So, the Daily Kos has taken a bold stand against his conspiracy-mongering readers and posters:

I made a mass banning of people perpetuating a series of bizarre, off-the-wall, unsupported and frankly embarassing conspiracy theories.

I have a high tolerance level for material I deem appropriate for this site, but one thing I REFUSE to allow is [expletive] conspiracy theories. You know the ones – Bush and Blair conspired to bomb London in order to take the heat off their respective political problems. I can’t imagine what [expletive] world these people live in, but it sure ain’t the Reality Based Community.

So I banned these people, and those that have been recommending diaries like it…

The purge, alas, did not last long:

Update: I’ve been reinstating some of the banned accounts as they email me. Some people wondered why there wasn’t any warning. There have been warnings from others — repeated pleadings for people to ground themselves in reality.

It’s telling that I have NEVER done something like this before. Because this has been an extreme situation. This isn’t about disagreeing with what people are saying. If that was the case, everyone would’ve been banned by now. The myth of the “echo chamber” is just that. A myth.

But as for warnings, well, this has been my warning. I wanted it clear that I was serious, and I think that has come through. I am reinstating those who ask to be reinstated. But the message has been sent.

We’ll see. But good on Kos for finally drawing a line and publicly castigating the crackpots. For now.

Wouldn’t it be something if the Democrat Party took a hint and tried draining its own fever swamps, too?

(Hat tip: Kevin Aylward at Wizbang)

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Update:

Lefty blog MyDD calls attention to inflammatory rhetoric on the right, which I absolutely and unequivocally condemn. It’s one thing to try and make a rational case for national security profiling, immigration enforcement, and vigorous prosecution of the war on radical Islam. It’s quite another to spew dumb and vile bumper-sticker slogans about wanting to kill all Muslims and take away their children. That is unhinged. Knock it off, people.

MyDD’s Chris Bowers then goes further in purporting to explain “Why Right Wing Blogs Don’t Allow Comments:”

Little Green Footballs, which is the only of the five most trafficked right-wing blogs that allows comments (Instapundit, Powerline, Michelle Malkin and Hugh Hewitt do not allow comments) showed why yesterday…There is a concerted effort on the part of the right to prevent this sort of overt racism and fascism on the right from being given any sunshine. These, however, are not isolated comments. They are numerous and they are appearing on the second most trafficked right-wing blog in the country, and by far the largest right-wing blog that allows comments.

It’s time for the sun to shine in.

First of all, the reason I shut down my comments was not because of “overt racism and fascism on the right,” but because of idiots on the left like this and this and this.

Second, you can’t win with an irrational critic like Bowers:

-If your conservative blog doesn’t have comments, you’re part of a conspiracy to cover up the “overt racism and fascism on the right.”

-If you do have comments and you delete the over-the-top stuff, you’ll still be accused of engaging in a “concerted effort” to prevent the “sun from shining in” on “overt racism and fascism on the right.”

-And if you do “let the sun shine in” and allow such comments to be posted unfiltered, you’ll, of course, be accused of endorsing the “overt racism and fascism on the right.”

The sanctimonious Bowers, unlike Kos, has nothing to say about the crackpots on his side of the aisle. He’ll have more credibility when he does.

On a related note, I called attention recently to awful comments at The Huffington Post about Dick Cheney’s heart condition. A liberal reader is right to point out that similarly awful comments were made at the Free Republic after environmental leader Gaylord Nelson passed away.

Instead, I recommend the graceful remembrance of Nelson posted by Paul at Power Line.

Update II: Charles Johnson at LGF notes that Mr. Sunshine Chris Bowers didn’t bother to provide a link to the LGF thread he excerpted comments from; Charles argues:

This is a great example of how far the left has devolved; London suffers the worst terrorist attack in her history, with more than 50 dead and as many as a thousand injured, and people like Chris Bowers are just horrified that anyone would react to such an atrocity with rage.

In other words, react like human beings.

For Bowers, there’s apparently no difference between spouting off on a comment system and actually committing genocide. And if you dare to imply that Britain may have a problem with immigration from Islamic countries, the day after a bloody demonstration of that fact, why, you’re an evil racist!

Shine that light all you want, Chris. Anyone who bothers to actually follow your link will also find a vast majority of thoughtful and well-reasoned comments, of course; on the day you cherry-picked your 10 statements, there were almost 5,000 comments posted here.

Charles is dead-on about the Left’s stifling of debate on controlling and monitoring immigration from Islamist-friendly countries. He also hits the nail on the head about another pet peeve–the substitution of rage with the therapeutic impulse. Still, reacting to the London bombings by calling for all Muslims to be killed and Muslims’ children to be taken away from them is nuts and never excusable.

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