I'm sure many of you have already read about the "controversy" surrounding the publication of a piece in the New Republic by a soldier serving in Iraq. If you haven't here are some recaps, from dday, digby and firedoglake. The short story is that "Scott Thomas," actually Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp, wrote about misconduct and bad behavior by himself and others in his unit. The RW bloggers went crazy, accusing TNR of making things up, and in their typical fashion "proving" that Scott Thomas was a fake. Scott Thomas turned out to be real, which led to the normal character assassination from the RW.
So, as with most of the insane stuff the RW does I was fairly amused by the antics of the right. Whenever flaps like this happen I always goggle at the insanity displayed - they can't even believe that bad things happen ever, despite Abu Ghraib and other documented atrocities? Does even one piece of bad news bring their whole world view crashing down around them?
I started thinking more about what they're doing and I realized they are actually playing a very deep game. They are intimidating whistleblowers. They may have been too late to stop Pvt. Beauchamp, but how many other potential whistleblowers out there see what is happening with Pvt. Beauchamp and decide it is not worth the trouble? Will TNR ever go out on a limb with even mild criticisms of what is happening in Iraq? Just like with Joe and Valerie Wilson, the GOP is willing to go to great lengths to either get you to shut up or ruin your reputation. And they face no consequences for doing it (Scooter Libby is example #1).
How do we combat this? How do we deal with people who have no shame? Ridicule doesn't seem to faze them at all. Does anyone have any ideas?