http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OTY2OTBhOTYzY2NhZTE3ZWM1MDc0ODA3Y2EyNzA3NTE=

When Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley, Jr.,  I seem to recall a curious silence in the media. Nobody danced in the street, exactly, but no keening was heard from Dan Rather at CBS, as the President fought for his life on the operating table. Reagan just wasn't JFK, RFK, or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., you see. While the nation breathed a sigh of relief when Reagan survived, the media didn't miss a beat. (In fact, Reagan's wounds were far more dangerous and debilitating than was ever reported.)

Conservatives don't get much of a defense in America, even from other conservatives. Newt Gingrich is an intellectual feast for many of us ——— always spinning off new and interesting ideas, based on freedom, not coercion. But when the media finally brought him down as House Speaker, nary a word was heard in his defense, even from "staunch" conservatives (who apparently forgot what the word "staunch" actually means).

Clarence Thomas suffered what he rightly called a "high—tech lynching" in his Supreme Court nomination hearings, and he had to finally turn on his media attackers himself, before the tide turned in his favor. Conservatives never gave him much of an effective defense.

We have seen dozens and dozens of media lynchings in the last twenty years. When the Left draws blood we generally leave our friends bleeding and dying in the street. On the Democrat side, when Hillary Clinton was actually physically approached by Republican Senate candidate Rick Lazio in a TV debate, he was trashed by the New York Times for "violating her personal space." Lazio never recovered from the horror. Almost touching Hillary lost him the election, and conservatives watched and let it happen.

More recently when Rush Limbaugh and Tom Delay were falsely accused of criminal behavior by Leftist prosecutors, they were simply left to their own devices. Rush came out only a few million dollars poorer, and Delay is still in court.

Well, the times, they are a—changin'.  Maybe.

National Review published a vigorous defense of Michael Ledeen, who was just trashed in the usual fashion by some sleaze journo for Rolling Stone. Nothing new there, you say. All prominent conservatives get trashed by the sleaze legions of the Left. (Yawn).  No, there's no news in the public attack on Ledeen. The big news is that  by some miracle, he is being defended by his colleagues at National Review, Andrew McCarthy and Mark Levin.

Ledeen's big sin is to call attention to the Mad Mullahcracy in Tehran, which is even now speeding toward its first Big Bomb. The Khomeiniacs created, directed, supplied, and indoctrinated Hezbollah in Lebanon. Those bombs you see killing children on television today are entirely the doing of the mad theocracy. Lebanon would have made peace with Israel long ago had it been allowed to by Syria and Iran.

For calling attention to reality, Ledeen was duly trashed by Rolling Stone, a pillar of the Liberal Media Establishment. For one thing, Ledeen is obviously a Judeoconservative ... I mean, neoconservative. For another, mind—reading liberals can tell from Michael Ledeen's beady little eyes that he's evil. They just know these things. It's just this feeling they get, with a little help from  the New York Times.

McCarthy & Levin point out that Ledeen has never called for a military attack on Tehran's theocrats, but wants us to support a pro—democracy movement. Even the Left might be expected to favor a pro—democracy revolt against a violent and corrupt reactionary theocracy that hangs teenage girls by the neck until dead ——— for being too sexy. But no: Ledeen was duly smeared, accused of forging the infamous Niger yellowcake document that is even now financing Valerie Plame's little nest egg.

(Why Ledeen? you ask. What's the evidence? But that's the point: No evidence is needed. Ledeen is accused on pure, paranoid suspicion. Don't ask.)

We wish Michael Ledeen well. He may not be sleeping well these days, worrying about real things ——— not the impish tricks of Rolling Stone but an Iranian Bomb. Conservatives are expected to be adults, even if their "personal space is invaded."

But conservatives might start caring about the human sacrifices that are so often demanded by the Left.  The Mayas, it is said, needed to sacrifice at least one young child each night, to ensure that the sun would come up the next day. Today the cult of the Left needs to sacrifice at least one conservative every few months, to assure itself that it is still in control of the dominant narrative in America. As long as they run the media, they won't have to actually think. But the times they are a—changin', and the children of the Sixties are finally losing control.

When conservatives start defending each other, we know that America has a chance to get back on track. 

James Lewis is a frequent contributor.