Worn-Out Tools: David Frum Joins Charles Johnson in Ideological Exile

I blogged previously on the conservative schadenfreude at Mad King Charles' final break with the right wing. So, that that's, right? Well no, actually. Now we've got David Frum pleading for Charles Johnson to think twice about his shifting allegiances:

Charles Johnson, editor of the Little Green Footballs site, has written a post declaring his personal breach with the American right.

He offers 10 reasons, but they all boil down to the same one: His outrage at the bad characters found in right-wing media and blogosphere.

And yes, there’s no shortage of bad characters. No shortage on the left-hand side either. Or the middle, for that matter. But why surrender to them? Why let them get away with their claim to define your movement? Why not stand up to them? That was Rudyard Kipling’s advice to those who felt as Johnson now feels:

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools;

These are days for stooping and building.

Look, the Kipling quote's a nice touch, but only at first blush. For all of Frum's erudition, the dude's got to know that Kipling's poetry's probably not the best for hammering home any proud conservative traditions, e.g., "The White Man's Burden" can't be thought of too well these days on either side of the ideological fence; and on the night that President Obama delivered a major address on Afghanistan, some might recall Kipling's own most dour ditty, "The Young British Soldier":

When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier.

That's just great. Pinch me when C.J. joins Daily Kos in saluting the troops with "screw them."

Besides, that last line in the poem, "build ‘em up with worn-out tools ..." Well, also not the best choice of words for Charles Johnson, now being extolled by the radical left for his virtues. So, confer Urban Dictionary's entry for "tool":

Someone who is a complete idiot/ one who is used by other people, and usually dosen't even realize it/ someone who can't think for themselves/ an asshat.

I'm not picking on David Frum. I know he's a former Reagan speechwriter and all that. But at a time with conservatives are doing extremely well in opposing this administration AND winning elections, it's hardly productive for former right-wing hot shots to join with the other side.