"In Ronald Reagan's chaotic childhood, the imagination was armor. There is nothing unusual about that..." — Rick Perlstein

Look at liberty's greatest historic advances: ending slavery. Giving women the vote. Outlawing legal segregation. Each and every time, the people at the forefront of advancing those reforms - often putting their lives on the line - called themselves liberals.

There's no question that Kennedy was an utter failure as a passer of laws during his proverbial thousand days.

Liberals tend to stress how marvelous education is, in and of itself, and also adore it as a vessel for genuine equality. (That's me, by the way: Hell, I think we should be spending $50 billion a year to make college education free).

Computers have cut-and-paste functions. So does right-wing historical memory.