Not to worry. Even if you don't send it, they will say you did anyway (and claim YOU never receive any intemperate mail).

Hinderaker apologized for crissakes and the dumping on him at MN's ironically illustrates why he lost his temper in the first place.

When you rattle the cultists, the attacks are asymetrical.

Quiz

1. Brynaert's email is identical in tone with which recent commentator at Wizbang?: Dan

2a. Is it against the MN State Bar to Swear?
No, it's not against the state bar for attys to swear, assholes.

2b. Identify the irony of the comments at the MN Guru WTF blog: The irony is that most of the commentators have spewed much more offensive posts. For example, the most recent racist, sexist crap directed at and/or sent to Malkin. [Maybe, someone should make copies of some of their more disgusting posts, find out who their employers are, and forward copies to them.]

I'm disappointed.

I've rationalized along with the best of them/you but the impact remains when you receive email such as that and that impact is that you can't go home again. You know, I've had a few experiences of being upset about more than a few things in my lifetime, the internet and no, but I've never written crud like I've read there from Hindracker. I'm really, really disappointed.

The one from Brynaert is worse. But they're both just inexusable to my read.

You know, sometimes we can share voting perspectives with people but that's about it.

sorry..."inexcusable..."

I can't believe that one of the "big three" at Powerline could write that...

it just makes you sad to see someone who plays on your team do crap like that...

Oh, please! This guy sends Power line an email where he repeats the Big Lie of the past month. No matter how many times you factually prove them wrong, they just keep spewing their latest mantra. How many times can one repeat he applied under his real name? That it's not a crime, if not fairly common? And still, the Big Lie keeps getting repeated. And then they bombard you with email with the same crap.

Do you really think they do it out of ignorance? Their intent is to annoy and harass.

Frankly, calling them dumbshit, asshhole, and shithead was well over due.

Oh, look! Henry said crap! But, alas, I'm not sad.

A while back I mistakenly posted with my real email address here on Wizbang and got a death threat from one of the wonderful tolerant liberal commentors complete with him calling me the Jewish version of Adolph Hitler. I don't think Hinderaker calling a dumbshit liberal a dumbshit liberal even comes close. If you going to keep repeating lies over and over like a stupid left-wing shithead nobody is insulting you by calling you one.

Sorry, but as I've posted about recently, that was not the proper way to go about it, regardless of how bad the other side was / is.

Powerline just lost mucho respect from me.

Powerline just lost mucho respect from me.

What ever happened to having a sense of perspective.?

I've had moonbats send me e-mails trying to argue some pointless point or other with me, and it usually runs thus:

First reply: Calm refutation of the gist of the challenge.

Moonbat follow-up: Totally ignores everything I said, reiterates original challenge, cranks up the invective and personal attacks because I didn't totally agree with his first e-mail.

Second reply: Stern point-by-point response to moonbat's argument, concluding with something on the order of, "We really don't have anything more to say to each other."

Moonbat next follow-up: Totally ignores everything I said, cranks up the invective and personal attacks, claims I'm a blind follower of Bush/Rove/Halliburton/Neocon and might as well be a death camp guard or some such.

Third reply: This is the one that gets posted on the moonbat's website, as though all of the exchange that went before, never happened.

And for all that, they still get no link from me.

DAMN.

The question is: Why did Hinderaker let this twerp, of all people, get to him? Great invective, wasted on the insignificant.

Yeah -- the post sure contains a lot of "theology." I especially appreciate the sound foundation in personal opinion. After all, if we are ever to discover and/or know God, it will be as a result of conjuring in our own brains, right? Why not cut out the pretense of ceding authority to any but yourself and simply acknowledge the obvious? You must be God!

Y'know, this incident actually bothered me a bit. Powerline's a great site. Great posts: good analysis and important stuff breaks there, but part of its appeal is the tone. You can hold that site up as proof intemperate moonbat-ery isn't spliced into the right's DNA as it seems to be into the left's.

Their dismantling of Moyers recently was a sight to behold. Calm destruction. I especially enjoy their continued non-hysterical refutations of the Star-Tribune columnists' smear jobs. Powerline helped make it easy to scoff at the MSM's high handed dismissals of the blogosphere, their complaints that it's just loonies grinding partisan axes, that's it's the somehow WEB that needs to be reigned in.

