Progressives Can't Handle Disagreement

WorldNetDaily reported Friday on an altercation at the Yearly Kos event in Chicago. The event is run by the biggest "progressive" blogger, Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos.

One panel, "The Military and Progressives," opened up for questions.

Ezra Klein of the American Prospect, who witnessed the incident called it an "odd close" to the panel, reporting that at the end "a young man in uniform stood up to argue that the surge was working, and cutting down on Iraqi casualties."

"The moderator largely freaked out," Klein wrote. "When other members of the panel tried to answer his question, he demanded they 'stand down.'"

The moderator, Klein said, "demanded the questioner give his name, the name of his commander and the name of his unit. And then he closed the panel, no answer offered or allowed, and stalked off the stage."

Klein said "the argument appears to be that you're not allowed to participate in politics while wearing a uniform, or at least that you shouldn't, and that the questioner was engaging in a sort of moral blackmail, not to mention a violation of the rules, by doing so."

He concluded: "Knowing fairly little about the army, I can't speak to any of that. But it was an uncomfortable few moments, and seemed fairly contrary to the spirit of the panel to roar down the member of the military who tried to speak with a contrary voice."

It just goes to show that progressives haven't progressed very far. They want free speech for themselves and for nobody else.

For a member of the military, who likely has a better perspective on what's working and what isn't, to speak up and say the surge is working is not political speech. It's an observation and interpretation of facts on the ground. But for those in DailyKosLand, absolutely everything is political. Facts and opinions that contradict their anti-Bush, anti-military belief system are not to be tolerated.

This event is one more piece of evidence that the Left can't handle disagreement. Their echo-chamber is sacrosanct, and dissent must be shut down. Heaven help us if the hard-core lefties ever take charge of our country.

Update:

Michelle Malkin has a post on the YearlyKos gathering. She includes a link to an interview of the soldier in question by Rick Moran, who says:

Despite his [the soldier, Sergeant David D. Aguina's] change of wardrobe, he remains boiling mad at Solz for angrily chastising him in public for violating military regulations. If he wants to get technical about it, Aguina counters, two can play at that game.

“If I’m in violation of AR670-1 which is the regulation he brought up, then he’s in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 88 which says no commissioned officer can criticize a government official.”

Aguina also pointed out that Stolz violated the code of behavior between a commissioned and non commissioned officer. “Article 91,” he said, forbids a commissioned officer from criticizing a non commissioned officer, and behaving in the “condescending” manner in which he was treated. “People in that audience didn’t have to see an American soldier be as rude and disrespectful toward another American soldier.”

It all comes down to some simple points: Progressives hate the military. Progressives hate dissent. Progressives especially hate dissenting military.