"Howard Dean is a raving, sinister, demagogic nutbag," says Christopher Hitchens

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein at 8:50 AM on October 12, 2006.

The neocon journalist Christopher Hitchens appears to have finally lost his mind.

Ezra found a profile of Hitchens in this month's New Yorker (not available online).

The writer Ian Parker describes what happened when a dinner party guest said something approving about Howard Dean:

Dean was "a raving nut bag," [Hitchens said]...then he corrected himself: "A raving, sinister, demagogic nutbag...I and a few other people saw that he should be destroyed. [...] "Fine, now that I know that, to you, medical ethics are nothing, you've told me all I need to know. I'm not trying to persuade you. Do you think I care whether you agree with me? No. I'm telling you why I disagree with you. That I do care about. I have no further interest in any of your opinions. There's nothing you wouldn't make an excuse for. You know what? I wouldn't want you on my side. I was telling you why I knew that Howard Dean was a psycho and a fraud , and you say 'That's O.K.' Fuck off. No, I mean it: fuck off. I'm telling you what I think are standards and you say, 'What standards? It's fine, he's against the Iraq War.' Fuck. Off. You're MoveOn.org. Any liar will do. He's anti-Bush. Fuck off...Save it sweetie, for someone who cares. It will not be me. You love it, you suck on it. I now know what your standards are, and now you know what mine are, and that's all the difference -- I hope -- in the world."

Lindsay Beyerstein a New York writer blogging at Majikthise.