No one has hurt the liberal cause the way he has. He was the one who came up with the inaccurate but highly damaging stereotype of liberals as Volvo-driving, latte-sipping elitists. Even when he seems to be criticizing Republicans, he's really criticizing Democrats, if you read carefully. He makes all sorts of statements that are incorrect but sound completely reasonable and are therefore extremely damaging.
There are so many inconsistencies in this column. He appears to be criticizing the Republican party, but he's arguing that "Americans" (all of them) are against big government, as is the Republican party. In other words, the problem with the Republican party is one of style, not substance. He then claims that the problem is not small government but "globalization," "technological change," and "social decay," whatever that means. He says the reason Americans don't trust Republicans with "entitlement reform" is that Republican rhetoric is too anti-government. So all we need is for the republicans to tone down their anti-government rhetoric, appeal instead to people's fear of women and minorities, and the people will then trust them to take apart their cherished programs like Medicare and Social Security. The question he doesn't answer is how he will fix the problems of income inequality and education without strengthening any government programs. He accuses Republicans of not offering any solutions, but I see no solutions in his column -- just words that sound good and claim without proof that American values are Republican values, after all.
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