Stop the presses: Andrew Sullivan actually writes something I agree with

Yes, I know. Andrew Sullivan is a bit more liberal than most Conservatives here in America. Yes, I know that most people here in America, that call themselves Conservative, utterly despise the man. Yes, I know most of my blogging friends; if I still have any, hate the ground that this man walks on. But, damn it, when he is right, he is right.

Sully writes:

It seems to me simply wrong to ascribe the bile of flocks of angry commenters that appear on any site that tackles contentious topics to the blogger himself. You can criticize him or her for not deleting them and providing a platform to hate (Ann Althouse’s readers routinely mock me for having HIV, for example, and she does nothing) but you can’t criticize someone for attracting such creatures on the internet – let alone convict him of the same views. To further convict him on the basis of anti-Semitic emails sent entirely independently of him to a third party – and to describe them as “Stephen Walt’s Mailbag” when in fact, it’s Jeffrey Goldberg’s in-tray – strikes me as deeply unfair. But that’s what my colleague Jeffrey Goldberg has done with Stephen Walt in his latest post. He has every right to lambaste Walt for things he writes and has written (although I think “Jew-baiter” is an ugly and absurd excess) – but this guilt-by-association is perverse.

I must agree with the above. This is what Charles Johnson of little green footballs fame does all the damned time; and it is stupid. It is collectivism and it is wrong and flies in the face of what Conservatives everywhere believe.

Sully continues:

And if raising questions about Israel’s policies inflames anti-Semitism (and how can it not among the fever swamps of hate out there?), should that therefore prevent us from airing such questions? The chilling implications of this kind of argument are profound – and inimical to free discourse. Look: I know it’s awful to read bigoted emails. And relatively new bloggers may be unused to the routine bile. But you need to accept it as part of a new media with no filters.

My feelings on both points:

• One of the worst things with having to debate or even discuss Israel and foreign policy of the United States is the Semite card playing buffoons of the Wilsonian crowd. Sadly, there are Jews out there that use their identity to tag anyone who dare challenge their foreign policy position a Jew-Hater, an Anti-Semite, and so on.
• On the issue of the unfiltered New Media; I highly disagree with Sully’s conclusion. This is why I have strict moderation in place on this Blog. I also have a set of rules in place. You violate my rules; you do not comment here; Period. This also why I always keep moderation enabled here. I review every comment, if something does not pass muster, it is deleted. I wish I had a dollar for every time some moron pass through here and made a stupid comment about blacks, Jews and even liberals. Sometimes, I will post the stupid stuff, with the IP address, e-mail address and real name showing; just to show everyone how dumb this person is. But there are some that are so vile and nasty that I will not publish them. Those are the one that are why I have moderation enabled. I just will not give a open platform to hate, period.