Toward Defining Leftist Intellectuals

Many good things to report yesterday and today, but Wonk is having to earn a living today. So the next best thing is to refer you to a few great posts on other sites that elaborate on some of the things we've been trying to deal with here at HazZzMat.

Our first interesting tidbit emanates from the always-reliable crew at Power Line. John Hinderaker deconstructs a feeble historical analogy recently nattered by long-ago has-been presidential candidate, Gary Hartpence (aka Gary Hart):

Hart compares the United States in the early 21st century with ancient Rome, and argues that the Bush administration represents the end of the American republic, just as the accession of Augustus as Emperor of Rome signaled the end of the Roman republic.

Read about the rest of this absurd analogy here, including a link to the original.

Best of all, however, is John's punchy conclusion about Hartpence and all the other phony intellectualoids of America's 5th-column party:

Gary Hart is sadly typical of the Democrat Party: an ignoramus masquerading as an intellectual.

Repeat that phrase: An ignoramus masquerading as an intellectual. It describes quite accurately the entire American left, from the hapless Hartpence, to the moronic Murtha, to the shallow, vulgar fulminators that inhabit the Soros-backed Daily Kos.

John actually lobs in a lovely coda to this piece as well, calling to mind the open, shipboard promiscuity with an empty blonde tart that derailed Hartpence's presidential ambitions:

For what it's worth, if a neutral observer were looking for a parallel to the Roman Empire, he might well find it in Hart's famous sex-booze-and-rock-and-roll debauchery aboard the Monkey Business, which led to his salutary retirement from public life.