Swampland - TIME.com

Bloggadocio

This is a suicidal waste of time. I especially love this from Kos, who promises a "vicious [primary] fight" for Ellen Tauscher's seat:

"We're creating real democracy," he said.

Thus spoke Robespierre.

Update Fair point from Arbitrista:

have you made any similar observations about the decision of Hugh Hewitt to support challenges against Republican incumbents who voted against the escalation? If you are going to take a stand against what you label as political extremism, then it is your responsibility to place the same burden on all sides of the political debate. Otherwise you are not a pundit - you are a shill.

I wasn't aware of Hewitt's hubris--dreadful, certainly. Reminds me of Grover Norquist and his obnoxious no-tax pledge. But it doesn't make Markos any less of a destructive extremist.

Speaking of smears, Terrapin reminds me that Kos got this one right, about the Murtha Amendment. As if the current Bush policy isn't a "slow bleed." I'm not sure I favor the Amendment, but it's a serious proposal that reflects a strong feeling, especially in the Army, that the Iraq rotation schedule threatens to break the force. For Brit Hume, a persistent Iraq fantasist, to comment on anyone not knowing "what the heck is going on in the world" is rich.

Update Atrios makes my point for me. If you want to tell me how you're going to guarantee a left-wing challenger won't weaken Tauscher, or perhaps see her replaced by a moderate Republican, I'm all ears.
As for Ezra, I disagree with Tauscher on the estate tax and bankruptcy, but once again--you think a Republican would vote differently? And I very much liked Jane Harman, before she was mau-maued, and wish she were the Chair of the House Intelligence Committee now. Unlike the current Pelosi-selected chairman, she knows the difference between a sunni and shi'ite.

And finally: While you infants are getting all self-righteous about the sins of moderates and littering the space with pornographic comments, the Republicans have spent the day sending bombs like this to people like me. They've done one for each Democratic candidate for President. Some perspective, please, from the commentariat.

Correction and a Question: It's been pointed out that I should credit BarbinMD with the Kos posting about the "slow-bleed" Murtha libel. Thanks. And several commentators assert that the infant pornographers cluttering the comments are wingnuts. How do we know this? And if we're going to have truly free discourse, what do we do about it? I mean, if we purged all the expletives, you guys would be stripped of your most creative "Joe Klein Pundit Scum" epithets. Wouldn't want that, would we?


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About Swampland

Ana Marie Cox

Ana Marie Cox is the founding editor of Wonkette and the author of the novel Dog Days. Read more

Joe Klein

Joe Klein is TIME's political columnist and author of six books, most recently Politics Lost. His weekly TIME column, "In the Arena," covers national and international affairs. In 2004 he won the National Headliner Award for best magazine column. Read more

Karen Tumulty

Senior Writer Karen Tumulty has been TIME's National Political Correspondent since 2001, and has also covered the White House and Congress for the magazine. A native of San Antonio, she is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and Harvard Business School, where her career choice has significantly lowered the average salary of her graduating class. But she gets lots of free magazines. Read more

Jay Carney

Jay Carney is TIME's Washington bureau chief. He has covered both the Clinton and Bush 43 White Houses, as well as Congress. Before coming to Washington, he spent three years reporting from TIME's Moscow bureau. In his next life, he would like to write for Sports Illustrated. Read more

Jay Newton-Small

Jay Newton-Small Jay Newton-Small covers politics for TIME. She has covered the Bush 43 White House and also Congress from the DeLay era to the present. And, yes, despite the misleading name SHE is a she. Read more

Michael Scherer

Michael Scherer is a correspondent in TIME's Washington bureau covering the 2008 presidential campaign. He has worked national assignments for Mother Jones magazine and Salon.com. Read more

Mike Murphy

Mike Murphy is a political consultant who helped elect more than a dozen GOP Senators and Governors including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney. In 2000, Murphy was a senior strategist for John McCain's presidential campaign. Read more

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