Don't Go Into The Light

Ward Churchill -- who nobody ever heard of before his comment -- is an extremist by any measure, but has as much to do with Democrats as he does with Republicans. I don't know enough about Harry Belafonte's political views to say if he's an "extremist" or not; he's only in the news when Fox News takes some snippet of one of his interviews and talks about it for the next five days, because Belafonte is, of course, a leading Democratic poltician. Moore is unquestionably on the far left wing of the political spectrum; whether he qualifies as an "extremist" depends upon the definition of that term. He would so qualify under some reasonable definitions, but not under others.

Since I answered your questions, can you answer these: Are Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, John Hinderaker, Pat Robertson and Jim Dobson "extremists"? Wouldn't you agree that each of them has a much, much greater following among Republicans than the 3 individuals you cited do among Democrats?

Thanks for stopping by, Glenn.

Of course, you know the reason for my post - the added "rightly or wrongly" gave me the impression that one or more of the three you mentioned were unjustly placed in that category.

And I didn't cite them - you did.

As to your questions, sure - happy to weigh in.

Coulter - Yes, but it's a performance art for her. I see her as pointing out the absurd by being absurd. Her rhetoric frequently crosses the line, but if you strip away the extreme rhetoric the underlying message is often somewhat pedestrian from a conservative point of view. I felt the remarks about the 9/11 widows were out of line.

Malkin - I don't read her blog anymore, but not because of her political views. I'd have to say that in her blogging she's guilty of doing what most on the right and left do - take the actions of the bizarre few and stretch to fit all. However, she happens to be quicker and more visible than most, and somewhat more acerbic as well if only compared to rightward bloggers. If you need a right blogger to label extreme, I could probably find you a better example but they wouldn't be as popular as Malkin. Insofar as a couple of her views fall outside what I consider to be mainstream, perhaps you and I have some common ground here. But I don't think she's deserving of the racist and sexist attacks that issue all too frequently from the left, either. Disclaimer - I used to read Michelle's blog, and have quoted her in the past.

Hinderaker - aside from disagreement about law between the two of you, I can't figure out why you include him in the list. Not being a lawyer, I couldn't tell you if he's extreme in that area, although if he is, I suspect no more so than you but in the opposite direction. On politics and miscellany, his views are fairly mainstream conservative. Disclaimer - I do read and enjoy John's writing, and have quoted him in this blog.

Pat Robertson - I don't know if extreme is sufficiently descriptive. He's said quite a number of things that offend me, and I'm not easily offended. I think I can safely say that outside of his fanbase, you won't find many conservatives that claim him as being representative.

As for Dobson, I'll have to admit I know little about him other than an occasional soundbite. I took a look at the wikipedia entry on him, if accurate, I'd have to say the Reverend Henry Kane in Poltergeist II was likely modeled after him.

As far as the following of the above versus the three on the left, I doubt that either Churchill or Belafonte have much of a political following. I'll concede your point that the rightward list does indeed command more attention than Moore.