Brain Fertilizer

I'm getting pretty irritated with politics lately.

Well, not so much politics as the way politics is being covered. I used to be frustrated with politics because I had little opportunity to voice my views, or see my views being given any respect in the left-leaning news media. So, yeah, I was heartened by the rise of Fox News...but even more so by blogging, and being able to share my thoughts.

But lately it seems like bloggers like me are being squeezed out of the debate. And so when someone attacks Sen. Santorum with half-truths and innuendo, and the mainstream news media piles on, and the liberal part of the blogosphere joins in, I'm not all that bothered. Until bunches of moderate conservative bloggers hasten to distance themselves from a conservative...why? Afraid of supporting a Christian? Attempting to burnish "moderate" credentials?

I've been fuming in frustration, wondering if I even have the heart to continue blogging under these circumstances...

...so I think you can imagine my relief to see Ms. Lopez saying what needs to be said:

I just read [the column] quickly, but it doesn’t seem to warrant the outrage Ted Kennedy has belatedly taken to the Senate floor with. If you read liberalism as relativism, as Santorum clearly means it in the piece, what he says makes some sense...

So why is Teddy making such a big deal out of it? Ms. Lopez nails that point, too:

Ted Kennedy had to go back to 2002 to find something? ...I think it's just an indicator of how the Left is going to throw everything at [Sen. Santorum]...

Shouldn't other people have realized this, too? Or is everyone just trying to be like McCain these days?