Knowing your opponent

More guest posting. Money quote:

[..] I wish to avoid drowning in weak man arguments. The majority of the partisan blogosphere pretty much runs on weak mans. A progressive will pull some ludicrous position or quote from a conservative to ridicule with her buddies, and vice versa. Subtext being: "of course we have to fight those people—they're all insane!". It becomes a snarky, smug, morale-boosting sport. One that in the past I've dabbled in often—albeit from my own pox on both your houses perspective.