Letters to the Editor
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Mistaken identity
There are a couple of problems with this analysis. One, which I have noted before, is grammatical. Single individuals referred to in the plural, like "the Dick Cheneys and Joe Liebermans and Bill Kristols," inject rhetorical flourish where it isn't needed. There is only one Dick Cheney, thankfully. The same goes for the other two.
Another problem is in referring to Joe Lieberman as a "centrist." Mr. Greenwald argues that Lieberman is not a centrist but an ideologue of the "right wing" variety. This is all within the context that the mythical spectrum of "left" to "right" actually exists in physical reality. It doesn't. There is no "left" or "right," except in the minds of the model's adherents. The "left" to "right" linear spectrum is a model of physical and intellectual reality, not reality itself.
This is not an idle exercise in semantics. By pre-authorizing placement along a metaphor, perception and analysis is skewed to fit within the figure of speech.
For instance, Joe Lieberman. I don't see him as a "rightist," but as a corrupt and paranoid individual, obsessed with his identity as a "Jew." Again, the identity of "Jew" is a mere metaphor, a false identity imposed from within as well as from without. The attempted identity is based loosely on various factions of a "religion," roughly common ancestry, and historical experience. Because of this false identity, the world is at risk for nuclear war. What we really should be looking at are models of individual and group psychology, and how they fit the egomania and paranoia of politicians and mobs, and what we can do to detect and and treat these individuals before they become threats to life everywhere.