Useful idiots

The term refers to naïve dupes, who are unaware they're being cynically used by those ostensibly on their own side.

It's currently in fashion among conservatives as a handy tool for smearing liberals and progressives (or anyone even slighty to the left of the conservatives themselves on any topic), suggesting, for example, that anyone who wasn't deemed sufficiently anti-communist curing the Cold War was therefore an unwitting pawn of America's sworn enemies.

Interesting historical parallel: Like "politically correct," "useful idiot" was coined by the left to describe some parts of the left itself (with some irony) and later appropriated as a weapon of mass defamation by the right, where most users have little interest in the term's history and even less grasp of irony. Then, like "politically correct" (or Al Gore smears--see below), given time, some on the left will witlessly pick it back and continue using it themselves--to pound on lefties.

As this little historical tour suggests, not all useful idiots are pawns of the extreme left. Sometimes--more often lately--it's the extreme right who pulls the strings (or the trigger). For example, two useful idiots of the ostensible left from this week's news:

Susan Estrich: Erstwhile member of Dukakis 1988 campaign team, now token liberal on Fox News, recently wrote in celebration of her new job in the Rupert Murdoch media empire. Tbogg's summary of her career arc, you may be surprised to learn, is the nice one. DC Media Girl, on the other hand, doesn't even bother being nice, which makes it much more deliciously fun to read.

Ari Melber: John Kerry 2004 campaign staffer, and now affiliated with MoveOn.org. Didn't go out of his way to invite scorn to the same extent that Estrich did when he attacked the Democrats on national security in Murdoch's NYPost, but still a sad lesson, as Sirotablog points out. (Note: Sign in at the NYPost with this email: kos@dailykos.com and this password: dailykos . This ID/password will work at an awful lot of registration-required sites. )

The moral to be learned here (apart from the one about long memories and revenge being a dish best served cold):

Sirota's absolutely right: Any self-proclaimed leftie who takes shots at his/her own from within the Murdoch media empire specifically, or the right wing media machine generally, deserves no comfort, and will receive no comfort--they're sleeping with scorpions. Those shots will be picked up and recirculated again and again, with cheerful disregard to relevance, context, or even minimal standards of accuracy. Once it's out there, it will be used to pound lefties again and again. And again. And it will never go away; at best it will only die down until it's useful for someone to bring it up again and start pounding. If it was discredited last time, no one will remember this time. Ask Al Gore.

And once something's on the Internet, good or bad, it's there for freaking ever, like Pampers in a landfill. Trust me.