Bush: Neoliberal?

First off, please be aware that Richard Cohen is as well-liked by liberals as Kevin Phillips is by conservatives.

See, e.g., Cohen's column being described as "beyond pathetic" at TalkingPointsMemo today.
http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2007/may/29/wapos_richard_cohen_bush_is_a_neo_liberal

Also, how dumb is that column.

It takes exaggerated, negative stereotypes of liberals, and says that Bush embodies those policies. For the record, liberals do not support government expansion and spending for its own sake, regardless of whether it's good policy.

This column is akin to writing, "he cheated on his wife with the secretary, he makes a lot of money, he plays golf-- and best of all, he's white! Conservatives, meet your new standard-bearer, Bill Clinton!"

Of course the substance of the column is stupid. What's important is that Cohen thought it was worth writing. Keep in mind his audience. Cohen is writing exclusively for other liberals and is writing for them in their language.

Thanks for reading and responding. I'm not sure whether we're disagreeing.

It's fair enough to take this column as evidence for the proposition that Bush is not a conservative, drawing on some of Cohen's examples. It is not fair to take it as evidence that Bush's actions, however unconservative, have been liberal.

My point in pasting that TPM link (sorry about that, it messed up the format a bit) was that Cohen is not a reliable barometer of what liberals think.

I compared Cohen to Kevin Phillips above, but the comparison is inexact. Phillips is more of a turncoat. Cohen and Joe Klein get a lot of mileage from saying things to irritate liberals-- see the comments at Time's Swampland blog, or on Cohen's column today, for how liberals react to their columns.

All columnists write things to play devil's advocate and provoke debate--I did that just recently myself with my columns about Hillary Clinton being a conservative. But such efforts would not work if there wasn't a core of truth at their base, otherwise people would just ignore them.

Well, if that were the case, there would be no such thing as trolling!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_troll

"a troll is someone who intentionally posts derogatory or otherwise inflammatory messages... to bait users into responding."

Liberals tend to describe Richard Cohen, and Joe Klein, as "concern trolls."

Sorry I'm a little late-- and two days is eons in Internet Time. Thanks again for reading and responding.