A clarification:

My critics, I would add, have no sense of humor. I am not advocating blacklisting of those with whom I disagree. I was only, perhaps not too carefully, trying to suggest the different standard it had when it comes to a conservative columnist. If they could get rid of Kristol, whom the paper’s liberal and left-wing readership despised, then I somewhat facetiously was trying to make a simple point: Why not also get rid of Cohen?

Because Kristol's columns were dreck designed to promote partisan talking points, not honest pieces of journalism. Cohen's attempt to see the complexities within Iranian society was an honest one - and certainly worthy of debate. He's probably too sanguine about Iran's regime - but he's surely right that asinine comparisons to Nazi germany are dumb and unhelpful. But my point was that the immediate response to have him fired for not towing a particular line was chilling. Even in his post today, Ron compares Cohen to apologists for Stalin and compares Obama to a "left-fascist."

Dealing with the world as it is with the fast-diminishing resources at our disposal will not be an easy transition. But it will be harder for those who have changed not a stripe or adjusted not a thought these past eight years.