RawStory has posted an article entitled Franken 'wins' Ben Stein's money for Senate run. Written by Ron Brynaert the article chronicles the contributions to Franken's senatorial campaign by his showbiz buds. Conservative Blogger Saint Paul at Fraters Libertas has scanned Franken's recent FEC report and has created an extensive list. The headline is catchy and it involves the "biz." Beyond that not much to learn, except that it links to some wingnut named Brian Maloney of the Radio Equalizer. Maloney is shocked that Republican Ben Stein would ever contribute money to a Democrat even if the Democrat is a personal friend.
The other day I read a story posted at TheHill.com . It seems Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff referred to Edward Kennedy's work on the immigration bill as awesome. Redstate's Kowalski went nuts. TheHill reports that
Chertoff said he doesn’t spend a lot of time reading blogs, but suggested comments in the blogosphere and on talk radio or cable television have created a climate that makes it tougher to get support for the immigration bill. While some blogs are “well-reasoned,” he said some “have a lot of capital letters and exclamation points” as well as curse words and attacks on people’s motives.How tribal have we become when Republican Ben Stein can't spend a $1,000 of his own money to help one of his friends? Why can't wingnuts have moonbat friends anyway? Aren't we all Americans first?
“That’s where we lose perspective over language sometimes, that you’re a sellout or a traitor if you support the bill,” Chertoff said.
As Michael Chertoff points out the tribal atmosphere makes it very difficult for people of goodwill to reach a compromise on any difficult subject. I may not like the immigration bill, but it is nice to know that Michael Chertoff and Edward Kennedy worked together to fashion a compromise. That's democracy.
All the moonbat v wingnut tribalism we encounter these days reminds me of Sunni v. Shia. We all know how well that is working out.