Demeanor means a lot. In both those cases, part of their elevated position was due to the unspoken sense that they wouldn't stoop to the tactics of their opponents. [Now a lot of that feeling is generated by the fact they don't enable comments (NOT A REQUEST FOR WIZBANG TO FOLLOW SUIT) so it's easy to float above the fray when you don't allow the fray on site.]

I'm just saying I feel a little let down. This doesn't mean Powerline isn't still a great site. And this certainly doesn't reflect on the Deacon and Big Trunk. But it's now a little (a little) easier for the left to shrug off their criticisms. "Hey, what'ya expect from those guys. They're crazed partisans."

The best thing I can say though is that Hind fessed up, didn't ignore it (certainly didn't lie about it) and posted a sincere apology on the site. I'm not expecting them to be super human paragons of conservative reason, but I did sort of assume they (he, really) were above that sort of thing. *sigh*

ZeroBoss -

HindRocket confessed that he had just finished reading dozens of profane and offensive emails when he responded to MN Politics. He responded much more harshly than he should have, but he attributed it to the combination of fatigue and the mental strain of having to deal with the continuous hatred that he receives from lefties. That doesn't make his response excusable, but I can't imagine having to wade through all of the filth that these people throw your way when they don't like you.

If you want to know what it's really like, visit Michelle Malkin's blog and read some of the mind-blowingly vile and racist hate mail that she receives from card-carrying liberals.

McGehee -

You're exactly right. Context is everything. I gave up arguing with moonbats a long time ago, because they only rant. They are militant about their agenda, and everyone who doesn't agree with them is something less than human, because their way is the only True Way.

Please, if Hinderaker were in the habit of answering email in that tone, all of his responses would be posted on all lefty sites as an example of the right's out-of-control temper. Yes, it was clearly a mistake, but if this is all it takes to lose one's credibility, we've set the bar too high. He apologised. That should be enough.

He could have lied about it and I know I would have believed it because it did seem so out of character. I feel personally disappointed that it was true but respect him for taking responsibility for his own actions.

Can you beleive the guy down in the comments who basically said that if you put your real name on your web site you *deserve* to have people harassing you at work to the extent that the secretary had to stop answering the phone?

And all of this in response to a posting that basically said, I don't care about Gannon, Gannon is not news? Egad! Now *that* was offensive. Not.

Nothing, it seems, is quite so unforgivable as failing to share the outrage.

Mike - Trust me, I understand. I've read the hate directed at Malkin, and I can understand how Hinderaker could lose it - especially since, as he pointed out, the "fake credentials" meme is bullshit. (Not that it's stopped the Democrats.) Like I said, it's just a shame he chose to unload on someone so unworthy of his attention.

To all of you above posters that are throwing stones at hindracker, none of you live in glass houses. None of you have feet of clay. None of you have ever done an embarrassing thing in public. Shame on all of you.
He is human, with faults and imperfections, just like the whole lot of YOU.
IMO he is the much better man, in that he failed and apologized for it. Publically.
Why don't the lot of you email him at Powerline and tell him your critizism to his face, instead of behind his back at someone else's weblog.
Sheesh!

Why don't the lot of you email him at Powerline and tell him your critizism to his face, instead of behind his back at someone else's weblog

What? And risk having one of those nasty-grams sent my way???

Gosh, Wizbang is such a puny, inconsequential blog it does seem kind of hard to imagine the Powerline boys could possibly be aware of this post.

[/sarcasm]

Sharp

Actually I think I might lose respect of YOU if an intemperate email (rather than posting the invective on the blog) is all it takes to discredit the great body of work Hinderaker has already done.

That is perilously close to the strange 'all or nothing' standard that the Left applies to its enemies.

After reading Jay's post about his mother's most colorful language, that's a lady you don't want to piss off and get email from!

RE: julie's post (February 24, 2005 06:22 AM)
Oh, look! Henry said crap! But, alas, I'm not sad.

Heh, pithy and funny.

Incidently, fusing "crap" and "alas" into the same thought? Levels... so many levels.

Darleen, Applesweet, et al:

I think you should be glad to see conservatives posting their trouble with Hind's actions here, saying he doesn't get a free pass.

Look at the left and that Gannon kerfuffle. The left had the principle that one's sexual orientation shouldn't be held against a homosexual. If you read the lefty blogs, you'd see that this principle didn't apply to Gannon. Why? Well, cause he's not a lefty, that's why. Principles, to the left, are apparantly applied on an individual by individual basis.

