We used to chalk incidents like the Stark smear up to “Bush Derangement Syndrome” which actually began as something of a tongue in cheek reference to the sometimes unhinged nature of left wing criticism of the President.

But I think it’s time to come up with some nomenclature that’s a little more accurate – and we don’t even have to invent any clever phrases to describe it.

How about “Morally Depraved?” Or perhaps “Ethically Challenged?” Maybe “Mindless Gorgons” would be the best descriptive.

And for those on the left who so obviously didn’t have a clue what constituted a “smear” when “defending” poor little Graeme Frost who never had an unkind word directed his way by any conservative blogger, pundit, writer, or commentator at any time ever nor in any way, shape or form, allow me to present Exhibit A of what a “smear” actually is:

“Are you going to tell us lies like you’re telling us today? Is that how you’re going to fund the war? You don’t have money to fund the war on children. But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if he can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President’s amusement.”

“President Bush’s statements about children’s health shouldn’t be taken any more seriously than his lies about the War in Iraq. The truth is that that Bush just likes to blow things up – in Iraq, in the United States, and in Congress.”

A “smear” is “an unsubstantiated charge” according to Websters. What possible substantiation could there be to the charge that Bush gets “amusement” from soldier’s dying? Or that the President likes to “blow things up” in Iraq?

There is none, of course. But on the left, this is what passes for proper discourse. Starks comments have received gushing approbation from a variety of sources. A sample:

The Democratic Daily:

Rep. Pete Stark stood on the floor of the House during the SCHIP and spoke the truth to power. Now the Republicans are feigning outrage over Stark’s comments and demanding an apology.

The American Street

I owe Pete Stark a thankyewverymuch. He’s not mental. He’s just mad as hell, for every good reason.

He knows the bully’s a serial murderer who can’t even fight his own fights, a guy who’d turn his back on hurricane victims, relent when forced to, promise to fix things then rig it so all his bully friends can fleece the victims and profit from their misery. He knows he’s a coward, a chump, a lowlife who kicks puppies for fun.

Go ahead, keep pushing the kids, tens of millions of kids.

But you better call your Mama first, dickhead, to make sure her schedule’s open to change your pissy pants.

I’m impressed with both the reasoned rhetoric and intellectual heft of this post. I just hope the blogger didn’t stay up too long past his bedtime to finish it.

Skippy:

would you spineless wussicrats grow a freakin’ backbone and concentrate on the real points; the real isses and not this distraction. take your wussy eyeballs off the shiny objects and deal with the real issues. this administration is hellbent on destroying this country and they don’t freakin’ care as long as their buddies are profiteering.

the man installed as monarch…ugh, president, has no clothes; has no plan for iraq; has no plan for healthcare; has no plan for disasters hitting the country; has no plan for aiding the poor; has no plan for alternative energy; has no plan for the homeless; has no plan for transporation; has no plan for the credit disaster; has no plan to invest in the future of this country by investing in the human capital of the country’s citizens (schip, etc.).

pete stark’s been paying attention, he’s mad as hell about the real things, and so am i. mad about the things that really matter to human lives and not some “falsified” outrage.

What really matters to human lives is human freedom. All else flows from that. Lefties have that concept ass-backwards. Enslave people, make them dependent and you will make them free.

Beyond that, aren’t these the same folks who were “outraged” about something Rush Limbaugh said regarding anti-war soldiers? Using Skippy’s logic, the left is guilty of exactly the same thing he is accusing Republicans of doing here – obfuscating the argument over the Iraq war by concentrating on a side issue.

But that’s different. Why? Because they say it is and that’s the end of that argument.

Carpetbagger Report

For years, Republicans worked to create the opposite reputation. They’re tough. This is the macho “daddy party.” They don’t care about “political correctness” and wussies who cry over words that rub people the wrong way. This is a crowd that calls it like they see it, and doesn’t look bad or apologize.

And yet, they’ve now spent the better part of a year trembling over mild rebukes from liberals. If Democrats were smart, they’d look at this as an opportunity to rebrand the GOP as pathetic cry-babies who can barely go a week without throwing a hissy fit over one manufactured outrage or another. Alas, it doesn’t look like Dems are smart at all — the House leadership is already distancing itself from Stark.

It’s obvious that Benen doesn’t read Think Progress very often. On almost a daily basis, that website takes something some conservative says completely out of context and, judging by the number of lefties who reguarly link to them, create an artificial blogswarm over something totally innocuous. I may be wrong but they may have been the first lefty website to accuse conservatives of “smearing” 12 year old Graeme Frost – despite the fact no had said or written a word against the kid.

Perhaps Benen should clean up his own house before he craps in someone else’s.

It isn’t that it’s unseemly to cheer on the smearing of the President of the United States on the floor of the House. It’s the total cluelessness as to why it’s important. Rules, traditions, manners, proper decorum – these things are irrelevant to the left. “Speaking truth to power” and using any means necessary to achieve one’s goals is.