This item is about the viability of this site and others in the progressive blogosphere. The progressive, reform oriented blogosphere has emerged as a signficant new force in American public life. Naturally, a variety of established interests don’t like it, or are having had a hard time adjusting to the new reality. Some lash out. Some do it all the time. While my group blog site Talk to Action has been the target of some sliming, we are also affected by the wider culture of snarling political bomb throwers and debased journalism.

Media Matters for America has detailed coverage of the Bill O’Reilly’s despicable comparisons of The Daily Kos to Nazis, David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan, and more. (See too, my Bill O’Reilly Hate Tour.)

Jeffrey Feldman of Frameshop today urges us to contact the Wall Street Journal about yet another, more sophisticated smear job against the progressive blogosphere.

In the wake of the newest Bin Laden video, right-wing journalists have spread the disgusting lie that murdering terrorists–who killed thousand of Americans on 9/1–talk, write and think “like” progressive bloggers. The smear tactic is never to come right out and say that bloggers are terrorists, but to smile and say that Osama Bin Laden “sounds just like” an “angry blogger.”

The result? The words terrorist, Bin Laden and blogger become mixed up in the media chatter. This smear tactic is not just slanderous–it is outright barbarous. But now–even as right-wing journalists continue to push this word association tactic–the WSJ has taken it one step further: adding the words “Hitler” and “Nazism” to the mix to sully bloggers by associated as well. It is a disgusting tactic–shameful enough to merit the Wall Street Journal being stripped of whatever professional credentials it has. And what makes it even worse: this tactic of saying “Hitler” and “blogger” in the same breath was launched on the eve of the Jewish New Year.

The culprits who launched this utterly offensive effort: James Taranto and Kelsey Hubbard of the Wall Street Journal. The smear happened in a video on the Wall Street Journal opinion website. This transcript captures the attempt by Taranto to smear bloggers by associating them with the words “Hitler” and “Nazism”:

Back in the 1930′s a young liberal journalist named Allan Cranston published a translation in English of Mein Kampf, Hitler’s manifesto, because he wanted to alert people to the dangers of Nazism. These days when America’s enemies speak, young liberal journalists cover their ears and go “la la la la la,” they don’t want to hear it. Why don’t they want to hear it? Well, you look at this bin Laden tape which was transcribed and put up on the web, and he sounds like a blogger for the DailyKos. He sounds like a typical angry left American.

These comments by Taranto to Hubbard are offensive to every American, but particularly to those Americans preparing to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. What does Hitler and Nazism have to do with bloggers? Absolutely nothing. The only reason Taranto mentioned them was to follow the tactic of smear by word association.

Read Feldman’s full post and get the contact info the the WSJ.