Sorry for posting self-serving emails but given all the invective I’ve been getting I kinda feel like I’ve got it coming. From a reader:

Subject: I think that I must simply resign from the left

This is the second time that I have written to say that I have been wholly entertained by your column — and with no subtext of derision implied. Good god, Juan Cole, is a simpering offensive little man. I am so sick of my cohorts on the left: when will they get down from the crucifix? Their whining is just so boorish and self-absorbed. I have really had it. With Christopher Hitchens, I may be one of two liberal “hawks,” but I didn’t expect liberals to lose their minds so entirely with the re-election of President Bush. I believe it would be better if

our country had two viable alternatives to choose from — but, it doesn’t look as though the liberal front will be offering up any worthwhile candidates soon. At any rate, your column makes me think that the right at least makes for better company: sensible and funny, what more could I ask? I will have to subscribe now.