Can you hear that?

We just moved a notch to the right.

Oh, how the kinda-but-not-really left in this country fall for a trap every time. Ole Joe Klein makes up some list about what a "left wing extremist" is and everyone goes bonkers. Not because Joe called people extremists for some relatively non-extreme ideas, but because he "misrepresented" the "left". So, for now on, I am guessing we will see a lot of people distance themselves from the issues that Joe brought up so as not to be pegged an "extremist".

Oh, sure, this country is just fucking peaches right now. (damn, I cussed. I must be an extremist) The government imperialistic? Nah, can't be. Cuz Joe said that if you say that, then you are an extremist. Kinda like if you say that we are winning in Iraq enough times, it will come true.

The US a negative source? Nope, that would be extremist talk. We all know that the US doesn't do ugly stuff like torture, start preemptive wars based on lies, and run secret prisons. And, as a supposed role-model of the world, if we do those things, there will be no negative effect internationally.

The administration purposely lied us into war? Oh my, no. That would be a dangerously radical thought. It's not like there was a memo that said, "fix the intelligence" to get us into war. It's not like there is overwhelming evidence that the decision to go into Iraq was decided a long time before the case to go to war was made (or fabricated).

And don't blame poverty on society. No that would be wrong. It's not like millions of more Americans have slipped into poverty since Bush has taken office. It's not like the gap between the rich and poor keeps widening even further every year. It's not like society tolerates businesses getting richer and richer while cutting more and more jobs and offering less and less benefits.

And don't ever bash the corporations. They are obviously your friends and care deeply about the average person. And, it would be extremist to bash them anyway. It's not like they are making windfall profits while the average person struggles to pay bills. It's not like they have been the number one benefiters of Bush's tax cuts (corporate welfare).

And please don't say anything negative about religious people (unless they are non-Christian, then they are fair game). It is extremist to even vocalize disapproval of even the most egregious acts done in the name of Christianity. It's not like Christians under Bush have pushed for allowing pharmacists to refuse prescriptions to patients. It's not like Christians have tried to undermine science. There are many more things, but to point them out and complain would be extreme of me.

In addition to the fact that Joey boy has created a situation where "left" leaning people will feel the need to distance themselves from valid points, he also sprinkled it with logical fallacies and strawmen statements.

"-believes in a corporate conspiracy that controls the world."

How about believes that under the global society that we live in, corporations have become very powerful entities that have a lot of political influence on the decisions that politicians make. And, politicians rely on corporate money for their campaigns and then owe those corporations something in return? I think that is a better description.

--believes American society is fundamentally unfair (as opposed to having unfair aspects that need improvement).

Strawman or some other logical fallacy. I have witnessed this one first hand. For example, a liberal complains about an aspect of health care that isn't fair and a right winger tells them that they hate America. It has become impossible to rightly complain of any problems in America without being attacked with these kind of strawman arguments.

Yet again, someone has taken valid ideas and valid complaints of the government that we live under and twisted them into something they are not. It is a classic swindle. The intended result is for people to jump ship and distance themselves from valid and very important problems this nation faces. Of course, from what I have seen, it is working.

However, Norbizness, or The Left, has not disappointed and seems to have called Joe on his scam.