I protest.

Cowardice.

Via TBogg, I see that one of the Rabid Right, Don Surber, is claiming that "the left lost the war on terrorism." Tbogg apparently left a comment asking

when Don's boys would be dropping out of Marshall and signing up for the New American Crusade.

Surber deleted the comment and left another:

Personal attacks will NOT be tolerated.

(And if you can see how Tbogg's question was a "personal attack" then you must have had a few sips of the Koolaid yourself, I guess.)

So I toddled over there to ask a similar question, simply because I want to know the answer. And what do I find on the commend popup but this:

Comments on this blog are restricted to team members.

You're currently logged in as Frank who is not a team member of this blog.

Well, well, well.

Unfortunately I didn't notice that until after I had written my comment, so I'll reproduce it here. What I wanted to write was this:

Far be it from me to make a "personal attack," even in response to the impersonal attacks in this weblog and comment thread (and, undoubtedly, the more personal ones that will follow this short-lived comment, sigh), but I do have a question. A serious question.

Sure, I opposed the invasion of Iraq and many other acts of the current administration. Had I really believed, though, as you folks seem to, that the invasions of both Iraq and Afghanistan was the only way to ensure the safety of the United States, that the danger therefrom was immense and imminent (and had I been a couple of decades younger), I would have likely signed up. "Done my duty," as it were, just as many men did when Germany and Japan were threatening the safety of the US.

So my question to you folks is this: Are any of you planning on enlisting? You claim that your cause is just, are you planning to support that cause? Certainly the troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan could use the extra manpower.

And if you're not planning to enlist, why not? Wouldn't enlistment be the "moral" thing to do?

Someone once said that talk is cheap. Are your principles worth fighting for? Are they worth dying for? Or are they so much "cheap talk?"

I know what I believe, but I really want to know what you folks have to say about this.

But now I guess I know. "Moral" or not, not only are they not planning to enlist, but if you ask them about it, they claim that the question is a "personal attack" and censor it. (Tbogg's comment was deleted, by the way.) They can't defend their position so they refuse to allow disagreement. (Meanwhile some of those same folks regularly troll liberal weblogs, but that's really pretty typical and unremarking right-wing hypocrisy.)

They are cowards to a man. Talk is indeed cheap, and not only are they all talk, they're even afraid to debate the issue.

Disgusting.