Well, it’s nice that Kos and his Kossacks are deciding that the whole idea of “the moral high ground” is an outdated, silly concept and going for the “if it isn’t illegal, it’s just fine” rule in politics by deciding they want to monkey-wrench the Michigan Republican primary. Their theory seems to be that since anyone of any party can vote in the Republican primary (and the Democratic primary is pointless, as the Democratic National Committee has chosen to strip the state of its delegates to the national convention), they ought to vote for the Republican who will most likely cause the most problems for the Republicans.
Somehow, they’ve decided it’ll be Mitt Romney. How a candidate with a spotless personal history, a ton of money, a solid machine, and a history of success (setting aside his 1994 challenge to Ted Kennedy, which was more of a “someone’s gotta go get knocked off by Teddy, so this’ll be a way you can pay your dues” move) comes across as the weakest, I dunno, but Mitt’s the choice.
But that aside, this is kind of refreshing. Now we don’t have to worry about the Nutroots howling about certain things that they find reprehensible, but not technically illegal. Here are a few examples of people who won’t have to worry about being assailed by the Nutroots:
Mark Foley. The disgraced, page-chasing former Congressman was very careful to never quite cross the line from “creepy, sick bastard” to “would-be criminal.” He made sure the pages were of legal age before trying to pursue them.
Karl Rove. Despite the best efforts and profoundest fantasies of the Nutroots, Rove left the White House without ever being indicted, let alone convicted. It’s never been proven that he ever violated a single law during his lengthy political career.
Conrad Burns. The former senator was implicated in the Jack Abramoff scandal, and that likely played a factor in his defeat in 2006. He’s now been cleared of all charges by the Justice Department.
Those are just three people who are now off the hook for attacks from Kos, Atrios, and a good chunk of the Nutroots movement.
It’s a little late for a Christmas present, but better late than never — and it’s the thought that counts.
And we should be wise to remember that it’s now offiical Kos policy that “if it isn’t illegal, it’s just fine.” I don’t recall any laws against trolling web sites, using multiple identities and spouting all sorts of fun things, “mobying” a site (saying outrageous stuff just to later cite that as “proof” of how nuts the people at the site are), and other kinds of net-mischief.
Of course, we here at Wizbang have never subscribed to the “if it isn’t illegal, it’s OK” rule. We have our own standards of conduct, and have no tolerance for such activities when we discover them.
But we would never dream of holding another site to the same standards we impose on ourselves.
