On Right-Wing Strawmen

The single most frequently used weapon in the arsenal of your standard right-wing propagandist is the Strawman Argument. Close competitors are projection: cast your opponents as weak on your own greatest sin; and caricature: cast your opponents in general as reflective of the most extreme characteristics associated with them.

Barone's defense of the teabaggers today is riddled with all three:

The Progressives' scorn for the Founders has not been shared by the people. First-rate books about the Founders have been best-sellers. And efforts to dismiss the Founders as slaveholders, misogynists or homophobes have been outweighed by the resonance of their words and deeds.

[...]

Polls and recent election results tell us that racial minorities and the so-called "educated class" -- the people who expect their kind will administer centralized institutions -- still take the side of the Progressives. Most Americans, however, are rejecting the path of dependence and are intent on declaring their independence once again.

It is disingenuous to suggest that "good government" and "big government" are synonymous. To suggest otherwise is to commit the worst kind of Orwellian newspeak in the tradition of Madison Avenue and Frank Luntz. We can do better than that, America.

(How brave to stand up for Liberty! It is indeed a time for all of us to put aside petty politics in an effort to make hard decisions. And, by the way, who wants to take Jefferson out of the text books?)