John Derbyshire made a comment in The Corner recently to the effect that there's nothing much going on in the news lately. We agree it sort of seems that way, but as the Mudville Gazette points out, there's all kinds of news out there. The president is in Russia, the Moore-on "Minutemen" in Iraq keep killing people, the American liberators keep rounding them up or killing them, the Norks have nukes, the Democrats complained about extemism while their leader Harry Reid called the President of the United States a "loser", etc.

So there's news; what's missing? What's missing is debate. Those on the left aren't saying anything meaningful. They're shouting names - "chickenhawk", "loser", "theocrat", "extremist". They're having knee-jerk reactions against anything President Bush proposes. There's no way to talk to such people. It's like trying to reason with your two-year-old when he's throwing a tantrum. No communication is possible.

"Democrat X said today that the President is a no good, theo-con, neo-con extremist and his plans will starve old people, make our children sick, take away a woman's God-given right to choose, and bring back the Inquisition. Oh, and where are the WMD? LIAR! LIAR!"

After you've heard that line 3,000 times in a row, and you've pointed out the nonsense of it 3,000 times, what's left to say? There's still the conservative case to present, but take away the potential to make counter-arguments to the opposition, and we're left with a lot less material to work with. Oh well, maybe next week Senator Frist will drop the big one and we'll be off to the races again.

Update: Linked to Outside The Beltway