Useless Idiots

Billmon, in an article called Useless Idiots, has this to say about those on the right who have since seen the light and are now feeling persecuted by those still drinking the Kool-Aid:

It would take an almost superhuman sense of compassion not to relish the sight of the tormenters being tormented by the likes of Hugh Hewitt, Michelle Malkin and Glenn Reynolds. And thank God, I'm only human. The sense of grim satisfaction I feel every time I hear Andrew Sullivan or Greg Djerejian whine about the viciousness of the "Malkin right" faintly echoes the emotions that must have been felt by the original socialist and anarchist prisoners of the Soviet state every time they saw an old Bolshevik getting the business from one of Stalin's NKVD thugs. Now you know what's it like to be an enemy of the people, you swine.

If that seems overly harsh, well, I'm not in a very forgiving mood, particularly when I hear pompous asses like Djerejian moaning about deranged neocon "radicals." It wasn't all that long ago -- like last year -- that Greg was bragging about his own "neocon light" credentials:

I guess I'm mostly a realist, but I have strong neo-conservative (neo-Reaganite?) inclinations. I've worked for some neo-con types in the past . . . and consider myself more closely attuned to many hanging their hats at the AEI rather than the Brookings.

I wonder: When did Greg first begin to suspect that he and Mike Ledeen weren't exactly on the same wave length after all? Was it when the neocons first brought up the idea of attacking Iran. No, that can't be right, because they started taking about that -- "Real men want to go to Tehran." -- more than three freaking years ago.

Was it after the 2005 elections put a pro-Iranian, pro-death squad government in power in Baghdad? No, that can't be it either, because at the time Djerejian was too busy sneering at lefty bloggers who were insufficiently enthusiastic about all those waving purple fingertips:

Kos and Atrios can't broach the big story, at least if it's a positive one, because they are merely playing to rabid partisan audiences and so are stuck tiresomely dwelling in their own provincial echo chambers. History moved forward today (though the road ahead remains fraught with peril, to be sure, and the Administration is well aware of this); and they remained silent or blogged diversionary side stories. That speaks volumes, doesn't it?

Well, yes it does, Greg -- it speaks volumes about what a clueless, naive chump you were. And because neither you nor your then-beloved Administration actually had the slightest clue just how "fraught with peril" the road ahead was, we now have to listen to your panic-striken pleas for somebody to do something about the chaos enveloping Democracy Boy's pet project:

This is where America must make its strongest stand in the neighborhood: namely to turn around the increasingly abysmal disaster that has become the US intervention in Iraq.

Well, it's a little late for that, Greg my boy. Failure isn't just an option, it's now the only option. Of course, if you and your fellow war hawks had listened to anyone who knew anything about the tortured history of Iraq, the Shi'a, the Middle East -- or the human species -- maybe you would have understood the risks from the beginning. But I doubt it.

It's very hard, after more than three years of anticipating, dreading and now watching the catastrophe blossoming in Iraq, to tolerate the pathetic whimpering of former hawks who've finally managed to drag themselves into the searing light of reality -- and feel ill used because they must suffer the slings and arrows of the deluded goons who still refuse to leave the cave of winds. Welcome to the camp, guys. Ivan over there will show you around.