The Angry Left Pounds Those Keyboards

Richard Cohen writes a column today about the digital lynch mob that came after him after his column on the unfunny Stephen Colbert, and thinks this all bodes ill for the Democrats:

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Al Gore's new movie on global warming. I liked the film. In response, I instantly got more than over 1,000 e-mails, most of them praising Gore, some of them calling him the usual names and some, in what passes for logic nowadays, concluding there was no such thing as global warming if only because Gore said there was. I put the messages aside for a slow day when I would answer them. Then I wrote about Stephen Colbert and his unfunny performance at the White House Correspondents' dinner.

Kapow! Within a day, I got more than 2,000 e-mails. A day later, I got 1,000 more. By the fourth day, the number had reached 3,499 -- a figure that does not include the usual offers of nubile Russian women or loot from African dictators. The Colbert messages began with Patrick Manley (``You wouldn't know funny if it slapped you in the face'') and ended with Ron (``Colbert ROCKS, you MURDER'') who was so proud of his thought that he copied countless others. Ron, you're a genius.

Truth to tell, I peeked into only a few of the e-mails. I did this because I would sometimes recognize a name I thought I knew, which was almost always a mistake. When I guilelessly clicked on the name, I would get a bucket of raw, untreated and disease-laden sewage right in the face. I'd quickly delete the thing, like closing a manhole cover, and move on, trying to figure out how to peek into an e-mail without getting the full, ugly message. No way.

[...]

But the message in this case truly is the medium. The e-mails pulse in my queue, emanating raw hatred. This spells trouble -- not for Bush or, in 2008, the next GOP presidential candidate, but for Democrats. The anger festering on the Democratic left will be taken out on the Democratic middle. (Watch out Hillary!) I have seen this anger before -- back in the Vietnam War era. That's when the anti-war wing of the Democratic Party helped elect Richard Nixon. In this way, they managed to prolong the very war they so hated.

The hatred is back. I know it's only words now appearing on my computer screen, but the words are so angry, so roiled with rage, that they are the functional equivalent of rocks once so furiously hurled during anti-war demonstrations. They hurt in a different way.

I wrote previously about a blogger at the lefty HuffPo who also wrote a piece critical of Colbert, and got hundreds of vitriolic and insulting comments as a result. The people that populate the angry left side of the blogosphere have real anger issues, and seem completely unable to express themselves rationally. I get hit with that stuff every now and then.

What's even more entertaining is that they've convinced themselves that they are a force that must be obeyed lest the Dems lose their support and lose elections. This, despite the fact, that in almost every case where they've gone all-out to support a particular campaign, they've lost. They've declared "almost victory" so many times I really think they're starting to believe that's a sign of success.

Hey lefties - don't let Cohen discourage you. Keep pounding those keyboards and sending out those hateful emails. Those Dems who aren't following your lead need to hear from you!