PROF. JACOBSON: Southern Poverty Law Center Completes Its Descent Into Madness. “Whatever SPLC once was, it now is a bastion of political hackery which, by equating legitimate political opposition with criminal violence, is doing substantial damage to our national fabric. It is time for people of conscience to speak out against SPLC’s tactics.”

Yep, they’ve completely dissipated their moral capital.

UPDATE: Desperate To Connect Tea Party With Domestic Terrorism. The operative word being “desperate.”

Then they tried to portray it as a violent group when it wasn’t, and now they portray it as a racist group and it’s not. To me it’s sad that they would dismiss what is truly an expression of American democracy.

Indeed.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Robert Racansky writes: “Dave Kopel made a similar observation 14 years ago.” Political hacks, collecting “dossiers” and spreading fear. Sounds almost McCarthyist . . . .

MORE: Speaking of desperation: L.A. Times: Obama’s electoral coalition is crumbling. “The swing voters who turned out in droves to support the president aren’t likely to back his party in November. Even core supporters express unhappiness with Democrats.” They go with the smears because that’s all they’ve got left.