&quot;Comes across as...&quot; is, of course, subjective; to my eye, Chomsky comes across as justifiably skeptical at the outset, and reasonably irritated as the exchange continues. Doesn&#x27;t, to me, seem anything like &quot;rabid&quot; (much less &quot;overly rabid&quot; -- a description that is quite odd, as it seems to suggest that there is an <i>appropriate</i> degree of &quot;rabid&quot;; when you&#x27;ve chosen &quot;rabid&quot; as your metaphor, you&#x27;ve kind of ruled out &quot;overly&quot; being a useful modifier.)