One of the most amazing things about the appointment of the Tiananmen Square Massacre enthusiast Charles “Chas” Freeman as National Intelligence Council Chairman is how liberals have completely avoided any discussion whatsoever of the man’s romanticizing the Chinese Communists and Saudi Royal Family. The debate over Freeman has become a game for these liberals, a game in which point-scoring against the dreaded “neo-cons” has subsumed matters of principle, policy, and decency. Thus it’s all a discussion over the motives of those criticizing him and they have nothing to say about the man’s truly illiberal political views.

Maybe Eli Lake’s story in the Washington Times today, detailing the latest congressional protest against Freeman, will remind liberals of what they used to stand for. Lake reports:

Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican, spoke with Mr. Blair on Monday to oppose the appointment. He said he would be sending Mr. Blair a pair of socks made by Tiananmen protesters in a Beijing prison that Mr. Wolf visited in 1991. He also will send Mr. Blair a videotape of two women from a Darfur refugee camp describing how they were raped by Sudanese forces.

“I elaborated a little more on why having visited Darfur and having seen what the Chinese have done, and CNOOC has done, how the oil money has helped fund [Sudanese President] Omar Bashir to kill innocent people,” Mr. Wolf said.

So the cause of human rights has fallen upon the shoulders of the Republican congressional minority, while liberals follow a script of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” There was a time when the American Left could be reliably counted upon to raise its voice in protest against the likes of Chas Freeman and his shilling for authoritarians. That day is sadly no more.