Jeff Goldstein's Protein Wisdom was one of the first blogs to link to mine, after I went online in the Blogosphere's Jurassic period back in early 2002. And I had the pleasure of meeting Jeff and his better half in Denver a couple of years later. So this ugly, ad hominem attack coupled with a more or less simultaneous denial of service attack on his blog (which is currently still 404-ing as I'm posting this) against him yesterday was horrific to watch. Power Line and Michelle Malkin have many more details.

Update: Michelle's just posted an update. Afterhis recent Viagra incident, Rush Limbaugh said, somewhat as a throwaway line, "I'll tell you, the election cycles of '06 and '08, especially '08, I think it's going to be one of the most vicious and filthy of our lifetimes". With incidents such as the attack on Jeff, and the "special delivery" to the offices of Colorado Republican Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave (also allegedly by an academic, for what it's worth), looks like the first salvos of '06 have begun, long before their typical September/October appearance in election years past.