The Devil In Mr. Rosenbaum

Eric Alterman makes the point that former leftists such as Snitch, Ron Rosenbaum etc. are arguing against strawmen rather than engaging liberals in honest debate.

Rosenbaum (link via Atrios) then proves Alterman's thesis with a rambling screed in which "the left" is represented by a conspiratorial e-mail circulated (by whom? to whom?) "virtually minutes" after Senator Paul Wellstone's death.

Rosenbaum asks: "Why aren�t those who railed against paranoid, right-wing, murder-list Clinton-hatred standing up to this 'cesspool' of incoherent Left Bush hatred?" Apparently, it is incumbent on "the left" (or at least those on the left who don't believe Bill Clinton was a serial killer) to "stand up to" false e-mails.

(How exactly does one stand up to an anonymous e-mail? By ignoring it? Blocking it? Fowarding it to Ron Rosenbaum?)

But here's the kicker. Rosenbaum saw a sign at a war protest saying "Bush Is A Devil." Rosenbaum extrapolates from that sighting that "the left" -- every last one of them -- believes Bush is Ol' Scratch or one of his imps. No one has actually said that, maybe, but every last lefty is thinking it. Ron just knows it. And that, my friends, crosses the line. Comparing one's ideological opponent to Satan, it's just not done.

Except, of course, when Crazy Davey says it. Or Flush. Because, of course, they don't have the political clout and respectability of a guy with a piece of tagboard and a couple of fat markers. It's not like they hang out with the Vice President or the Assistant Secretary of Defense or anything.