KKKossacks Eat Democratic Young

Steven Colbert humiliated diminuitive chest-thumper Markos Moulitsas the other night on TV when he tricked him into giving a Nazi salute to an improvised triskele made out of a K that looked close to being a swastika. "How high is a dog, a pony, a horse? And MMZ raised his hand to get caught in a simulated Sieg Heil.

Kimberley Strassel notes today that the Kossacks are making another pass at nominating a McGovern rather than a Clinton. But 2006 belies the Nutroot contention that they are the edge of the wedge in Democratic gains, as Henry Cuellar avows at length to WSJ. However, Strassel warns:

Don't take this to mean that the liberal juggernaut hasn't shifted the debate. Some moderate Democrats, while reticent to admit it, are tacking left in hopes of dodging further assaults. Ms. Tauscher, long known for her national security credentials, has toned down her hawkish impulses, voting against the recent surge and taking a harder line on missile defense. Even Mr. Ford's DLC these days seems a little more comfortable talking about "trade enforcement" than it does "free trade." Mr. Cuellar admits that while some centrists are willing to say "who the . . . blank-blank do [these Internet groups] think they are," others don't want "to be the center of the attraction."

In a match-up on "Meet the Press" this past weekend, the Daily Kos's Mr. Moulitsas extolled those who use his site to trash thoughtful folks such as Mr. Cuellar as a shining example of "democracy." In the same breath he then commanded the DLC's Mr. Ford to "control" his moderate members, and force them to stop disagreeing with liberal Democrats. If you get that logic, you might just be a Daily Kos reader.

Mr. Cuellar, for his part, doesn't show much of an inclination to be controlled by anything other than his own principles. And he's trumped the hungry liberals--so far.

Anyone who peeks at the loathesome garbage this tiny martinet purveys on his hate-site knows that civil discourse is abandoned once the far left [and very occasionally the far right] enter the fray. Be prepared for F-bombs and bad grammar, and the thinking is worse than the language and syntax. Luckily, most leftist sites do not permit comments from other than committed crazies, through elaborate vetting procedures to weed out sane commenters.

So I'm not tempted to do anything except observe, as Londoners used to do in the 18th century with diversionary trips to Bedlam.