It’s not about him. It’s about the cause.

First as tragedy, then as farce:

[T]he New Republic betrayed, once again, that it seeks to destroy the new people-powered movement for the sake of its Lieberman-worshipping neocon owners; that it stands with the National Review and wingnutoshpere [sic] in their opposition to grassroots Democrats…

If you still hold a subscription to that magazine, it really is time to call it quits. If you see it in a magazine rack, you might as well move it behind the National Review or even NewsMax, since that’s who they want to be associated with these days.

“Neocon” is a nice touch, I’ll give him that. But since he’s talking about suing people, note this well:

Zengerle has made common cause with the wingnutosphere, using the laughable “kosola” frame they created and emailing his “scoops” to them for links. This is what the once-proud New Republic has evolved into — just another cog of the Vast RIGHT Wing Conspiracy.

Does the Chairman have any proof of that? I tipped LGF, Goldstein, Ace, and Dan Riehl to the posts at TNR; I in turn got them from a reader, who most certainly was not Jason Zengerle. So who has Zengerle allegedly been e-mailing them to? Name names, tough guy.

Update: Charles can’t resist:

I can’t help noticing how much Moulitsas’ conspiracy-oriented mindset echoes the anti-rational paranoia of radical Islam. When the New Republic actually criticizes him, and reveals some of the secret Kos Nutroots Knowledge, the only explanation possible is that they’re apostates under the spell of a massive organized conspiracy. And having been cast out of the fold by Mullah Moulitsas, they’re now legitimate targets for revenge.

Update: Crank on the hivemind:

[I]t really is revealing of the minset at work here that anyone would even try to get not only bloggers but journalists to not write on a story. Trust me, the idea that you could get, say, Glenn Reynolds, Michelle Malkin, Jeff Goldstein, Hugh Hewitt, Mike Krempasky, Ed Morrisey and John Hinderaker to agree on a single approach to a story or, more particularly, to not touch a story – the idea that you would even broach that topic across a list of the top conservative and libertarian blogs – is inconceivable. Despite the Online Left’s insistence that conservative bloggers march in unison on an agenda handed down by Karl Rove, it’s apparently the lefties who are the ones seeking to enforce message discipline behind the scenes.

Update: Jim Treacher e-mails to say he knows who Zengerle’s been e-mailing: Lucy Ramirez.

Update: Goldstein on TNR’s apostasy:

You can’t be on the left and disagree with Kos. Or rather, you can’t be on the left and disagree with Kos publicly — which suggests that the defining characteristic of progressivism is fidelity to its officially-sanctioned narratives.

Update: Classic. From our affiliate, Sanctuary:

Update: Jon Henke e-mails with a link to a post at QandO showing that Kos’s party-line predilections extend way beyond TNR.

Update: Zengerle (who, needless to say, didn’t e-mail me the link to his post) responds by reprinting more alleged e-mails from Townhouse. They suggest a startling amount of coordination among lefty bloggers, and an equally startling willingness to maintain radio silence when the Great Man advises them to.

Update: A useful comparison from Ace:

Notice no one on the right tried to enforce a code of silence with regard to Ben “The Nech” Domenech. Charges were made that right bloggers felt they had to acknowlege and weigh in on, and so we did. Even the tenor of the earliest posts was along the lines of “I hope this comes to nothing, but it doesn’t look good.” The charges were dealt with honestly, not embargoed.