Why do the right-wing commenters sound so similar in their basic rhetorical approaches?  It's like they all went to the same propaganda-training school.

I assume that the "professionals" are drawing from the best research money can buy, so it may be short-sighted to offer feedback.  However, one thing I don't understand about the personally dismissive tone of many wingers (e.g., referring to Al Gore as a "sore loser") is why they think that scores any points.

Do they think anyone who reads a left-leaning blog like Grist will somehow be swayed by rhetoric that engages in snarky personal attacks rather than sticking to the issues?

If not, why is it worth their time to even comment?

is that one of the conservative think-tank masterminds was snubbed by a French girl as a teenager, and has harbored a burning grudge against the entire country ever since.  He has since used his propagandic powers to generalize this idiosyncratic resentment across the rightwingaverse.

What else explains the bizarre francophobia that emerges at random moments ("brie-eating"? wtf? how is that an insult?) The meeting is being held in Germany, but let's hate on the French anyway, just cuz... um... they're there?

Ah, petite Sophie, tu etait si jolie, mais si cruelle...

We've been discussing this in several places, and I think the answer is that the folks you mention are attempting to disrupt the blog and drive readers away, not to persuade them of anything.  Some have suggested moderation (letting authors delete useless comments), some insist that everyone should have to wade through all comments.

I suggest that the disruptive comments are like graffiti on a mural---no one would suggest that you shouldn't clean graffiti off a mural because the graffito artist has the same right to express himself as the muralist.  What I propose is that Grist offer two versions of the comment threads--a "full" thread with all comments shown just as posted, and a "selected" comments thread that lets the author of the original post block out the graffiti.  Readers therefore have complete ability to see the mural with the graffiti if they prefer that, or to see only the comments that the original-post-author thinks advance (or at least do not disrupt) the conversation.

This allows people to post their juvenile insults and comments about oral sex, but also allows others the option of avoiding comments like that.  

"An optimist is someone who thinks this is the best of all possible worlds. A pessimist is someone who is afraid that the optimist is right."