GG:

The real injustice is that prison is simply not the place for the most powerful and entrenched members of the Beltway royal court, no matter how many crimes they commit. There is a grave indignity to watching our brave Republican elite be dragged before such lowly venues as a criminal court and be threatened with prison, as though they are common criminals or something. How disruptive and disrespectful and demeaning it all is.

When you're right, you're right:

Conrad Black Asks Jury Not to Convict Him Because He's Rich

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aPIjZ3O0HS2U&refer=canada

Some days this stuff almost writes itself, doesn't it? Good job, Glenn. This is my new favorite Cohen column; my old favorite was when he told the kids that algebra is way too hard, and not useful anyway, so they should just give up trying to learn it. This may explain the slight problem he has with following logical trains of thought. He thinks:

Writing is the highest form of reasoning.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2006/02/15/BL2006021501989.html

His column from today is an example of what happens when someone does not think (and/or follow things to their natural conclusion) before he writes. I'd suggest he try and master algebra, which might help, but I'm not sure he's up to the task.

L.W.M.:

Did you see the end of yesterday's thread? Bucky1 posted something about LBJ and McCarthyism for you. I'm not sure if he intended to shoot his own foot off, but he did.

Not sure what you're talking about. Actually went looking in his letters to see what I could find.

But whatever it was, an anonymous poster did just fine in my stead:

http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/06/19/cohen/view/index12.html

The points about this whole LBJ/Vietnam/McCarthy debate are fairly clear:

(1) Bucky1 is a deluded whackjob extremist who supports the racist Ron Paul for president, and devotes enormous energy and invective to arguing that Republicans and Democrats are all the same, and that the state is the root of all evil. His attacks on LBJ as pure evil are all of a piece with his whackjob extremist POV, and thus cannot stand up to any examination of the evidence. Which is why he repeatedly ignores any evidence I produce.

(2) The reality is that Democrats and Republicans are quite different, though by no means as different as I or most of us would wish. In international terms, the Republicans are a rightwing party (listing to far right in recent years), while the Democrats are a centrist party. This is a difference, and it is real. The Democrats' liberal wing, when it has been robust, has been close to a moderately leftwing party in other countries, and LBJ's domestic policies approached this position, particularly with the establishment of Medicare, which cut the over-65 poverty rate in half in less than a decade.

(3) The real lesson, of how fear of McCarthyism was the major decisive factor leading to the Vietnam War is not about whitewashing LBJ. (There is no whitewashing Vietnam. To explain is not to justify. Anyone who watches Criminal Minds knows that.) It's about illuminating the dangers of how the Democratic Party--and especially Democratic Presidential candidates--are falling into the same trap today. I wouldn't keep brining it up if not for its vital importance as a lesson for today.

Hi Arne,

I posted this to jeremys earlier, having included a side-snark at jeremys in an even earlier post-

When I read your post, I took it to include a non-snarky assumption on your part (not Mr. Cohen's part) that all readers would wish that Scooter Libby had been spared this agony and that Ambassador Wilson should not have taken things so personally.

Upon re-reading his post, I came to the conclusion that he was not trolling, but rather critiquing one aspect of Mr. Greenwald's post - giving a different (still negative) interpretation of part of Mr. Cohen's article.

regards

I can see why an earlier writer (I am sorry I forgot the name) was so concerned that we monitor the quality of what we write here. This last attack letter by this 'Ace' fellow makes me want to scream.

Ace, you may be looking for a reaction, but read over your words. Who are you being in this letter? Do you like the person you present to the world here? Do you think you make your point heard, or do you just yourself look ridiculous?

My wish: apologize to Glenn and those of us who feel emotionally sledgehammered. Then tell us what you are actually concerned about in words you would use if we were sitting right next to you.

Heck, I just thought it was pgs: pretty good snark.

After all, it is one of favorite rightwing tropes that Joe Wilson caused the whole thing, forcing the Bush Administration against its will to do everything Fitzgerald accused it of, and more.

He's posted the same stuff twice. My snark meter is almost saturated - I can't tell if it is a very blunt parody or some escapee from Freeperland.

If spying on Americans, obstruction of justice, no-bid contracts, lying about intelligence, "rendition" and outing covert agents for political retribution are all just part of the "dark art of politics" and nothing more, what ISN'T OK?

Murder? Or is the only taboo left being elected as a Democrat?

Paul, I'm still not sure I get this troll thing. I read Glenn every day, but I don't always get to the letters. I certainly prize yours a great deal when I read them.

Question: Even if someone does come to this site to be contrary or to provoke an argument, does it really do us any good to identify that person as a troll?

This will sound Pollyanna, but how are we going to connect with others in this country if we can't form a dialog with people on this site? I also wonder if the term does more harm than good. Won't people be frightened of voicing legitimate concerns for fear of the label?

With great respect,

LBS