>>> What is it in the fellow travelling mentality, (unlike those that
>>> are active in marxist sects as cadre that can argue about Chavez or
>>> Aristide w/o this naive, sentimentalizing hero worship?) that Alterman
>>> pointed out on his comments on the Lazare letter, of The Nation of 19
>>> fuckin' '39, that you are doing a great imitation of lately, that can
>>> react with ferocity to left crits, not say NRO's The Corner for fryin'
>>> out loud, with this BS about State Dept. Socialism?
>>> Kevin Coogan and Clare Spark among other ex-leftists disabused of
>>> their pwoggie illusions, tell me that as the American Left gets tinier
>>> and tinier, the creeps and the fools have a greater voice. I've
>>> defended you ad nauseum to folks on the Left opposed to this Old, OLD
>>> left apologia shtick, whether they are anarchists like Tom Ward or
>>> Trots or whatevah, but, it seemed like I was mistaken for the last 5
>>> yrs in thinking was a fora for the rational sector of the US Left.
>>> Bye.
>>
>> Anyway, good luck with your future endeavors (I'm
>> guessing bathos, self-aggrandizement and extensive
>> 'warblog' reading will feature among them).
>
> You forgot the drugs. Lots of drugs. And self-descriptions of his "writing"
> style as a cross between William S. Burroughs and Celine.
>From what I can see, everyone here is doing "left criticism".
Apparently, Mr. P. thought he was the only one who was doing so.
MP mentioned the last 5 years, and while his posts have always had a certain tone, it's apparent to anyone reading back that he has become purposefully more provocative in his posts here (and on other lists) so as to provoke hostile responses.
If one is imbued with the Calvinistic inevitabilities of historical materialism, a "shrinking American left" would be not much to worry about. For that, and for myself, the question of how the left, and/or workers movements worldwide are doing is a question of more importance. Looking south of the US, or to France's upcoming NON vote to the EU constitution and so forth, or to Roh Moo-hyun's presidency of South Korea, I think things worldwide are on the right track. Nevertheless, I do not think the American left is shrinking, I think it is growing, at least in terms of how people think, and people from Michael Moore to Noam Chomsky seem to think the same thing. Of course, to what degree organization exists for these people is another question.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The notion that the LBO list is not a forum for what MP terms the "rational" left is incorrect. Nathan Newman and others post here, and sometimes I think they are wrong, or I disagree with them anyhow, but they are usually pleasant. On the contrary, people like Leo Casey seem to go out of their way to be unpleasant. As can Brad DeLong when he sometimes interrupts his economic analysis and decides he wants to get on his high horse. As has MP been recently.
Lance