The New Republic Online: Mad About You: "It's certainly true that there is a left-wing fringe of Bush haters whose lurid conspiracy-mongering neatly parallels that of the Clinton haters. York cites various left-wing websites that compare Bush to Hitler and accuse him of murder. The trouble with this parallel is, first, that this sort of Bush-hating is entirely confined to the political fringe. The most mainstream anti-Bush conspiracy theorist cited in York's piece is Alexander Cockburn, the ultra-left, rabidly anti-Clinton newsletter editor. Mainstream Democrats have avoided delving into Bush's economic ties with the bin Laden family or suggesting that Bush invaded Iraq primarily to benefit Halliburton. The Clinton haters, on the other hand, drew from the highest ranks of the Republican Party and the conservative intelligentsia. Bush's solicitor general, Theodore Olson, was involved with The American Spectator's 'Arkansas Project,' which used every conceivable method--including paying sources--to dig up dirt from Clinton's past. Mainstream conservative pundits, such as William Safire and Rush Limbaugh, asserted that Vince Foster had been murdered, and GOP Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton attempted to demonstrate this theory forensically by firing a shot into a dummy head in his backyard"

A second, more crucial difference is that Bush is a far more radical president than Clinton wasThis, to me, is what it is all about. People that are the opposite of me think that it is a good thing if we don't change. "If it ain't broke ...." In reality not changing all is changing. There is a certain amount of change that is natural. Granted, I want to force more change than would come naturally. Still those who want to prohibit all change and undo change that comes naturally are just as radical or even more so depending on how far they want to go. Obviously they don't see it that way. Again, everything is just fine the way it is, so don't ruin it. There are a thousand ways to say the same thing. You can't improve on perfection. Yatta yatta yatta.

I believe the greatest period of social change took place during the depression. It was brought about by letting the right have enough rope to hang themselves. This is the only way to permanent perfect social change I think. I know it's the hardest way to go, but surprise, surprise, the hardest way is also the best way. Love your enemies, and be glad when you are persecuted.

Bush has governed as the most partisan president in modern U.S. history.

Earlier this year, a column by Novak noted almost in passing that "senior lawmakers are admonished by junior White House aides to refrain from being too chummy with Democrats."

an electoral college that gives disproportionate weight to GOP voters--the voting population of Gore's blue-state voters exceeded that of Bush's red-state voters

Clinton, according to New York magazine reporter Michael Wolff, said of the Harken deal that Bush had "sold the stock to buy the baseball team which got him the governorship which got him the presidency." Every aspect of Bush's personal history points to the ways in which American life continues to fall short of the meritocratic ideal.

The persistence of an absurdly heroic view of Bush is what makes his dullness so maddening. To be a liberal today is to feel as though you've been transported into some alternative universe in which a transparently mediocre man is revered as a moral and strategic giant. You ask yourself why Bush is considered a great, or even a likeable, man. You wonder what it is you have been missing. Being a liberal, you probably subject yourself to frequent periods of self-doubt. But then you conclude that you're actually not missing anything at all. You decide Bush is a dullard lacking any moral constraints in his pursuit of partisan gain, loyal to no principle save the comfort of the very rich, unburdened by any thoughtful consideration of the national interest, and a man who, on those occasions when he actually does make a correct decision, does so almost by accident.

There. That feels better.

Jonathan Chait is a senior editor at TNR.