Here, many are saying Hind did bad. Bad enough it changes how they look at him. And it seems that to them, this principle applies regardless of which "side" the individual actor is on. Sorta nice, really. [Imagine if Kos or Atrios is doing this stuff. (maybe they do, I don't know, what does that change?) Would we be wrong in denouncing them? Is it their 'side' that makes it wrong then?

I don't think people are saying let's set fire to his house, or even kick him outta the blogosphere or that he's marked forever. But, maybe, next time he posts, they'll take this into account when some aspect of the post impliedly leans on his character (the veracity of some allegation perhaps) or maybe it just affects how willingly they will cite his post as an example of the right's tolerance or clearheadedness.

So what should happen to him? Nothing. I'll still read his posts, but he's lost a little good will from me. No one's saying he can't earn it back though. But rebuilding one's good name (overdramatic, but sort of what's gonna have to happen) doesn't occur overnight.

Sorry, Ray, but that's way over the top. The guy was provoked and used three swear words. For people to make this into anything more than that is frankly weird. If people treat a mere acquaintance this way, I would hate to be a friend or family member and commit a transgression in their eyes.

Julie: Guess we disagree. Now go crawl back into your hole, you stupid shithead!

Julie: I'm sure you get it, but for the rest, I'm making a (small) point above.

I was disappointed in Hinderaker; while he's a no-quarter partisan, I've been reading his site for a while and all three of those guys always struck me as reasonable, sober and mature. A veteran litigator ought to be accustomed to a certain amount of unwarranted abuse.

Crank is right, particularly the fact that Hinderaker is an attorney...he should have known better about putting things in writing. If you can't stand the heat....

Yeah, Ray, and if I were a real fruitcake, I would challenge your character, your veracity, your tolerance, and your ability to think clearly. You would have lost my good will and you would have to earn it back. I would expect you to grovel until I say stop and that's not going to happen overnight, buddy. I'm sure you get my point

Julie: Not sure where anyone here's asking for groveling out of the guy. I'll certainly read his stuff still. Arguments still stand or fall regardless of their speaker's character.

And as for challenging my character, you needn't bother. In point of fact, I'm a prick. (And a lecherous one at that. ((No, really, ask those who know me.) That said, I have more respect for those who, regardless of whether they agree with my politics, are willing to call me on it. Glad to hear you'll give me a pass though. Maybe I can thank you some time...

That's disappointing from PL. And, Julie, "Brynaert's email is identical in tone with which recent commentator at Wizbang?: Dan" You seriously ought to think about some intervention or medication.

I seriously think Julie's out to get me ;-/

Hi, all.

This is my first time here. I navigated here because elsewhere on the blogosphere someone mentioned this site as a right-leaning site where reasonable and respectful discourse could be held. I read the emails for this blog entry and most of the above comments. Before I continue, I want you to know that I am a liberal. I am also genuinely trying to figure out a way to find areas of commonality with conservatives. I wanted everyone to know my poitical leanings because I am truly curious if any of the commenters here will challange my following points on the basis that I am demonstrating a liberal bias.

So, after reading only the comments on this entry, I see the same problem here as on the left blogs: That is the demonization of the opposition. Of course, there were several voices of moderation in this comments section. But without naming names, can we agree that many of the commenters here were, at a minimum, dismissive if not worse, of the left side of the spectrum? I fully agree that the hate-filled crap that many lefties employ is wrong, as the several examples cited above in the comments reflect. But, why do so many people sit by questly when one "our own" is rude, profane, engaging in name-calling. . .?

I worry that the extreme commenters on both sides may reflect the coming future for political discourse in America. Because I care passionately for my country and want to make it better, I wonder how common ground may be found for constructive disagreement.

Thanks for listening, or ignoring.

Jon

dang...i've been wizbanged. i got freeped last week...i'm sure glad nobody called me an eichmann or a timothy mcveigh round here.

but i'm a little bit peeved. i had a "Blobbidy blob blob blobbidy blob blob blob" e-mail saved in my inbox that i was just about to send to you...

but....waaaaahhhh....since you didn't link to me proper...i guess i'll just have to do it myself

Why Are We Back In Iraq?

ps i'm not sorry at all that i e-mailed one of my favorite bloggers...i just wish more people on my side saw the humour in it...

peace