The vitriol emanating from the Left towards conservatives in this country is exploding like dotcom stock in the first quarter of 2000. Now, with the conviction of former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter" Libby, it seems a metaphysical certitude that Republicans are in position to be whipped and bludgeoned by members of the media 24 hours a day, sevens day a week until the 2008 elections.

Take for example an article written by Jane Smiley. In it, the Pulitzer Prize winner virulently attacked President Bush and Vice President Cheney while actually stating that conservative writer Ann Coulter "wants to incite explosions, murders, and hate-crimes."

Smiley’s first target was the President (emphasis mine throughout):

We know of Bush that he is no longer looking for the approval of us, his contemporaries. Now he is looking for the approval of history--somehow, someday, he plans to be vindicated, and he reads plenty of presidential biographies to bolster his nerve. Talk about betting on a longshot!

Next up on the hit parade was Cheney:

Cheney, who is reported to carry a hazmat suit with him everywhere, seems positively delusional. As the situation deteriorates even further in Iraq, he travels around the world, telling people who know better that everything in Iraq is great, and that the administration's policies are a big success. And you have to agree with him--the war on terror is certainly working, if representatives of the Taliban can get close enough to try to assassinate him--not!

But Smiley’s real invective was saved for Coulter: “Coulter, who drew serious fire last summer when she attacked the 9/11 widows, is back at CPAC using her influence to undermine any Republican presidential hopeful who supports her. McCain, Romney, and Giuliani can try all they want to distance themselves from her, but she is going to stick to them until they all go down together.”

The hatred of these three just oozed from the page: “No, Bush, Cheney, and Coulter haven't learned, and yes, they can't learn. What they demonstrate is that their brand of ‘conservatism’ is beyond reason and learning, and is, in fact, an uncontrollable pathology.”

Smiley then painted a rather accurate and telling picture of what America would look like if the left had their way:

The liberal ideal is that the marketplace would be level, the law would work impartially, and the rules would be the same for everyone. Some liberals additionally believe that historical crimes should be rectified, and that the state should provide the same services for all citizens (in fact, this latter policy was shown, a couple of weeks ago, to produce considerably better lives for the children of Scandinavia and the Netherlands than those of the more conservative US and UK). One rationale behind liberal social policies is that they are just, but another is that they work better to prevent disaster--children whose mothers get excellent prenatal care, for example, have a better chance at being born healthy and living healthy lives, and therefore of costing less and producing more.

Isn’t it wonderful how folks like Smiley continue to advance socialism in our nation despite the well-known failures of this economic philosophy across the globe? But the worst was yet to come:

What we notice among conservatives like Coulter, Cheney, Bush, and some Christian groups is that "equality" means nothing--they feel victimized if they are not dominant and if challenges to their dominance are not suppressed. Bush and Cheney want unfettered power; Coulter wants to incite explosions, murders, and hate-crimes. Any attempt on the part of anyone to diminish their power in any way they perceive as an attack on all of their power. This is what makes them dangerous, in the same way that killers and abusers are especially dangerous when they are challenged by their potential victims.

Amazing. The President and Vice President are as dangerous as killers and abusers. Shocking.

This is how Smiley concluded her rant:

As their supporters desert them and they come to feel more and more endangered, the question becomes one of containment. We have all noticed that Bush and Cheney are more dangerous. Quietly subverting them has become a Pentagon project; whether it can be done is an open question, given that they still have a core of true believers.

Fortunately, Coulter doesn't yet have her finger on the red button, but looking at her, you can begin to understand some of the female crazies we have known--Madame Mao, Imelda Marcos. The best thing about them--maybe the only good thing--is that as they become increasingly ridiculous and frightening, they demonstrate for all to see that they are exactly the sort of persons our society needs to innoculate itself against.

Wow. So society has to be innoculated against conservatism. Is this what liberal media elites like Smiley view as free speech?

*****Update: Charles Johnson offers his marvelous take on Smiley --

Someone who has called for the entire US government to be executed is complaining that Ann Coulter incites “explosions, murders, and hate crimes.” Absolutely par for the nutroots course.

—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Follow him at Facebook and Twitter.