1
To attack the speaker, rather than the message, implies (1) the attacker has little or no substance to work with, (2) the attacker is emotional rather than reasonable, and (3) likes to hurt people when he can.
There is tons of this done on the right -- IMHO in the comments pages to major articles, much more than from the leading pundits -- and some of the far-right stuff is (post-election) going as much over the top as anything else. Am sorry to see it.
Great job SS. Keep it comin' amigo :- )
Warmly,
Jeff