This Is Elevated Discourse?

In his commentary with the same title as this post Peter Wehner speaks to this Jim Wallis statement over at Wallis' God's Politics blog on his Sojourners website:

"I will leave the judgment of Dick Cheney’s soul to God, who alone is in the position to render that judgment on all of us. But I will say the vision of America that Cheney offers is decidedly evil, and has helped to spread even more evil around the world. Cheney represents the dark side of America, a view of the world dominated by fear and self-righteousness—always a deadly combination."

Wallis goes to further characterize Cheney's position on terrorism as something "evil". Here is how Wehner responds:

Where to begin? Perhaps with the observation that Wallis routinely engages in this kind of shallow, ad hominem, and hypocritical arguments (my previous critiques of Wallis can be found here and here). I say hypocritical because Wallis has chastised James Dobson and Tom Minnery for using language that is “simply inappropriate for religious leaders to use in an already divisive political campaign. We can agree or disagree on both biblical and political viewpoints, but our language should be respectful and civil, not attacking motives and beliefs.”
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The second thing is that, if the tables were turned, and a figure from the “religious right” who had access to the president and routinely used the kind of ugly rhetoric Wallis does, you can bet that the press would turn him into a well-known figure of scorn and ridicule.

I found Wallis' rhetoric to be a bit disappointing. I think that it is yet another example of how this kind of hyperbole is not limited to the religious right.