Last week, I jotted a small post that struck something of a nerve. Under the heading “Differing Perspectives,” I wrote,

Senator Obama said this about John McCain: “By the end of the week, he’ll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.” That’s interesting. Obama evidently thinks of communists as people who share. I think of them as people who kill.

A great many conservatives wrote in to say, “Obama is not the type merely to share his own toys and sandwiches — he’ll confiscate those goods from other kids and redistribute them as he pleases!” Kinda clever. Others who have lived under communism — or have relatives who have — wrote in to say thank-you.

But I was struck by all the e-mails that came from the left: many of them seething with hate, and many of them — surprisingly enough — defending communism. It’s not that these readers thought I had defamed Barack Obama; they thought I had defamed communism. Nine decades of killing fields, and still . . . well, never mind.

Want to share just one missive with you — it’s from a professor in California, who wrote,

You said, “Obama evidently thinks of communists as people who share. I think of them as people who kill.” That may be why Obama, not Jay Nordlinger, is the Democratic candidate for president. I know its [sic] probably a stretch, but you might want to look up the word “Communist” in a dictionary sometime. I think you’ll find that Obama’s understanding is closer to correct.

Yes, there’s a reason I’m not the Democratic nominee — Obama is perfect. And there’s a reason this fellow is a professor in California (or anywhere else in the country). Sad, inevitable – appalling.