Accusations of mudslinging from the dirtiest debater of all

As one who is a regular target of Eric Bahrt’s rants, I find it rather difficult to commiserate with him over his latest extraordinary whinge: “Often my critics resort to personal attacks (many of them blatantly slanderous),” he says. Now just a moment, Eric, I am skipping through The Nation back numbers to reacquaint myself with the personal attacks you have made on me this year and what do I find? Writer of “garbage” (August 6), “ever-obnoxious” (August 11), conflation of myself with Nazis and Ku Klux Klan (August 20), a “fanatic” driven by “bigotry, hatred and ignorance” (September 23), “deplorable” and “white supremacist” (November 15).  None of this is true, and if it isn’t “blatant slander”, I don’t know what is.
Pigs will certainly fly if Eric ever “puts on the kid gloves” but it is quite clear (over many years) that such items of haberdashery do not feature in his wardrobe.
Nigel Pike