It's a c-o-n. . .spiracy

At least one Democrat apparently believes that Dan Rather was set up by the Republicans and Powerline and TKS make a good point about Democratic tolerance for even the fringe elements of the party. From Powerline:

It's easy to write off this kind of thing as limited to the moonbat wing of the Democratic Party, but here's the thing: when is the last time you heard any Democrat criticize this kind of nonsense, or try to distance himself from it?

And from TKS:

Perhaps the most extraordinary change in American politics over the last few years is how comments that once would have seemed ridiculous, or silly, or way out there have now become fairly common sentiments in what was once mainstream circles.

It is a point that I have used, particularly during last year's election season, as one of those rhetorical questions I like to pose to Democrats to illustrate how much anger drives that party today, namely: Can you think of one anti-Bush or anti-American statement that someone on the left could make that would make the majority of lefties say, "Now you have gone too far"?

To their credit, Barney Frank (D-MA) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) both challenged Eason Jordan (in Barney's case on the spot) when Jordan made the outrageous charge that American soldiers were targeting journalists in Iraq, but the majority of the left was predictably silent.

Along the same lines, soon after the election, I asked a Democrat friend of mine in New York the following, "Do you personally know anyone of the left who hates President Bush?" Of course, he did, and he did not need long to think to answer this question. I then said, "Good. Now do you know anyone on the left who hates Usama bin Laden?" This was greeted with silence. I said, "Well, for a majority of the country, that equation is flipped."