Hitchens

It's hard for me to like a Libertarian -- Big Biz ain't "The People" and the multinational corporations need better fetters, despite what the Randroids and their ilk will tell you. But the Iraq war has put many Libertarians on the side of the angels, at least temporarily.

In that light, please check out this piece by Justin Raimondo of the Antiwar website. Raimondo skewers Christopher Hitchens.

I'm proud to say that I learned to despise Hitchens long before he switched sides -- even before Clinton won in 1992. Something about the man just oozed un-charm.

Now if only The Nation would be so kind as to divorce itself from Alexander Cockburn, I might actually start buying that rag again.

In the Reagan era, Cockburn, Hitchens, Michael Alpert and maybe ten other guys formed a kind of mafia that controlled the left. Or at least, they provided the left with much of its intellectual muscle. They were leaders of the anti-conservative forces -- at a time when arch-reactionaries took over the national debate.

In other words, Hitchens and company had compiled a resume comparable to that of the captain of the Exxon Valdez.

Finally, in the internet age, progressives have found new and better voices, while the vile Hitchens has gone to the monied side. Good riddance. Fresh blood means new hope.