Wow. Here it is only 10 days into the New Year, and I already have a lifetime supply of hate mail. I hit the muthaload of invective, a deep vein of toxic bitterness that seethes and boils like Lucifer's Olympic-size pool of fire.

It was a column about Bill Clinton, of course.

On Monday I wrote about a new effort to build a "Counter Clinton Lie-brary" to straighten out all his tangled lies - and up through the ground came a-bubblin' crude. Mail, that is.

Nearly 1,000 e-mails by Tuesday. A relentless gusher of ugly insults that was like The Greatest Hits of Impeachment Excuses: "It's a lie." "They all do It." "It's old news." "He gave us prosperity."

My column was posted on national Web sites, and the Bill Clinton Bucket Brigade sprang into action to throw enraged denials on any spark of criticism. Such as:

Creative invective

"Liar, liar, your pants are on fire. Shame on you. Sincerely, Rosamond Fogg, Hermosa Beach, Calif."

That was a kind example. Most were more like this one from (really) Picayune, Miss.:

"YOU ARE A TYPICAL SICK RIGHT WING HATE MONGERING SHALLOW SHELL OF A HUMAN."

Or this: "You are a pathetic person. You right-wing nuts can't stand it that Bill Clinton was a great President but his private life was one to be desired. Leave him alone!!!!"

And, "Are you journalist or buffoon? The latter suits you more. All you are interested in is trashing others while exhibiting no morals of your own. Why would the Philadelphia Inquirer employ a fool like you?"

Good question. I didn't even know there was another fool like me working in Philadelphia.

The e-mail subject lines provide a year's supply of insults: "You are a liar." "You stink." "Get a job you fascist pig." "Get a life." "Get over it."

Another good question: Why are devoted Clintonites always telling the rest of us to "get over" the embarrassment they inflicted on the rest of the country? Never mind. Logic is irrelevant. As Ann Coulter says in her book Slander, without name-calling, rabid liberals would be speechless.

The story is true

My column cited a report six months ago by the Government Accounting Office, detailing how the Clinton gang trashed the White House on their way out.

"Lies," the e-mailers howled. The "media" long ago dismissed it and Democrats all said it was untrue. They must be right.

But they're wrong. A tidbit from the GAO report (GAO-02-360): "The director of the Office of Administration (OA), who had been present during five previous transitions, said that he was `stunned' by what he saw during the 2001 transition and had not seen anything similar during previous ones."

I have to admit, watching the reaction to stuff like that is an almost irresistible temptation, like whacking a beehive with a stick or kicking over a swarming anthill.

I was also tempted to return the hate mail. Nah. Then I'd be no better than the nitwits who left obscenities in the White House - and my mailbox.

E-mail pbronson@enquirer.com or call 768-8301.