I’m of the opinion that the argument over American Taliban has been a valuable one, and its inspired some thoughtful rebuttals like this one from Hunter at DailyKos. It’s also inspired some pretty dumb ones. In his review, Jamelle Bouie wrote:
In another chapter, Moulitsas quotes a sermon by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay: “Only Christianity offers a comprehensive worldview that covers all areas of life and thought, every aspect of creation. Only Christianity offers a way to live in response to the realities that we find in this world — only Christianity.” And how does Moulitsas respond to that banal statement of exclusive truth, heard weekly by millions of law-abiding, patriotic Americans? With this comically reductionist conclusion: “For DeLay, only Christianity offers a methodology for daily life, whereas for Osama bin Laden, only Islam does.” Also, Hitler was a vegetarian.
I haven’t read TalkLeft since the 2008 Democratic Primary, so I had forgotten that Armando can be this dense. His response:
What in the hell is that supposed to mean? Markos’ point is that theocratic tendencies found in extremist movements and regimes around the world are also a part of the Extreme Right in the United States. This is a bit more than being a vegetarian, as any C student of world history could explain to you.
Armando might as well be arguing that public works projects reveal a convergence between Nazism and American liberalism, because the statist tendencies found in totalitarian regimes around the world are also part of the mainstream left in the United States. After all, Auschwitz was a public works project, right? Jonah Goldberg, the right’s flagship C student of history, made a lot of money “explaining” that to his audience. Armando might as well be playing madlibs with conservative idiocy.
Armando writes “now we know — liberals can be just as dumb as conservatives.” Right. I’m not sure why we would actively want to be, but clearly Armando just can’t help himself.
