Infinite MonkeysOver in the comments section of one of Joe Carter's (Evangelical Outpost) posts, frequent commentor (and LeanLeft contributor) "tgirsch" offered the following parenthetical:
I, for one, have long been calling Moore "the Coulter of the Left," and I don't mean that as a compliment.Followed closely by:
...now that I think about it, I do need to correct my Lexicon. Michael Moore is the Sean Hannity of the Left. Ted Rall is the Ann Coulter of the Left. [emphasis in original](I know, culling gripes from commentors isn't usually our style here, but tgirsch's group blog averages about a thousand visitors per day, so it's not like he's some anonymous troll.)
Anyway, all this got me to thinking. How about an open-source list of right/left parallels? I think tgirsch is way off on the Moore/Hannity thing. Personally I don't think the right has a Moore. Hannity? No. But in the case of Coulter, I think she lines up better with James Carville. Again, I don't see the right having a Ted Rall, unless we open up the nominating to include Idaho shortwave broadcasts or hooded rallies. That's my take. Who are you gonna match up? Robb? Readers? (In a rare InfMonks move, I'll open the comments for more than just the other Monkeys' additions.)
Who is the right's Zell Miller?
Who is the left's John McCain?
Does the right have anyone approaching a parallel to Bill Clinton?
Who is the right's Ted Kennedy?
Who is the left's Halliburton?
Who is the right's George Soros?
Who is the left's Rush Limbaugh?
Who is the right's George Stephanopoulos?
Who is the right's Tim Russert?
Who is the left's William Buckley Jr.?
Who is the right's Robert Scheer?
Who is the left's David Horowitz?
Who is the left's Ken Starr?
Who is the right's Eleanor Clift?
Who is the right's Moby?
Who is the left's Heritage Foundation?
Who is the right's A.N.S.W.E.R.?
Who is the right's P.E.T.A.?
Who is the left's Log Cabin Republicans?
That's the gist, but the floor is wide open. It's not a separated at birth / physical appearance thing. I'd throw out more examples / ideas, but I've got to run my son to a checkup so I can send him off to camp. (Who am I? Lileks?)
Posted by Brad at July 9, 2004 12:39 PM | TrackBackI'll just answer the ones that I think there is an answer.
"Who is the right's Zell Miller?"
Jim Jeffords. Except he did jump.
"Who is the left's John McCain?"
Joe Lieberman.
"Who is the left's Halliburton?"
Global Crossing.
"Who is the right's George Soros?"
Scaife would be the closest, but Soros is infinitely more involved.
"Who is the right's Tim Russert?"
Brit Hume.
"Who is the left's Log Cabin Republicans?"
Democrats for Choice.
Posted by: Gery at July 9, 2004 02:20 PM"Egg-cellent..."
Though I'll argue that Brit Hume was never an aide to a Democratic governor.
Other than that, well done. But let's not limit ourselves to the paltry group that I listed above.
Posted by: Monkey Brad at July 9, 2004 02:38 PM"Who is the right's Zell Miller?"
Unfair question - should be, "Who is the Republican Zell Miller?" I don't think Jeffords is necessarily the right answer - the Democratic Party left Zell Miller, Miller didn't leave the Democratic Party. Jeffords wasn't really every very "Republican".
So what's the answer? Pat Buchanan.
Who is the left's John McCain?
Again, the DEMOCRATIC John McCain. Joe Lieberman is a good choice, yes, but I'm thinking James Traficante before the indictment.
Does the right have anyone approaching a parallel to Bill Clinton?
It depends on what you mean. Maybe Reagan. Oh! Abraham Lincoln.
Who is the right's Ted Kennedy?
Tough one. I'll pass.
Who is the left's Halliburton?
GC might be right. Again, it depends on what you mean. If you mean "the organization that secretly controls everything", then you've got to look at the NEA, ACLU, "The Clintons", etc. The right won't blame everything on a "giant corporation", they have to blame a typically "lefty" organization. "The Gays" are another current whipping-boy. [pun not intended - but now I wish it was!]
Who is the right's George Soros?
Montgomery Burns
Who is the left's Rush Limbaugh?
Nobody is like Rush Limbaugh. Howard Stern is the closest thing they've got, and that's a really poor fit. On the other hand, there is a certain loose parallel between Limbaugh and Ted Kennedy. Maybe we kill two birds with one stone here...
Who is the right's George Stephanopoulos?
Hugh Hewitt? ;-)
Who is the right's Tim Russert?
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say David Brinkley was.
Who is the left's William Buckley Jr.?
