For the rest of my column in today’s paper, click
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Jessica Bryan came out on the short end of a tit-for-tat exchange with the conservative press and blogosphere this month.
The part-time North Idaho College English instructor was the focus of a nasty e-mail campaign that was triggered nationwide when her disparaging classroom comments about President Bush and Republicans and her college e-mail address were published by conservative Web site WorldNetDaily. Several addressed her with a slang name reserved for female dogs. One threatened to sodomize her. Others hinted that she and like-minded liberals should be shot. Nasty stuff. But Bryan isn’t without blame. Apparently, she used her authority as a college instructor to routinely jab at the current administration in particular and Republicans in general. On the first day of class this semester, according to former student Linda Cook, she told students that “George Bush was elected president because people in this country can’t read.” On Feb. 12, she ignited the firestorm that eventually engulfed her by stating: “I believe in the death penalty. … First, we line up everyone who can’t think and right behind them, anyone who’s ever voted Republican.” Dumb comments, although said with a smile — D.F. Oliveria/Spokesman-Review.