Jonah Goldberg Says- Kos Loves Grover Norquist

Waiter, there seems to be a neocon in my paper. Take this away.

The AJC today has an op-ed piece by the grossly untalented Jonah Goldberg. Jonah tries to make the bizarre argument that lefty bloggers, and Markos specifically, want to be just like the Republic Party. Why? Because the New Republic admits this. Then, in classic concern troll mode, he tells us it would be bad for us.

The crack he tries to share with us below the fold:

The first give-away that a load of poo is about to be unloaded on the reader comes right at the start-

an alternately brilliant and tendentious cover story in the latest New Republic

OK. So you and I know that all that follows is garbage. But the average Georgia reader likely does not. J.G. follows with the jist of the story, written by Johnathan Chait:

Chait persuasively argues that the netroots —- Democratic activist blogs and other online communities —- are transforming the Democratic Party by championing a new emphasis on partisan fervor and political unity.

Then he ties it to Markos.

Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, the owner of the biggest lefty blog on the block —- Daily Kos —- is their standard-bearer. He prides himself on being an organizer, not an idea man. "They want to make me into the latest Jesse Jackson, but I'm not ideological at all," he told Washington Monthly magazine. "I'm just all about winning."

But then no more directly about kos. Instead, the bait-and-switch immediately relies on TNR and a quote from someone other than Markos to tell what kos stands for-

To this end, Chait writes that a major netroots hero is none other than Grover Norquist, the oddly colorful —- or colorfully odd —- right-wing activist and president of Americans for Tax Reform who has been one of the most effective (and profitable) organizers of right-of-center interest groups. Chait quotes from prominent netroots figure Matt Stoller's blog: "To the extent that I have a political hero, it's probably Grover Norquist, not Ralph Nader."

Because really, if Markos has told us anything, its that Stoller and the New Republic speak for him. Lord knows there's no way to get a quote from the reclusive Markos.

Then, after explaining that all us lefty's want to be just like the GOP, he warns us that we are missing the intellectual basis that makes Repugs so successful.

The conservative movement was a response to generations of growing statism at home and abroad. From the Progressive era to the Great Society, government seemed to be expanding in tandem with the threat of communism. The conservative project was first and foremost an intellectual one because, as Hoover Institution fellow Thomas Sowell has written, it takes an ideology to beat an ideology.

Then he just becomes insulting, speaking of us as though we are all 18 year old kids on a lark.

The netroots crowd seems determined to skip the serious argument part and settle on the idea that liberals should simply all believe the same thing, first and foremost on the Iraq war. As important as Iraq is, it's hardly a serious substitute for the intellectual catalyst of World War II and the Cold War. Netrooters may have a terrible shock in store for them when the war is over and their reason for existence is too.

Should someone let J.G. in on the secret that kos was here BEFORE BushCo invaded Iraq? Oh, he then offers the funniest thing I've read in a while:

If conservatism were nothing more than a noise machine, that would be a shame. (I don't buy it.)

Then, the big finish- concern trolling on our behalf:

Netrooters want it both ways. The GOP is evil and intellectually bankrupt because it doesn't care about anything but winning. But it would be the greatest thing in the world if Democrats could be just like Republicans!

That doesn't sound like a winning strategy to me.

Thanks for the tip Jonah. Don't call us, we'll call you.