Legal Commentary

Glenn Reynolds, the Beauchamp Brogan Distinguished Professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law, linked approvingly to a post by Dana Loesch, a conservative pundit, on the Breitbart "Big Government" website:

The Socialists Won a Battle; Now It's Our Turn

Yesterday was my son?s 9th birthday and for his present, the government jacked his future. As he sat in the floor and happily opened his gifts, Bart Stupak appeared on television and revealed that he?d sold his soul. The joy was sucked from the room, but my son didn?t notice ? thank God for innocence. The faces of the adults in the room fell as Stupak held his presser, as Pelosi gained another YES vote for health control.

The scene was an eerie replay for me; eight-and-a-half years ago that same boy sat in his bouncy seat while cooing and kicking his legs as his father and I watched the twin towers crumble to dust on live television. The feeling was the same.

A lot of people ask why I and others do what we do.

The scene I just described is my answer.

Yes, this is a law prof blog, and no, I don't really think this is the place to complain about this policy or that commentator.  I know some folks have complained when politics overruns us law blogs, and I generally agree.  But you know, I just feel that at this point, things have gone too far and I need to say something.

A law professor at a state school has linked approvingly to someone who not only says that the health care reform bill is socialist, but compares its passage -- in its emotional resonance -- to the feeling she had when the twin towers fell.

I'm sorry, but this pushes the crazy too far for me.  And I worry about what will happen next.  I hope that those who post things like this -- and link to them -- will reconsider their rhetoric before the well of public discourse has become too poisoned.