NEW TO THE LIST:

HUGH HEWITT

Ugh, where to begin? In his Friday column (and I link to it only because I feel I have to) he expresses (mock) outrage that not a single notable Democrat has stepped forward to criticize or reject Judge Anna Diggs Taylor's ruling that Dubya's illegal wiretapping is completely unconstitutional. Of course, according to him, the reason for all the silence is none other than abject fear of "Kosputin and his minions." ("Kosputin" - how clever....) He further notes that "[t]heir collective silence has grown more and more revealing as the chorus of legal commentary mocking the absurd opinion has grown throughout the day." Not having heard this cacophony of ridicule being heaped on the obviously mentally impaired Judge Taylor, I decided to investigate. Without actually noting any of this learned scholars in the actual article, I was understandably confused by his claim. A later update does shed some light on the claim, by quoting some blog named Tigerhawk, which in turn, sites no less an authority than John Hinderacker (I believe he's called Hindrocket around these parts) as well as Andrew McCarthy over at National Review Online. But still, no dice when it comes to an authoritative source for the ridiculing Judge Taylor's decision.

So, I decided to look outside his site, doing a quick Google search with the parameters, "Taylor decision,""nsa," and "negative." The top four hits were basically attacks on Judge Taylor, noting how she was appointed by Carter (gee, only five presidents ago), because if one is appointed by Carter, then that must mean that you're unqualified to rule on, well ... I guess anything. Not much going on there so I dug a little deeper. After about a thirty-minute search, all that I could find to support his claim that the masses are rising up in favor of lynching Judge Taylor for her boneheaded decision are the usual suspects like the aforementioned NRO, the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page and a few other Righty outlets, but nothing in the way of what I would call a scholarly source to support Mr. Hewitt's claim.

I altered my search a bit and checked out no less an authority than Harvard Law's blog, but they (not so) surprisingly seem to agree with Judge Taylor's ruling. However, I'm sure that's because they are a snooty northeastern school and they obviously wouldn't understand things like protecting the country or something.

At this point, I'm beside myself with digust as I'm obviously doing something wrong in my search. Surely the "chorus of legal commentary mocking the absurd opinion [that] has grown throughout the day" would have been easy enough for me to locate, but alas, I am defeated. Unless of course, Mr. Hewitt is just making his crap up. My internet/web searching abilities versus Mr. Hewitt's feces-indulged diatribe -- it's a battle that is sure to wage within my noggin over the next few days... or not.

Anyway, I forgot to mention that Mr. Hewitt entitled his article "Any Vote For Any Democrat Is A Vote Against Victory And A Vote For Vulnerability." A Dr. Steven Taylor over at Poliblogger took exception to this statement, as he opines that this sort of rhetoric is basically counterproductive and finishes his post with, "the last time I checked, the Democrats may be the partisan opponents of Republicans, but they aren’t the enemies of the state. ", a fairly reasonable assertion given Mr. Hewitt's comments. "Not so," says Hughie! His response follows:

Such hyperbole --Don't question my patriotism!"-- reveals immediately that the writer does not understand the difference between incompetence/negligence and intentional harm. Trusting the national security to Democrats is like trusting a moving car to a four year old, or the management of a vast company to the junior high school business club. Neither the child nor the preteens want to wreck the car or ruin the corporation, but both results are near inevitable.

Condescension, thy name is Hugh Hewitt.

UPDATED TOP TEN:
1. Hugh Hewitt
2. John McCain
3. Orrin Hatch
4. Joe Lieberman
5. Redstate.com
6. Dick Cheney
7. Rick Santorum
8. Carl Romanelli
9. Katherine Harris
10. George Felix Allen Jr.

Dropping off: Tramm Howard