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It looks like Josh Marshall has started quite the conversation...

Ezra Klein and Carpetbagger have both weighed in, and despite the fact that I borrowed Ezra's title, it is
Kevin Drum's take that really struck a chord with me.

Like all of them, I once considered myself a moderate. Like all of them, I am dismayed at the turn out politics have taken in the last six years. And like all of them, I'm amazed at how partisan I've become as a result of that turn.

But Kevin is right... with all the talk of "angry bloggers," why is it that no one has bothered to look at why we've all become so angry? Yes, the progressive blogosphere is angry, but we're angry for a reason. And no, we haven't as individuals always been this way. And many of us would prefer not to be this way. Here's Carpetbagger's take on the transformation:

Still, like Josh Marshall, I've found myself less tolerant of transparent nonsense in recent years. Ezra said he began writing "believing the best about my opponents, approaching the debate as something to be valued and the ideas as good-faith efforts to be considered. But I was wrong again and again, and as my willingness to assume good-faith repeatedly proved an analytical weakness, I eventually abandoned the effort, and my predictions have been the better-informed for it."

I feel largely the same way. On the one hand, when current events spiral out of control, and I see one side of the political divide as responsible, there's no point in pretending otherwise. On the other hand, I could try to maintain some kind of dishonest neutrality in the hopes of maintaining moderate street cred, but if political rivals will perceive this as timidity to be exploited, there's no motivation to carry on a bi-partisan charade.

This explanation captures perfectly why Lieberman, as just one example, makes those of us on the "left" so infuriated. His naive commitment to a false neutrality is allowing him to be exploited by the other side.

As I mentioned a few days back, when your opponent openly equates bipartisanship with date rape, you're either delusional, dishonest, or both, if you continue to expect them to work in good faith.

So yes, we're mad as hell... but we're mad for a particular reason. And no, we're not going to take it any more. You got a problem with that?