I can't tell you how relieved I am that Jonah Goldberg's forthcoming Liberal Fascism looks, if anything, to be even worse than we all imagined. I was totally stealing myself for the possibility that I'd have to apologize for the mockery, but lines like "the quintessential liberal fascist isn't an SS storm trooper; it is a female grade-school teacher with an education degree from Brown or Swarthmore," suggest that it will be, instead, "a very serious, thoughtful, argument that has never been made in such detail or with such care." Meanwhile, for more fun deployment of the "a very serious, thoughtful argument" catchphrase, keep your eyes peeled for Alex Rossmiller's forthcoming book on America's broken, politicized intelligence system. He works it into a totally earnest paragraph praising Juan Cole (who has a bit of a history with Jonah), making it an Easter Egg for progressive bloggers on a variety of levels. All other progressive authors should endeavor to do the same. One day, I want historians to write about the propagation of the phrase, which has proven so helpful in helping them date progressive literature from the early-21st century.
