Questionable

You know - sorry to go on about this, but hey - the thing I don't fully understand is why the ranks of the pro-war "left" think their Respect-bashing is made more convincing by quoting the BNP in their support. For example:

It is little wonder that after the last general election the BNP itself declared: “The future for British politics is the growth in support and power of the ethno-specific political parties like the BNP, the People’s Justice Party and Respect.”

It's unfair to pick on someone who attempts, in the same piece, to distance himself from Senator Joe McCarthy by providing an apologia for proper "anti-Communist" witch-hunts: it's almost sad when the polemical urge runs ahead of the polemical ability. But you'll recognise the argument. Nick Cohen, a vastly more competent hack, uses the same trick here.

If any member of the Decent Left were to explain, say, historic support for the Communist Party in Jewish areas of East London by reference to Oswald Mosley's deranged beliefs in "ethno-specific" conspiracies, you'd think something was a little amiss. Something not quite right, somewhere - you might think. Why Mosley's successors are currently being paraded as if offering the last word in political analysis is beyond me. I can only assume that once you believe the official fairy stories about Iraq, you'll fall for any damn fool tale that comes your way - regardless of source.