Uncivil Discourse

I got this cute reply from Rick Couturier, about whose character and language handicaps I have nothing to add.

hey scumbag, Georgia attacked Ossetia. Killing hundreds before Russia attacked. You're just another lying, slithering republican.

This sort of immaturity might seem like an idiosyncrasy, but it's not exactly uncommon.  As I expected, David Newquist reacts to my comments about Tim Johnson and the debate question with this:

One blog has taken up the blogging cudgel against Sen. Johnson and has not missed a pretext to hammer the message that the Senator is incapable of serving. Another blog which is more strident in its espousal of petit-fascist attacks asserts that the Senator should have withdrawn from the race long ago and to be responsible should do so now. Democrat blogs have joined in the chorus that declining to engage in confrontational oral debates is sort of an admission of not being able to do the job.

I am pretty sure that the "one blog" is Pat Powers, and "Another blog" is me.  Newquist is not honest enough to identify his targets.  If I am wrong about the second comment, I apologize in advance.  If I am right that the second comment was directed toward me, then Newquist is once again trying to convince everyone that he is off his rocker.  SDP may be a bad blog or it may not, but calling it "petit-fascist" suggests an addled mind.   After all, my comments on the merits of political debates are similar to Newquist's own, and I drew a clear distinction between Johnson's fitness to serve in the Senate and his fitness to run for re-election. Moreover, as Newquist himself concedes, my opinion was within the range of local democratic blogs.  Apparently everyone who ever disagrees with Newquist is a "petit-fascist." 

I am a resident of South Dakota and I have every right to form an opinion about Johnson's fitness for office.   The truth is that Newquist regards any criticism of Tom Daschle or Tim Johnson as a kind of treason. One need only compare his blog posts with those of Cory Heidelberger and Todd Epp to see how addled Professor Newquist is.