Hitchins experienced first hand what happens to a leftie who steps out of line with liberal Groupthink. When he criticized Clinton for perjury and thug behavior, revealing that Sid Blumenthal was running a campaign to ruin whistle blowers, the left turned on him with a fury that shocked him. An old socialist, he has been stubborn to come around, but his apostasy brought out the leftist attack dogs, and he will never forget it. So he occasionally gets it wrong, but mostly he sees the big picture. Ironic that he's a Brit, and almost ALL of our homegrown liberal commentators are too cowardly to follow his lead.
By the way, David Horowitz, who quoted Hitchins extensively in the article prompting this thread, is the bravest writer in America. I just finished his two recent books, he has deep Communist/Socialist credentials, was one of the original Student Movement lefties from the early sixties, helped organize the Oakland Black Panthers, and experienced a slow epiphany about the true evil nature of the enemy within.He, like Hitchins, saw first hand what happens to liberals who dare to question the sacred cows of Marxism/Socialism/Progressives.
Both writers will be considered giants in another ten years.