In an unsurprising turn, Charles Johnson of the formerly eminent blog, Little Green Footballs, has thrown in the towel for “the Right” and has gone back to his Progressive roots. To which I say, good riddance to bad rubbish. James Joyner spends a fair amount of time responding to Mad King Charles’ accusations and rationalizations for this decision. While the effort placed by Joyner in response seems a inordinately defensive (or execessively introspective), it is righteous: everything that Johnson has leveled against his newfound political enemies is a mishmash of lies, distortions and misconceptions about American Conservatism.

Joyner’s post-mortem (yes, you read that right) includes a welcome back message from Lisa Sabater, another classic blogger from as early as 2001. In it she recalls how Johnson himself used to be Progressive and that his world view was radicalized by the events of 9/11.

While I never knew of MKC* until 2002 when I started blogging, I have borne witness to his return to Progressivism: his support for government largesse, his obsessive focus on political divisions based on race and gender and financial status, his dislike of openly religious government officials, and his dogmatic approach to liberal scientific pet issues as “climate change.” Like with any Liberal, it is no surprise that he misses the irony in all of his words and deeds.

If I may indulge in some pop psychology: MKC, who’s been around for so long, found himself left behind by the second or third wave of Conservatism to arise. Following the Bush re-election in 2004, a number of 9/11 post-Progressives found themselves unhappy with the Bush administration. One of those people is John Cole of Balloon Juice. While it was fun speaking with Cole in years long gone on the political philosophies behind Conservatism and Liberalism, he has mostly been focused on support for the GOP back then and his complete one-eighty against it by 2005. Cole** and MKC aren’t so much polemics who advocate for a philosophy as they are professional political critics. The majority of their commentary—well, Johnson more than Cole—consists of why the other side sucks.

Never having offered much in the way of policy suggestions or thoughtful commentary, MKC really hasn’t so much “matured,” as Sabater has so ecstatically pronounced, as he has regressed. He’s lashed out at the very people who have left him in their wake. Like a crab at the bottom of the basket, MKC spent much time being critical of them, so much so as to level near-libelous accusations based on such flimsy associations as linking to a site, or having a casual conversation with his mark.

Perhaps the saddest lesson on Johnson’s return to the Left is that the political effects of 9/11 have worn thin on most people. It is proof that we are animals of habit, and that even such a radicalizing event can only have so much of a hold before one returns to his old ways. Johnson is not to be missed: he has rendered himself irrelevant long before this day, and as he joins the political family he left behind, it will be on him to regain his lost glory.

* – Mad King Charles is a monicker given by Robert Stacy McCain, who writes:

If the conservative movement would not acknowledge Charles Johnson’s authority to decide who was and was not acceptable as a member of the conservative movement, then Johnson would not be a member of the conservative movement.

** – In fairness to John, he is a decent person, unlike Mad King Charles.