Back in the last days of the presidential election of aught-eight, John Cole, the proprietor of Balloon Juice, penned a post proposing that we were nearing the end of Peak Wingnut because surely the right would simmah down naow once Obama was elected. Surely. He opined:
As I look around the blogosphere, (sic) and view memorandum, it occurred to me that we may have hit and passed Peak Wingnut. Don’t get me wrong, this election is still not over and is by no means in the bag, but as I read things, the hey day (sic) of modern wingnuttia may have passed.
Sure, there is still lots going on – the Obama smears have been fast and furious, and there are lots of current attempts to mainstream nonsense…but it all seems so yesterday. These days, there seem to be more than enough outlets to rebut the bullshit, the media is tired of being treated like morons, and the Democrats for once seem ready and itching for a fight….
…(but) it really does feel like we’ve reached and surpassed Peak Wingnut.
How long did Cole’s theory of Peak Wingnut last? Not even for the duration of the life of that post. He added an update:
Ignore all my questions from above – wingnut is a renewable resource. Peak Wingnut was the shortest lived (sic) “theory” ever.
This was before I even started reading Balloon Juice. The only reason I know about it is because it became an inside joke among Balloon Juice readers. “Have we reached Peak Wingnut yet?” Invariably, someone would ask, “Huh?”, and a link to the aforementioned post would be given as a response. Cole was so sweet and naïve back then!
To the blog’s credit, Tim F wrote a post the very same day (indeed, it’s the very next post) that thoroughly dismantled the idea that we had reached Peak Wingnut. He rightly predicted the schisms in the left as well as how nutty the right would get. In fact, he looks goddamn prescient right about now (the funk soul brother. Sorry. Those two phrases are inextricably linked in my mind) with all his, “the right hasn’t begun to wingnut yet; the left will fracture” keening. He was a goddamn Cassandra of his time, and has he been thanked for it? NO!
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