Perhaps nothing better illustrates the mental divide between left and right in this country than the starkly different reactions to the Newsweek blogs of new columnists, Markos Moulitsas and Karl Rove. The articles they wrote for Newsweek have already been covered in depth by Noel Sheppard which you can read here and here. It is the reactions to each of these columnists that are quite fascinating to read. In the case of Markos Moulitsas, the reactions from conservatives in the comments section were rather low key and primarily took the form of expressing policy differences. At the worst a few commenters were irritated because they were still under the misimpression that Markos was not being balanced out by a conservative:

It takes quite an imagination or boat-load of wishful thinking to mistake the publics impatience with a lengthly -- and until recently mismanaged -- war for a validation of the Democrat party. The record low popularity numbers of the current Democrat Congress are evidence enough of this.

As much as he claims to know about politics, you'd think Markos might want to focus Dems on running against the Republican candidate, not the lame-duck President.

If you read this carefully you might find a little liberal bias from the writer. what ever happend to fair and balanced reporting in my opnion thies it tantamount to libel.

The latter comment from a reader still not informed that Moulitsas would be balanced out by Karl Rove. However, there were a few over the edge comments in this section but it turns out they were posted by liberals, not conservatives:

Does anyone know about the PNAC? Bush is a puppet! Cheney, Rumsfeld, Jeb Bush, Dan Quayle, wolfowitz, Perl? etc. they are the ones who run the country. Not a person. Bush runs the country no more than I do. He just has more power. Power corrupts. He is corrupt. Read, rebuilding ammericas defenses and search for "Pearl Harbor". They wanted 9/11. Bush got the memo and ignored it. Al Quaida was going to attack and he did nothing.

Contrast these comments with the drama queen negative reactions to Rove's article which sound as if they had they had been posted from inside some Anger Management asylum ward:

Bush is undoubtedly the worst President in history and anyone who supports him should be charged with accessory to mass murder.

I have been a long time Newsweek subscriber - I cannot believe that this magazine is now stooping to include Karl Rove as a columnist after all he has done to destroy the values once associated with the United States of America. Rove should be in jail, not included as a columnist in Newsweek.

Rove is a fat pig at the corporate Republican trough. This trough overflowing with swill of corruption and greed, lies and deceipt, human suffering and murder is consumed by Rove and the rest of the sanctimonious Republican Neo Con Party. The pigs at this farm just don't eat the swill they bathe in it. Then while their mouths are still full of the blood money they talk about terrorism, religion and Christ. When they are caught out in their depraved sex acts they say it was the alcohol and now Jesus has helped them to see the light - but they go back to the same life! One thing I know is that every fat pig has his day before he's slaughtered by the farmers knife.

A big theme among the "tolerant" liberals is their cancellation of subscriptions to Newsweek due to the mere appearance of Rove as a columnist. Judging from the number of people who supposedly have subcriptions that they want cancelled, you would figure Newsweek to be the largest circulation magazine in the world:

I am strongly considering cancelling my subscription to Newsweek. How dare you give this scum a forum to spew his vile nonsense.

Karl Rove, Newsweek? What are you thinking? When my subscription runs out, and at this point I wish it were today, I will not be subscribing again. I don???t need Karl Rove. You don???t need Karl Rove. No one needs Karl Rove.

Why the heII is Newsweek giving this war criminal liar a column? Absolutely disgusting, Newsweek! I'm canceling my subscription too!

What's really fascinating about these deranged postings in reaction to Rove is that they are appearing on a site read by the general public in contrast to the confines of the leftwing blogs where such rantings are commonplace. So what might give the public the best insight into the state of politics in the USA might not be what either Markos Moulitsas or Karl Rove write in their Newsweek columns but the stark contrast in the reactions of the left and right to those columns.

To read the "cream of the crop" of the many crazed comments in reaction to Rove's Newsweek blog, check out the DUmmie FUnnies.

—P.J. Gladnick is a freelance writer and creator of the DUmmie FUnnies blog.