So Glenn Reynolds - the Instapundit - mentions on his blog one day that he's actually worked with the ACLU and that "demonizing" them is "silly."
You know what happens next...immediate shock and outrage from some on the political right that loathe everything that even remotely has a connection to the ACLU. And with a Kos-like fervor, calls for a boycott ring out from the far reaches of the blogosphere.
A sampling of the insta-hyperbole:
"It’s no wonder Glenn loves the ACLU, he is a fellow Lawyer and as with Clinton they all stick together no matter what."
"Well I will delink the SOB, maybe he does eat puppies after all...creep!!"
"I have read his stuff for about a year and never realized that he had a dark side..."
Cue the evil "dark side" music...
Glenn must feel really special today. Not only is he regularly called a "rabid wingnut" by those on the Kos left, he is now getting equal treatment from their counterparts on the right. The impugning of motives, the polemical rhetoric, the strawmen...it's almost as if it's the same people on both sides!
He's certainly earned his libertarian stripes on this one. And I couldn't be prouder...
You can read more of Dave Johnston's takes at newdave.com.
Ed/Pub:LM
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - John Bambenek
Blah blah.
2 - Steve S
oh Bambenek, you have another one to add to your 'bring down the ACLU' club.
Maybe I should start reading the instapundit again.
3 - Dave Johnston
(also posted under John Bambenek's immediate-response take above)
I'm not taking a stand on the ACLU, or even taking a stand on Glenn taking a stand.
What I am pointing out is the instant outrage and quick-trigger strawman arguments that pop up on both sides of the political spectrum. Since Glenn has worked with the ACLU in the past, it somehow follows that he must then support all the positions the ACLU takes that conservatives loathe. It's a stretch, at best. But many in the blogosphere have no problem making that leap, immediately. It's classic Kos argument style, just from the other end of the political spectrum.
For too many, 2+2=6 when it serves their strongly-held convictions.
4 - RJ
I don't always agree with Professor Reynolds, but he's hardly with "the dark side"...
5 - Christopher K. Leavitt
I don't think that they started this because Reynolds had a past association with the ACLU. This was over the belittling of their whole cause as silly. Maybe it's too nuanced a position for me to take, but I support STOP the ACLU in the hope of just changing it, and limiting it's influence in the legal system. His rebuffing of the whole idea is what offended some.
6 - Dave Nalle
I just wish the ACLU would impartially defend all of the rights of all abused people rather than being so selective and biased.
Dave
7 - The Bulldog Manifesto
The Right Wing consists of a bunch of cannibals. They'll eat their own if the have to.
Their so brainwashed by their own propoganda that they cannot even see the forest through the trees anymore.
I'm glad we have an ACLU. Heck yeah!
8 - Eric Olsen
I'm glad we have an ACLU as well: the whole point is to defend positions that are often unpopular at the time. I'm totally with you on this one Dave, thanks!
9 - Jay
Glenn is the one who jumped to conclusions by slamming Alan Sears new book, ACLU Vs. America as biased without reading it, or providing any facts to back up a claim like that.
10 - Temple Stark
Jay that type of thinking / approach is pretty much why I lost interest in Glenn early.
11 - gina
how about his rudness to the guy who said he was debookmarking him .. shameful ..
12 - Eric Berlin
I've always thought it was crazy to demonize an organization that exists to protect people's rights.
Now, this "Kos left" thing is getting out of hand as well. There are certainly fringe elements on both the left and right, but Kos is simply a partisan Democrat. If that makes you a demon in today's America, that also means we're left with a one-party system.
13 - Mark Saleski
but eric, haven't you heard? we DO have a one-party system. 1. republicans 2. people who hate america.
things 'r so much simpler now.
14 - Eric Berlin
The People Who Hate America Party has kind of a nice ring to it, doesn't it?
15 - Mark Saleski
yea...i was very happy when we voted that as our title at the last meeting.
16 - Raidernation1
"I've always thought it was crazy to demonize an organization that exists to protect people's rights."
I would think it was crazy too if we were talking about an organzation that actually did that. We are long past the idea that ACLU is an organization that just sometimes takes "unpopular cases" (as another poster suggested). LOOK at them up close and ignore their cute rhetoric.
The ACLU is THE biggest threat to our liberties in this country today. I would suggest the Sears book -- it is a well-supported (the bulk of the book draws DIRECTLY from the ACLU's own words/briefs/position papers/etc.) point-by-point lesson on what the ACLU really stands for. This book is not your typical "attack" -- very little gratuitous invective, mostly critical evaluation of what the ACLU has said and done over the years and how all this differs from what they claim to be. The more people that read the Sears book, the less dupes.
Check out this review:
http://www.therealitycheck.org/FeaturedWriters/gschneider090105.htm
17 - Kit Jarrell
I love how it's fashionable to criticize those who delinked, rather than actually pay attention to why.
As the blog that started the whole thing with Stop the ACLU's Jay, I think y'all need to realize that we didn't do it because someone wasn't spouting the 'party line'. For G'd's sake, people. Pay attention to the reasons.
1) He is pro-ACLU, which is an organization that supports terrorism and terrorists.
2) He was so arrogant about his position that he basically insulted the person who simply wanted to say "Hey, I think you're wrong and I'm not going to read you anymore."
All of you lefties are acting like we're somehow children, Nazis, and G'd knows what else simply because we exercised OUR right to disagree, publicly with his opinions.
I have one word for you: Filibuster.
When it comes to public disagreement, you guys have no right to complain. It's all you do.
18 - Eric Berlin
He is pro-ACLU, which is an organization that supports terrorism and terrorists.
Proof?
Otherwise that's about as irresponsible a statement as you can put in print.
19 - Eric Berlin
And funny... you'd think the Bush Administration would be prosecuting its ass off to shut down an organization with the U.S. that "supports terrorism and terrorists..."
20 - Eric Berlin
Should read "...within the U.S."
21 - billy
thats the laugher of the year. what "right" has the aclu worked to deny americans? its just the oppositte,
unless you consider it a right to "intimidate a woman trying to get an abortion".
or the right to "shut down the free speech of someone you disagree with."
that isnt a right.
22 - Eric Berlin
I've read your statement a few times, Billy, and I seriously can't determine the point you're trying to make.
23 - Steve S
Billy is saying that the ACLU has not worked to deny any rights except maybe the right to intimidate women or the right to shut down free speech.
Of course, those aren't rights, which is Billy's point.
24 - billy
see comment 16, the person said
The ACLU is THE biggest threat to our liberties in this country today.
i am just wondering. what liberty is the ACLU fighting against? that is ludicrous. they fight for liberties.
from post 16 i summarize this person believes his rights to harrass abortion protestors or to impose his religion on atheists in school is som liberty the ACLU takes away from him.
he is misguided.
the terrorist part I leave alone because it is beyond absurd. its like saying Bush eats babies!
25 - Dave Nalle
The ACLU does a good job in many areas, but they do have some significant blind spots. They don't support gun rights or in most cases religious freedom. They're not perfect by any means, and I'd love to see them be ideologically consistent, but they aren't actively evil.
Dave