BLOGGER’S NOTE: In taking a certain columnist to task for his childish column, I have to quote his previous use of a racial epithet. I apologize for using it, especially during Black History Month, but it illustrates my point.

Racist cartoonist and columnist Ted Rall doesn’t like conservative blogs. What a shame.

In his column, he foams at the mouth over how evil conservatives now have a growing parity with the liberal media, and we all know what that leads to. Go here to read it, but unless you have a strong stomach, I’ll read it so you don’t have to.

So you have an idea of what kind of cartoons this guy does, here’s one where he calls Condoleeza Rice a “house nigga.” His most recent work shows right-wing bloggers frothing at the mouth (one has a Nazi flag on his wall).

So keep this in mind as you read Rall’s take on about how hateful bloggers are:

Edward Morrissey, writer of the right-wing blog Captain’s Quarters, boasts to the New York Times: “The media can’t just cover up the truth and expect to get away with it–and journalists can’t just toss around allegations without substantiation and expect people to believe them anymore.” And what are Morrissey’s qualifications to police the media? When he’s not harassing old-school journos like Dan Rather and CNN’s Eason Jordan out of their jobs, Morrissey manages a call center near Minneapolis.

And Rall draws cartoons. That’s some media pedigree. Where do you take the test to become a licensed media critic?

Once you spend some time surfing this ocean of likeminded righties, however, you realize the awful truth: the “populist” blogosphere is cowing the mainstream media even further into submission to the powers that be.

Rall unfortunately only mentions Eason Jordan and Dan Rather in passing. We did not “cow” them into submission. We brought to light that they were lying to the American public. You know, not telling the truth, Rall? So much for your ability to criticize the Amercian media.

By the way, the liberal blogosphere helped mobilize outrage over conservative columnists taking money, and got conservative softballer “Jeff Gannon” kicked out of the White House Briefing Room. Both sides holding the media’s feet to the fire sure sounds like populism to me.

At a time when simply having a conservative Democrat spar with a conservative Republican is enough to earn the tag “fair and balanced,” the fact is that the political blogs are dominated by the hard right.

That’s why the political blog with the most traffic is Daily Kos. Who knew Markos Moulitsas was such a right-winger? And if you’re feeling randy about picking apart my “credentials,” Rall, Moulitsas was my boss at the college paper. Of course, all Rall had to do was click on Kos’ site, but that would take away valuable time from calling the Secretary of State a house nigger.

Death threats against liberal pundits are commonplace among, and essentially unique to, the right-wing blogs. And the GOP thinks that’s OK. Nowhere can one find a responsible mainstream Republican to speak out against this hate speech.

Go to Michelle Malkin’s site and sift through some of her daily mail, genius. Hate speech is hardly “unique to the right-wing blogs.”

And speaking of “hate speech,” didn’t you call Condoleeza Rice a house nigger?

Borg-like, the various right-wing blogs simultaneously discuss the same stories, applying identical rhetoric. They create blacklists and urge their readers and fellow bloggers to threaten and harass their targets.

Yup, Rall, you got us. On the right side of this Web site is a link to contact CBS advertisers. In reality, clicking on it lists home addresses for CBS executives, followed by a subliminal message that flashes “Kill this person then kill yourself” for exactly 1/100th of a second.

But you did touch on something when you called the blogosphere “Borg-like.” Resistance is futile.

Here’s a sample of online comments written by Republican bloggers: “Ted Rall should be beat to within an inch of his life with a baseball bat.” “Every morning when I read the paper, I hope the headline will bring me tidings of [Ted Rall’s] untimely demise. Untimely? Nah. Overdue.” “When I flush the toilet, it isn’t considered violence, is it? So killing Ted Rall should be no different.”

Go to QandO Blog, which also dissects Rall’s column. Through a little Internet work, he finds that the comments were not from bloggers, but people posting to blogs.

Rall shows off his journalistic acumen by defending Jordan’s claims that forced him to resign.

In fact, more than 50 war correspondents have been killed in the Iraq war–of whom a portion were apparently shot intentionally by American troops … Eason had the facts right, but the blogger lynch mob howled so loudly that CNN fired him anyway.

Prove that troops intentionally kill journalists, Mr. Rall. Post the evidence here at Rathergate. I will eat my words if you indeed are correct. I’ll even spring for the “Cravergate.com” site.

Remember, kids, “fake but accurate” is journalism’s new gold standard.

Bloggers are ordinary people, many of them uneducated and with nothing interesting to say.

Nothing says education and provocative thinking like calling someone a house nigger, Rall.

What a maroon. But I am truly glad that Universal Press Syndicate pays him to write a column, and that the Washington Post pays him to draw. They put on display the true face of the mainstream media. And every time that happens, more “Borg” come to the blogosphere.

The next time Rall wonders why the blogosphere is so popular, all he has to do is loook in the mirror.

UPDATE: Day By Day, a real cartoon, takes a shot at Rall.