Centerfield

Of course, when the extreme left starts calling the middle left (an NYT editorialist no less) "Human scum", you start to feel they may be getting desparate. Makes me think of cornered animals.

Atrios is far too strident for my tastes. While I'm reasonably sure that most of his posts don't have that level of vitriol, seeing him cited even this often makes me not inclined to visit his blog.

...And I am telling you, it just doesn't work politically. Right now hate for Bush looks pretty organized, but in the end, voters are going to be asking what can you do for me, and if all John Kerry has is "I am not George W. Bush" than they are not going to vote for him.

(Long time centrist...First time posting here!)

I'm always shocked by the anger that many on the left feel toward Bush. You can say many things about him and his administration, but to suggest that he's inherently "evil" takes a very pessimistic view of human nature. I think the worst that can be said of Bush is that he and his colleagues have made decisions that are different from the decisions that others might have made in the same situation, and at worst, that they made very bad decisions. But to call him "evil" -- and even to use another often-heard label: "hawk" -- does a disservice to civil political discourse.

Atrios is a total hypocrite. Kerry talks reasonably, and he is a hero worthy of Atrios' relentless fundraising efforts. Kristof talks reasonably, and he is "human scum."

I went to the cite and read the comments. These left-wingers (and I assume the right-wingers as well) seem only to want to talk to each other and tell each other how much smarter they are than everyone else. This seems to be the case on a lot of the wing blogs. How boring!