I don't place nearly the same importance as you do on authority or pigeonhole political labels. Cockburn's opinion isn't sacrosanct because he wears the scarlet "L" on his forehead, and it's not an offense against the natural order of things to criticize him or disagree with him. That someone labelled a "Leftist" happens to agree with you doesn't bolster your denial of global warming in any way. I skimmed his rant, and he's as delusional as you are, "Leftist" or not.

"When it comes to ideas, principles and policies, it's about as diverse as a flock of penguins."

Listen to what you're saying: Dissent in the ranks on the left means that there's no diversity? You've gotten way out in front of your headlights in your desperation to score a point.

"I made the point that fearmongering in this country doesn't, by any stretch of the imagination, derive from only one political viewpoint."

You haven't actually made any such point, you've only asserted it, over and over and over and over; but if it comforts you to think otherwise, add that to your long list of delusions. But even if you had, how would it excuse the Right's heavy reliance on fearmongering? You keep trying the tired old argument that for every nasty thing Rightists do, surely somehwere somebody on the Left must be doing something equally nasty; and it falls as flat now as it always does. (Cue Yeti and "b-b-buut Mommy, he did it first!")

"You can't field that effectively so you duck it."

It must be driving you nuts that the reframing trick has lost its power. You don't set my agenda, you don't get to present me with false binary choices that box me in. I'll decide whose opinion is even important enough to rebut. Cockburn may matter a lot to you, because you describe him as if he's your trophy--" I've now brought backup from someone a lot further left than you are"--but that has no power to compel me.

What's really bothering you these days, I think, is that as America begins to uncramp from eight years of hyperpartisanship, you're afraid that hyperpartisans will lose relevancy and their place in the spotlight...that you're about to become a dinosaur. You'll really miss the bitter partisanship when it's gone, won't you?