And By the Way ...

I see that Andrew Sullivan is aghast, appalled, and angry over McBush and Palin's whipping up of their base into a dangerous, spittle-flecked mob. That's nice, but let's not forget that Sullivan's the guy who said after September 11th:

The middle part of the country - the great red zone that voted for Bush - is clearly ready for war. The decadent Left in its enclaves on the coasts is not dead - and may well mount what amounts to a fifth column.

Fifth Column: clandestine group or faction of subversive agents who attempt to undermine a nation’s solidarity by any means at their disposal. The term is credited to Emilio Mola Vidal, a Nationalist general during the Spanish Civil War (1936–39). As four of his army columns moved on Madrid, the general referred to his militant supporters within the capital as his “fifth column,” intent on undermining the loyalist government from within.

When a party's "intellectuals" start hurling around crap like this (and let's face it, Sullivan was a Republican intellectual in his role as big-time pom-pom wielder for the Iraq war), they sow the seeds for dangerous rhetoric we're hearing from McBush and Palin and their unhinged mob today. Thanks, Andrew.

I'm glad Sullivan's come to his senses, but I sure as hell hope that someone alerts President Obama to Sullivan's "Fifth Column" smears before Sully even thinks of trying to wrangle an invite to an Obama White House.