LEAVE ALLAHPUNDIT ALONE!

OK, somebody had to be his Chris Crocker, so why not me, The Blogger Whom Allah Hateth?

Smitty jabbed Allah on Tuesday, joining the general dogpile over Allah's ill-advised comment about the SEALs court-martial. And no wise man would argue with Uncle Jimbo:

I realize you get paid to say controversial shite all day long. Every once in a while you ought to take a gander at who gives you the freedom to flap your freakin' gums and think twice before you decide that zero-tolerance demands that your betters suffer for some bullshit like this.

Anybody can be a blogospheric tough guy. Real-world tough guys play by different rules and, being personally acquainted with a few of those guys, I try to make a point of staying on their good side.

Nevertheless, let's not let the Allah beatdown go too far. There is hope for his redemption. One thing that must be understood is that Hot Air is a commercial enterprise. It generates revenue to pay the bills for Ed Morrissey and Allahpundit and, we hope, leaves a little profit for The Boss.

Several observers have suggested that Allah's bad tendencies -- his crush on Meghan McCain, his jabs at Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck -- actually make Hot Air a more interesting place. He knows where the buttons are, and knows how to push 'em. As a blogger, when I see one of Allah's hot threads go to 400+ comments, and at least 100 of those comments are some variation on "Allah sucks," it inspires a certain sort of admiration for someone who's willing to be the scapegoat.

Allahpundit is a guy of genuine ability and professional accomplishment outside the blogosphere, and the fact that he has only linked me once in the past eight months does not detract from that. (It's possible I'm exaggerating the persistent non-linkage, but not by much.) His sarcastic wit is a skill unto itself, and I've lost track of how much of my own blog-schtick was actually swiped from Allah.

So I'm pro-Allahpundit, even if Allahpundit is anti-me. "Turn the other cheek," "love your enemies," and all that hillbilly Bible-thumper creationist stuff.

Hating your enemy is arguably a waste of time. Even if you disagree with that, however, there is a point at which hatred of our enemies goes too far, when it becomes irrational, sadistic and unseemly. But enough about Andrew Sullivan and Sarah Palin's uterus . . .

During 2006, when Cynthia McKinney stumbled (further) into foolishness and all the conservative bloggers were hatin' on her, I felt a strange empathy for Georgia's most famous moonbat, even though I'd been hatin' on Cynthia since 1991. So I had a Ned Flanders moment, explaining how being the object of hate -- hey, I've been there -- had driven me to contemplate Psalm 69:

They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty . . . O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee. . . . But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord . . . O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation. Deliver me . . . let me be delivered from them that hate me.

Amen. God has been merciful toward me, and it behooves me to urge mercy toward others. We fundamentalists would describe Allah as "lost," but let us not presume him lost beyond redemption. For who can be beyond the power of God?