The Daily Camera on Ahmadinejad and “Radical Right-Wing Christians”

Anyone who ever takes a glance at the editorials of the Boulder Daily Camera has come to expect a certain strong Leftward slant. Rather than your ordinary pristine example, however, today’s editorial follows a common-sense trail before veering sharply into the abyss of fuzzy logic and inflammatory rhetoric.

In the piece, the Daily Camera editors criticize their fellow “progressives” who have applauded the deranged rantings of anti-Western Islamofascist Iranian dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as a valid criticism of President Bush. My initial response as I started reading was a general agreement with the editors for the sensible reproach of their indiscreet ideological allies. But then out of the deep bleachers in left field came a closing paragraph that was as stunning for its chutzpah as for its naivete and fuzzy thinking:

Liberal anger at the Bush administration is warranted. But cheering Ahmadinejad’s critique of Bush foolishly ignores the reality of his noxious vision. After all, if men like Ahmadinejad were to rule the world, they’d find more in common with radical right-wing Christians than with liberals. It’s no secret who’d swing from the gallows first. [Emphasis mine]

Perhaps I am being charitable, but I am inclined to ascribe this absurd statement to willful ignorance. [My first thought was: “You’ve got to be kidding me!”] But their statement begs quite a few questions, including the following:

Who were they thinking of as “radical right-wing Christians”?

What prerequisites classify somebody as “radical right-wing Christians”?

What policies would “radical right-wing Christians” have in common with the Iranian tyrant?

Exactly who do you think “radical right-wing Christians” would “swing from the gallows”?

I’m sure there are more questions for future discussion fodder, but that will suffice for now.

It says a lot about America’s political Left if their allegedly more sensible voices would favorably compare any of their fellow citizens with a maniacal, Holocaust-denying, freedom-hating, anti-Western Islamofascist tyrant. Perhaps Ahmadinejad is the Left’s new “Hitler card” that they believe will trump conservatives in every political argument. Instead, the use of the “Ahmadinejad card” only marginalizes any sensible thing they have to say.

Perhaps it wouldn’t be too much to ask the editors of the Daily Camera to publish a clarification… or even a retraction.