You probably have to combine a few people - Lawrence O'Donnell, Christopher Hitchens, and Michael Kinsley of course. Moynihan when he was still alive.
Who is the right's Robert Scheer?
Pass. Not that my ignorance of the other folks has kept me from making up answers...
Who is the left's David Horowitz?
Most of my exposure to Horowitz has been on the Dennis Miller show. Based on that, I'm going to say Alan Colmes.
Who is the left's Ken Starr?
Larry Flynt
Who is the right's Eleanor Clift?
Sean Hannity
Who is the right's Moby?
Toby Keith
Who is the left's Heritage Foundation?
People for the American Way
Who is the right's A.N.S.W.E.R.?
The Christian Coalition, Moral Majority, Concerned Women for America, etc.
Who is the right's P.E.T.A.?
The NRA. Also see previous question.
Who is the left's Log Cabin Republicans?
The Vatican.
Replying to more than one other:
"Though I'll argue that Brit Hume was never an aide to a Democratic governor."
True enough. But I was not going for exact matches. Scaife never has brought down governments in other countries either. I was going for the closest match.
"I don't think Jeffords is necessarily the right answer - the Democratic Party left Zell Miller, Miller didn't leave the Democratic Party. Jeffords wasn't really every very "Republican".
So what's the answer? Pat Buchanan."
This answer probably fits better than mine, but I will quibble anyway. The suggestion is that the Republican party left Buchanan. I do not think that is accurate. I do not think it is deniable that Buchanan has moved considerably leftward on economics, considering capitalism to be a destructive force at odds with conservatism. They drifted apart. I think there is a reason that Buchanan gets along swimmingly with Nader these days.
Then again, that does make him more like Miller too. Because while the Democrat party really has moved far from Miller, Miller is not the same man who was my Governor back when I lived down there. We used to call him Zig-zag Zell because he was all over the place, going with the political winds wherever they blew. He has changed, a lot.
So yeah, I'll change my vote (as if we were voting) to Buchanan on that one.
Hm. Who is the right's Daily Kos? Incredibly popular blog despite having some really reprehensible attitudes (like to those killed in Fallujah)?
Posted by: Gerry at July 9, 2004 07:45 PM"Does the right have anyone approaching a parallel to Bill Clinton?
It depends on what you mean. Maybe Reagan. Oh! Abraham Lincoln."
Oh my.
Posted by: Gerry at July 9, 2004 07:47 PMI just realized- I screwed up when I said Global Crossing for Halliburton.
GC is not the answer to that. GC is the answer to the left's Enron.
But then again, Enron is also the answer to the left's Enron.
Posted by: Gerry at July 9, 2004 07:48 PM"Oh my."
I said Abraham Lincoln for someone else's BENifit. But I was about 30% serious about Reagan.
I actually think Clinton's reign will prove to be far more innocuous than Lincoln's.
Posted by: Monkey RobbL at July 9, 2004 08:36 PMWith Robb's listmania kicking in, and Gerry's question about the Daily Kos, and Enron as the answer to the left's Enron, I'm reminded of the Roy Batty character in Bladerunner: "That's the spirit!"
Posted by: Monkey Brad at July 9, 2004 10:09 PMI'm changing my vote. The right's Eleanor Clift isn't Sean Hannity. It's probably someone like Mike Gallagher. Hannity drives me crazy, but he's much smarter than Clift. Gallagher is much more knee-jerk, which is one of the key attributes of Clift.
I also want to embellish my answer on why The Vatican is the left's Log Cabin Republicans, because I meant it in a more complimentary way than it might have sounded:
The LCR's are Republicans but, because they are gay, stick out as surprising participants in the Republican Tent. Similarly, the Vatican tends toward much more Democratic/Socialist views on economics, and there are a LOT of Catholic Democrats. However, the Catholic leadership distinguish themselves among the field of Democrats by being pro-life and pro-Christian.
So, there it is.
Posted by: Monkey RobbL at July 10, 2004 10:35 AMAnd another thing... [screeeeeech]
The other comparisons are well and fine, but who is the left’s Infinite Monkeys? Two liberals, one socialist, one Trotskyite, and an AWOL “wildcard”...
Posted by: Monkey RobbL at July 10, 2004 01:55 PM"I said Abraham Lincoln for someone else's BENifit."
You know I don't read the comments of this blog. Oh, wait... yes I do!
The harddrive on my laptop went ka-blooey last night. I'm writing this from my parents' house as I desperately attempt to recover the drive. I really have to back up my data more than once a year...
Posted by: Monkey Ben at July 10, 2004 07:41 PM