A few months back I wrote about the change of Little Green Footballs from one of the most popular conservative blogs on the internet, to one that has pushed toward the centre and rejected many of his former allies and friends. In this massive “purging”, Charles Johnson, the creator the weblog, began an unprecedented banning from his site of all those who disagreed with his change of heart. It seemed to me to be that something inside Charles had snapped, and he had decided he’d gone too far in his post-9/11 criticism of Islamic fascism.

I wrote in December:

I think that Charles highlights one more problem with the left/right dichotomy in the United States. The middle ground has been left bereft by the polarizing effects of left and rightwing commentators who use emotion, instead of reason, to make their arguments. Whether it’s Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann, or Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter, the more extreme and offensive the statements, the more people tune in. If Little Green Footballs no longer belongs on the right, perhaps it can become the voice in the centre.

Having tuned in to Little Green Footballs since I wrote that uninformed piece, I can safely say that I was dead wrong. Charles isn’t interested in having a conversation from the right of centre, the centre, or anywhere close to a balancing point on the issues. No, when Charles decided to head to the left, he wanted to become a best damned leftist he could. The site that remains is, curiously, one of the most progressive, left-wing, anti-conservative blogs out there.

Take his recent blog entry on “Record-Shattering Warm Winter Stuns Canadian Climate Scientists”. In it he claims the right wing are screaming ever louder that global warming is a hoax, and refers to people who are skeptical of the anthropogenic aspect of the science as “deniers”. Using this article from the Montreal Gazette, he tries to prove that Canada’s “whacky weather” is a sign of global warming.

The only problem with this is that I actually read this article when it came out five days ago. And the part that he decides not to quote, which is pretty relevant, is the quote from David Phillips, a senior climatologist with Environment Canada:

Phillips says the extraordinary winter appears to be tied to several factors, chief among them El Nino, a shift in the winds and ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean, and the shrinking Arctic ice, which has thinned and retreated markedly in recent years.

No where does the article attribute the warming to man-made global warming. That’s just something that Charles decided on for himself. Back in December, just as climategate was gaining steam, he quoted environmental “expert” Elizabeth May, who said that the interest in the CRU emails were based on an “exaggerated, hysterical claim” by “dishonest people”.

Many of his blog entries these days are the same kind of angry, polemic, accusatory variety, as his rebranding of the popular rightwing blog to a popular leftwing blog seems to be complete.

There’s the same endless accusations of the racist right, the hate on for Fox News, and praise for the “excellent investigative work” of Rachel Maddow, just like most of the other large progressive-left blogs in the United States.

I don’t blame him for choosing to push past the centre and adopt the progressive left as his new domain. A reasoned, balanced, centrist approach was never his style when he was at the forefront of the rightwing blogosphere, so it fits his personality type perfectly that he’s become the new poster child for the leftwing polemics. Perhaps it even explains the reason for his purging and banning and alienation of his former readers. Having the reputation as a giant in the blogosphere, he knew it wouldn’t be difficult to gradually rebrand his blog on the left while picking up readership from the progressive blogosphere.

Well, at least he still understands the value of capitalism.