Dean Barnett strikes close to the mark

While I do enjoy dropping in on liberal/progressive/leftist blogs to have a look around, it was far from my first impulse after the bridge collapse disaster in Minneapolis.

Dean Barnett took that step, and offered up a pithy observation as a result:

[T]he reason the Democrats have such an advantage in on-line organizing and energy is because they have hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of people who angrily obsess about Iraq and George W. Bush on a 24/7 basis. Let’s face it – if a bridge collapsing in Minnesota makes you angry at George W. Bush, the results of your political Rorschach Test are conclusive. You’re a nut. But a useful nut; you’re the kind of nut who probably opens your heart and your wallet to the causes that strike your fancy.

LEST I BE ACCUSED OF suggesting that the left has the exclusive franchise in this sort of monomania, the right has its sliver of kooks and misfits who jam every event into a one-size-fits-all-events ideological prism. Blogger “Psycheout” at Blogs 4 Brownback (which I’m glad to say has nothing to do with the Brownback campaign) responded to the disaster by writing:

“Whether terrorism or a failure on the part of big government, it’s clear to anyone with eyes that government doesn’t work. Private enterprise always does better than the Feds. It’s time to cut the Federal Government down to size.”

(HughHewitt@townhall.com)

I frequently run into Bush-haters who appear to possess that type of dementia. As I survey political blogs, I run across blog after blog that posts bits of a news story and then finds some far-fetched way to link it to Bush (or somebody from the opposite side of the political spectrum--like Karl Rove).

As Barnett notes, the commentary for liberal blogs is the real indicator of the activist Democrat ("netroots") mindset. It's hard to imagine (though I suppose it's possible) that people with such a low grade of public political discourse have the capacity to defend their views reasonably.

It is important to note, as Barnett has done, that the left has no monopoly on nutty views. The distressing thing, for me, is the difficulty I've had in finding voices from the left who can engage in mature debate over the issues.

Ever the optimist, I'll continue to assume I'm just looking in the wrong places.