I appear in two online symposia this weekend. Unfortunately, unlike the original symposia of the ancient Greeks, these web events don't offer the opportunity to drink to excess. In that spirit, however, it is possible that a couple of the panelists in the Frontpage event did smoke something prior to making their points. Read their rants and judge for yourself.

I participated in a discussion of the Bush-haters on Frontpagemag.com. Jamie Glazov moderated, with lefties Robert Jensen and Joshua Frank, and Elinor Burkett, a former leftist who defends President Bush, joining me in the debate.

I guess my main points regarding the Bush-haters are: 1. The president lucked out in the enemies department; central casting could not have come up with a more repulsive set of opponents. 2. If Bush-hating were solely about policy, far more conservative politicians would have evoked a similar hatred. But they didn't. Like Richard Nixon, George W. Bush offends liberal sensibilities while supporting liberal policies. 3. Hate is usually based on emotion and not reason. Thus, Bush-hating isn't generally reasonable.

Do you visit RightWingNews.com? I do, and will be participating in a symposium there with some other bloggers later in the weekend. It will focus on the election, what states are up for grabs, predictions, etc. The entire discussion should appear on RightWingNews on Monday.