On Hypocrisy and Hyperpartisanship

The normally mild-mannered and possibly mis-named Red Tory goes berserk over Joanne's accusation that the Left is 'intolerant'.

A few things:

1) I think it's safe to say that LifeSite is run by social conservatives, in the same way that we can presume that whatever comes out of the Council of Canadians is run by anti-market statists. But so what? Dismiss the source if it's not to your liking, but why is it a surprise that Joanne would link to articles that come from a group that shares her worldview? This is somehow surprising or unique?

2) If Joanne took down her offensive post, isn't that her way of saying "my bad"? Should she have instead left it up, so that she could be the object of scorn for being too stubborn to listen?

3) Let's be clear: there are "wingnuts" - in the sense that there are folks with extreme, politically incorrect and/or inarticulate views - that populate all political blogrolls, regardless of affiliation. If we all have to bear the blame for some of the crap that emanates from the keyboards of our fellow blogrollers, well then, I guess none of us have clean hands. But I can't help but wonder if Mr.Red Tory would get set off quite as quickly - or viciously - if it were one of his fellow Libloggers spewing forth nonsense.

4) I don't suppose red Tory sees the irony in stressing his tolerance benchmarks immediately after calling Stephen Taylor a "dumb as rocks CPC shill". For pointing out that Stephane Dion and his wife both have PhDs. And that most Canadians don't. Which means they might not "see themselves" in Stephane Dion and his wife. Yeah, that's a real wild, offensive theory.

It seems the new rule in Liblog circles is: you're not allow to take jabs at our leader. Or our policies. Or our record. I'm not exactly sure what the Liblogosphere would consider "legitimate" criticisms of all things Liberal, but I'd love to hear some examples lest I inadvertently become their next object of scorn. But maybe writing this post is bad enough, who can tell these days?

5) A little off topic, but this got me thinking: if there is one depressing consequence of the change in government, it is that the bulk of the Blogging Tories, formerly full of angst and simmering hatred, have traded places with the Libloggers to become fanatical cheerleaders of this new government. I really mean this: there are times when I read some of the lame justifications of my fellow travellers - I for one have never understood the usefulness of pretending your team is perfect - and been ashamed. And there have been times I have read the raw, overhwelming anger of Libloggers lashing out, and I understand what they are going through: because in their worldview, every "bad thing" done by Stephen Harper blinds them to anything good. Even scrolling through some of my old pre-election 2006 posts, I read reflections of myself sounding like (for the love of God!) Scott Tribe. And I don't like it one bit.

But how do we all avoid falling into these traps? Can we? Should we? We are partisans, after all. So is objectivity already off the table from the get-go? And if it is, why should any nonpartisan listen to a single word any of us have to say?