Moral Equivalence?

“Every liberal [thinks he’s] intellectually superior to conservatives,” Paul Begala, a former Clinton administration official, remarked on CNN. “Every conservative I know wants to think of himself as morally superior.”

Begala’s comment is of a piece with Pauline Kael‘s famous statement of surprise over Nixon’s election in 1972 because “No one I know voted for him.”

Say What? (5)

  1. John from OK November 10, 2004 at 2:35 pm | | Reply

    No, I’m not going to register. I sill can’t find my NYT password!

  2. MF November 10, 2004 at 2:49 pm | | Reply

    BugMeNot [www.bugmenot.com] is your friend! Read online newspapers anonymously.

  3. John from OK November 10, 2004 at 3:10 pm | | Reply

    Man that is so cool! Thanks, MF!

  4. KRM November 10, 2004 at 6:21 pm | | Reply

    The liberals are mistaken (although the conservatives have a somewhat odd both ends of the bell curve distribution). The conservatives may be correct (unless you credit the liberals’ moral equivalency with regard to everyone except Christians as morality).

  5. Ross November 12, 2004 at 3:41 pm | | Reply

    Making blanket statments about Democrats and Republicans is always going to be inaccuarate about individuals within the groups even if they are accurate about the groups as a whole. Having said that….

    Republicans are morally superior if you use the Bible as your guide, as most major religions do. Look at issues such as homosexuality and abortion and it is clear which side is closer to biblical principles. Now if the Democrats want to argue that the Bible is not relevant to today’s society and that morals should be determined individually, governmentally, or in some other fashion then they are welcome to make that arguement. Oh wait, they have been making that arguement haven’t they?

Say What?