Telling It Like It Is (AKA I Wish I'd Said That)
Tony Pierce gets InstaVenom exactly right. Courtesy of Oliver Wills (an honest partisan).

Thank you, Tony, for articulating precisely what I've always thought of as Reynold's basic intellectual dishonesty. Now, I'm basically a moderate progressive (i.e., slightly left of center), but I really want to hear thoughtful, intelligent conservative voices (which is why I read Daniel Drezner and Asymmetrical Information on a regular basis). A year ago, I thought Instapundit was one of those voices. But as I read him over time, I became more and more dismayed. The two things I read that really clued me in to what he believed were ones about how the "fifth column" of liberals would lose the war in Iraq and an obtuse advocacy of genocide in the mideast.

At that point, I realized that what Instapundit was really the respectable, seemingly moderate face of what I think as the right-wing hate brigade. I used to feel the same way about Andrew Sullivan (who originated the "fifth column" meme, BTW). But in the last few months, Sullivan has started thinking hard about the gap between the right's worldview and reality, and that makes for fascinating reading - not because he's criticizing the administration, but because he's choosing his convictions over his ideological biases.