The American Spectator

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Is It Possible To Become A Self-Parody?

By David Hogberg on 8.1.06 @ 5:59PM

Over at TNR, Jonathan Chait criticizes the producers of a new Fall TV show starring Calista Flockhart that tries to portray conservatives in a sympathetic light:

Well, God bless them. Unfortunately, I think they have a ways to go before they understand conservatism.

After showing how the producers misunderstand William F. Buckley, he concludes:

I will say this, though, on behalf of my earnest, benighted liberal friends: At least they're trying….

But where are the right's efforts at outreach? You don't hear conservatives mourning their lack of common ground with the English department at Columbia University. In fact, it's incredibly rare to find a conservative who understands liberalism as anything other than hatred for the rich and a desire to hand over our foreign policy to the United Nations.

Winning, apparently, gives conservatives the luxury of not having to care what the other side thinks.

Talk about not understanding conservatives! Has Chait missed all of the conservative commentary that is a response to liberal commentary? Don't such responses imply that we on the right are reading what liberals think and trying to understand it?

What really irritates conservatives isn't that liberals misunderstand us. It's that they don't really try, instead sneering at us with the condescension born of a feeling of moral superiority--a pretty good description, by the way, of Chait's conclusion.

topics:
United Nations, Conservatism