The odd practice of gratuitous vituperation goes way back in leftist tradition, of course, to at least Ol' Whiskers himself. E.g., from Carl Schurz's _Reminiscences_ on Marx in Cologne, 1848:
"[Karl Marx] enjoyed the reputation of having acquired great learning, and as I knew very little of his discoveries and theories, I was all the more eager to gather words of wisdom from the lips of the famous man. This expectation was disappointed in a peculiar way. Marx's utterances were indeed full of meaning, logical and clear, but I have never seen a man whose bearing was so provoking and intolerable. To no opinion which differed from his own did he accord the honor of even condescending consideration. Everyone who contradicted him he treated with abject contempt; every argument that he did not like he answered either with biting scorn at the unfathomable ignorance that had prompted it, or with opprobrious aspersions upon the motives of him who advanced it. I remember most distinctly the cutting disdain with which he pronounced the word 'bourgeois'; and as a 'bourgeois' -- that is, as a detestable example of the deepest mental and moral degeneracy -- he denounced everyone who dared to oppose his opinion ... it was very evident that not only had he not won any adherents, but he had repelled many who otherwise might have become his followers."
This classic Attitude is worse than a blunder; it's damn tedious.
Carl
_________________________________________________________________ Help protect your PC. Get a FREE computer virus scan online from McAfee. http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963