It is rather amusing to see that even Berman while waxing not-quite-apologetic about his stance on the war does feel it incumbent, no doubt to shore up his credibility with certain sectors of the political spectrum (not that it will help, though), to take potshots at Bush.

I guess it would be a bit much to expect him to say something like, "George Bush has succeeded spectacularly, despite tremendous and continuing pressure from within and from without, despite a vile campaign of intensive disinformation and formidable lying by those who call themselves "progressive" or "liberal"--and by countries and organizations who spout about the sacrosanctness of international law, while breaking it at practically every turn--in the war against terror. It is not over; it is far from over. And one must continue to be vigilant and take the fight to the enemy. But George Bush and his many allies are to be congratulated and supported wholeheartedly for these successes."

Perchance to dream, though? Anyway, one must be at least thankful for Berman's remarks, if lame, hoping that when the Iraqi "people" come on-line with their comments---comments that one hopes will not, cannot, be ignored (though they likely will), that the tremendous effort to fight evil will receive (even if grudging) vindication.

(I guess I am dreaming.)

Can there be a decent left? If by left one is describing those who have been consistently, painfully mistaken about the most fundamental questions regardng the nature of man and his relationship with the state than the answer is probably no. Would anyone care to renew business contracts with a supplier who is nearly always mistaken in his attempts to meet your needs yet appears to be incapable of admitting and resolving his mistakes? Reltionships may be terminated at will while the fraudulant and coercive qualities of applied "liberalism" are put in place almost over night while requiring decades to reform. The left needs to come to terms with its mistakes.

The criticism of American policy regarding Iraq and Islamic extremism is based on no more than Marxist/Leninist/Stalinist fantasy.regarding the nature of the west as opposed to enemies of the west. If that is leftism then there is nothing "decent" about it.

To get a Decent Left again, we have to wait for all the old hippies to die off; about twenty more years? Should be an interesting twenty years.

Jeff-

The left you or I critique is a state of mind which pre-dates hippiedom and will always be with us. I'm beating a dead horse here but, the French Revolutionists, Bolsheviks, Rationalists and Modern Liberalism are all cut from the same cloth: the inability to acknowledge self-evident human sinfulness combined with the mindset of self-satisfied egoism which supports a belief in one's own unique wisdom. A sense of entitlement infuses them with the belief that they are above pedestrian human pettiness. The inevitable corruption which follows the rise to power is not really corruption at all but more the result of a conspiracy against their good and noble intentions.

Old hippies are immaterial to the problem the solution which was seen as strictly limited and balanced government which would simply limit the damage done by such unavoidable human arrogance.