Today the Chicago Sun-Times's Richard Roeper calls us—specifically, your editors, commenters mindless_indulgance, CHUTUP, and oshpotter—out for intemperate remarks made yesterday in the wake of Jerry Falwell's passing.

I'm not one who goes for those disingenuous tributes along the lines of, "Even though we disagreed on the issues, I mourn this loss." I've written negative things about everyone from Kurt Cobain to Richard Nixon to Anna Nicole Smith on the days those public figures died.

But aren't liberals supposed to be more forgiving, more tolerant, more understanding than the religious right? Isn't that sort of the point?

Well! Couple things:

  • We all remember Kurt Cobain's retrograde stands on issues of race, homosexuality, and morals. He was a monster just like Falwell and it was very brave of Roeper to condemn him after he blew his head off. Or after Courtney did. (Kidding, Courtney!)
  • Yes, liberals are supposed to be more forgiving and tolerant. They are actually supposed to bend over and take every insult flung their way with good grace and without retaliation. That's what has made them so effective over the years. We are not liberals. Go read the Huffington Post!
  • One of us was forced to go to high school in the environs of Chicago. It's a bad, sad place, full of people too lazy or too bloated to leave for either one of the coasts, as yes, even Los Angeles is better than Chicago. Hell, even San Francisco is more "cosmopolitan," by which we mean you can get a cup of coffee and not have to bear the stench of humanity all around you turning back the evolutionary clock.
  • You were kind of scrambling to meet a deadline on this one, weren't ya, Rich? Feels kind of last minute. Glad we were able to provide some material.
  • Falwell's gone — don't stoop to his level [Chicago Sun-Times]