We often pointed out the amusing foibles of those who attempt to inject Russia issues into the U.S. partisan debate. Sometimes it seems that liberals find themselves cowed into a defensive posture, praising the public benefits of Putinist authoritarianism, while other times it’s the far right which can barely hide its envy and admiration for the efficacy of sovereign democracy. These ideological convictions and disagreements have become especially pointed since the invasion of Georgia. Case in point, there is a small “war of the pundits” going down right now over at Reason.com, concerning who is making excuses for who with regard to the Putin regime. It all started when the libertarian Cathy Young (representing the “right wing” – I know, confusing…) published an attack piece against Salon.com‘s Glenn Greenwald, who had earlier written a column criticizing some (alleged) McCain statements about the war in Georgia being “unprovoked.” Young points out that McCain never described the war as “unprovoked” during the debates, and then remarks that Greenwald and others appear to be confusing their past sympathy for the social ideals of the Soviet Union with today’s Russia: “The Putin/Medvedev Russia is the opposite of everything today’s left supports: It’s a land where billionaires flaunt their $20,000 watches and $350 million yachts, social services are slashed to a minimum, religion is entangled with the state, ethnic bigotry flourishes, labor unions are trampled, and homophobia is rampant and officially condoned.” Greenwald then published a response, and a rousing game of pundit ping pong took off from there. He writes: