John Derbyshire: Hero

This has been making it's way around the lefty blogosphere, but here it is anyway. From The National Review Online

Spirit of Self-Defense [John Derbyshire]

"As NRO's designated chickenhawk, let me be the one to ask: Where was the spirit of self-defense here? Setting aside the ludicrous campus ban on licensed conceals, why didn't anyone rush the guy? It's not like this was Rambo, hosing the place down with automatic weapons. He had two handguns for goodness' sake—one of them reportedly a .22.

At the very least, count the shots and jump him reloading or changing hands. Better yet, just jump him. Handguns aren't very accurate, even at close range. I shoot mine all the time at the range, and I still can't hit squat. I doubt this guy was any better than I am. And even if hit, a .22 needs to find something important to do real damage—your chances aren't bad.

Yes, yes, I know it's easy to say these things: but didn't the heroes of Flight 93 teach us anything? As the cliche goes—and like most cliches. It's true—none of us knows what he'd do in a dire situation like that. I hope, however, that if I thought I was going to die anyway, I'd at least take a run at the guy. "

For a little more context, Derbyshire has also said the following.
"I am a homophobe, though a mild and tolerant one, and a racist, though an even more mild and tolerant one." The original article is here. The quote is about 3/4s of the way down. His explaination is here. My favorite part is this: "A lot of the people who howl "Homophobe!" at me whenever I write anything about this topic are people who have to swallow a bucket of pills eight times a day just to stay alive. Is it any wonder I have trouble taking them seriously?"

This man still has a job. Don Imus doesn't. In an earlier post I compared Imus to Limbaugh and Glen Beck, and argued that their language was more deliberately offensive. Whether calling victims of a massacre cowards qualifies as hate-speech or not, in the court of public opinion it seems that Derbyshire should be held as the pinnacle of dishonest egotism and hateful self-promotion.

Also, as DailyKos notes, he's wrong.