<p>For the longest time, as right-wing pundits mercilessly mocked lefties and Ann Coulter demonized liberals as "traitors," it seemed that a cowed left had lost its voice and its spirit. Michael Moore ranted, Gore Vidal issued a pair of scathing anti-Bush pamphlets, but it wasn't until Al Franken came along that the left regained some of the breath that got knocked out of it by the Florida election of 2000.</p>