Charles Johnson’s right-wing war
Why Johnson’s Little Green Footballs is in a civil war with ex-allies in the anti-jihadist blogosphere
Since 9/11, Charles Johnson has taken on Muslim extremism in his Little Green Footballs blog, said David Weigel in The Washington Independent. In the Obama era, though, his site has become better known for picking fights with its former “fellow travelers” and protegés, including Pam Gellar (Atlas Shrugs) and Robert Spencer (Jihad Watch). The “‘anti-jihadist’ blogosphere” appears to be in full “civil war.”
Johnson “deserves credit” for denouncing the “lunatic fringe of the far-right blogosphere,” said Kathy Kattenburg in Liberty Street, which he attacks for sinking into racism, paranoia, and general looniness. But he’s hardly blameless. Building an entire “anti-jihadism” movement because of one horrendous attack is a “recipe for craziness.”
What’s crazy, said Donald Douglas in American Power, is that an “erstwhile top conservative blogger” is attacking ex-allies in the fight against Islamic extremism for allegedly “hooking up with ‘racists and Nazis.’” He’s only helping the “terrorists” and “progressive Republicans” who want to turn the GOP into “the party of gay marriage.”
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No, the “flame war” being waged against Johnson by Geller, Spencer, and company is what hurts the conservative movement, said Michael van der Galien in PoliGazette. Conservatives need more great bloggers who can eviscerate Islamic extremism—all extremism, really—in a “rational, tolerant, and calm” manner.
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