Coyne disables comments

While I rarely agree with journalist-cum-blogger Andrew Coyne, he has, with only one exception, always impressed me with his well-considered arguments and clear, focused writing. The comments section of his blog, however, has become a Canadian Free Republic, a haven for the right-wing fringe to spout intolerant, irrational garbage. Well, apparently, Coyne has had enough of this, and is disabling comments:

The comments have frankly gone to seed, overrun with western separatists, Bilderberg conspiracy theorists and various other cranks. Last night I spent several hours weeding out a quite disgusting thread speculating on the sexual preferences of various politicians, and the secret gay network that had supposedly infiltrated the Canadian government, and I have no wish to ever soil my hands that way again. [...] I have no desire for this site to serve as a clubhouse for hard-right wackos, usually anonymous, with way too much time on their hands.

He'll almost certainly be getting his share of hate mail, but I for one support this measure. For someone who has distinguished himself as a rational, thinking conservative, it has to have been increasingly uncomfortable for him to have people like that riding along on his coattails. Good for him.