If you follow the New Republic, you will find that Kirchick has a poor reputation among its readers (at least those that comment on its blogs). A Kirchick post is guaranteed a range of responses from condescension to ridicule. He is not taken seriously. The magazine has taken a nice political direction since its latest sale and the days when it endorsed Lieberman for president in the 2004 primaries.

And I say that with no animus toward gay folks, being one myself.

But seriously: when will we stop having to listen to Peretz' sex objects being launched into the national discourse as though they have some expertise beyond having served as his muses?

...but I have learned to accept the fact that the Democratic Party and teh Democratic leadership in particular simply CANNOT pass up a chance to kick the online progressive community (DKos, MoveOn, etc..)right in the fucking teeth.

I expect nothing different here. Lieberman will be the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

And he will be Chairman due in no small part to the fact that the netroots are against it.

Netroots = Sister Souljah.

Perhaps reverse psychology is in order....

... "Spokesman for the modern majority"... of the E-mail Lame electorate? O they are a country Elite. They are the cream that floats to a top-scum MSM mess-Pool? O eat b-fast rice-crack black seed poppies? O cream cheese on a brass bugles.

I believe it's these same-same ilk-Nasty fake-Scribes.

Voracious for more-Dough. Fringe-neo-Cons, hounds.

Neoconservative worldly view: 'um pay homage`jackals.

Off to hound dog races. 'Um place $1.98 bet on hyena.

At meals they chew brown sticky rice shaped into balls.

'Um say:` We eat dog-chow six days per week, on 7th?

We go gamble and place bets on meat greyhound mutt.

don't forget it was MoveOn, etc. who hijacked the Dem party this year and forced an inexperienced and unqualified Obama upon us.

You hit that nail on the head...

Represent the average american ........ they represent vested interests.

How could they know what they average american thinks as they never associate with them on a real life level.

Washington, DC should be isolated, quarantined and then fumigated.

Self-righteous, self-important, worthless assholes.

Let's face it. The neocons have so lost touch with reality, they are clinical delusional, suffering from an extreme dissociative reaction, detached from reality.

I think hat we have an obligation as human beings to teat them with kindness rather than scorn.

A few suggestions:

(1) no loud talking in the corridors as we pass by their padded cells.

(2) Write them nice little notes at holiday time.

(3) Send fruit baskets

(4) protect them from reality by denying them Internet access and limiting their TV viewing to Fox News and the Disney Channel.

(5) Test advanced therapies like electro-shock and water boarding.

But above all be nice, and be gentle. They are sick people after all.

http: johnklotz.blogspot.com

Much of what Glenn cites in this post regarding public opinion and election outcomes can be interpreted to be the general public repudiating the fringe, extreme elements of the right. As pointed out, recent results show a widespread rejection of war and, in the presidential election, rejection of race-baiting. Only gay-bashing has survived among the right wing spew techniques. Because the fringe of the right is so wrong, why wouldn't Kirchick naturally assume (rather than researching, of course, since that's hard work) that we on the "fringe left" are equally wrong? [Disclaimer: by "fringe left" I refer merely to those of us who support the Constitution and the rule of law, concepts that were "fringe right" in the 70's.]

Isn't there a poll somewhere regarding what people think of Lieberman? (our people, not Republicans) I saw the devastating indictment by the voters of his state, but haven't seen anything broader.

Everyone I know wants Lieberman's blood, and is furious that Reid and the rest of the gang seem to be clinging to him like a moth-eaten WWII parachute at a yard sale.

We're all out here. Aren't there some stats to shut these people up?

Hamsher, among others have put out petitions in favor of losing Lieberman, and accounts of people calling their senator's office have shown that they are in the VAST majority of an avalanche of calls demanding that Lieberman go. Where is the reporting of this grassroots outrage and pronouncement on Lieberman's future?

Maybe we lack subltey, or political nuance. But we know when something is in the advanced stages of decomposition in matters of ethics, loyalty and every other measurement that makes a friend a friend, and a weasel an outcast.

Glenn;

other than you and Eric Alterman, I don't recall seeing this fool taken "seriously."

I'm not saying that you shouldn't ridicule him or use him as an example of the disingenuousness of "conventional wisdom," but ultimately, this type of buffoonery is patently transparent.

Or to put it another way, you had me at "Marty Peretz" and "TNR."

Alfred E. Neumann and Mad magazine have more credibility.

American politics are weird. In any other democracy, a Benedict Arnold ratfink like Lieberman would find himself a very, very lonely person. Simply do not understand why the matter is even under discussion.

End of discussion.

Give the man a standing ovation an throw rose petals before his feet.

just what, in your opinion, is behind this sort of weirdness/peculiarity/insanity (in this case, supporting Lieberman's Homeland Security committee chairmanship)? Is it merely a matter of maintaining the status quo? Is it something less apparent (and I'm hesitant to resort to the AIPAC thing)? Is it a matter of hating the so-called "netroots"?

And sonofloud, While I think Leiberman should be kicked out of the Dem party all together don't forget it was MoveOn, etc. who hijacked the Dem party this year and forced an inexperienced and unqualified Obama upon us.

As I recall, Moveon had little if any role in Obama's campaign.

Pointedly, not a single Democratic senator has publicly called for stripping Lieberman of his committee chairmanship or expelling him from their caucus--Jamie Kirchick

Not a Democrat, but an Independent, I'd say that Bernie Sanders qualifies for making Kirchick's statement questionable.

"To reward Senator Lieberman with a major committee chairmanship would be a slap in the face of millions of Americans who worked tirelessly for Barack Obama and who want to see real change in our country,"--Bernie Sanders

Senator Leahy's statement below makes Kirchick's statement flat out wrong.

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy:

"I felt some of the attacks that he was involved in against Senator Obama...went way beyond the pale," Leahy continued. "I thought they were not fair, I thought they were not legitimate, I thought they perpetuated some of these horrible myths that were being run about Senator Obama."

"I would feel that had I done something similar," Leahy concluded, "that I would not be chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee in the next Congress."