan threads, and the Plame topic is a perpetual favorite of theirs. I eagerly await the parrotings that are coming once they're all back on message.