Atrios wrote this as part of his explanation of why the Very Sensible Centrists are full of shit when they talk about trans kids, but it applies whenever they play their “the right has a point” game. Which means it applies to just about everything.
I’m not interested in playing Whack-a-Mole with every dumb thing that comes from wingnuttia or The Sensible Centrists. That in itself is part of their strategy, just a neverending stream of shit to keep us occupied. Every day a new justification for some horror or bigotry.
No need to treat dumb liars as anything other than, even if the NYT and The Atlantic and New York Magazine pay them lots of money.
He even provides the receipts, dredging up a Jonathan Chait piece from 2003, written to chide liberals for dismissing George W. Bush’s bullshit justifications for the war in Iraq.
Chait lies, and some of his lies are along the lines of, “MY CRITICS ARE NOT ENGAGING WITH THE ARGUMENTS SERIOUSLY,” a neat little debate trick which puts honest people (unlike Chait) on the defensive and encourages them to say, “yes, yes, I am, here’s an example of it,” but by then Chait, laughing, has moved onto the next bit of bullshit. It’s projection, and a little trick that helps obscure the fact that he is the one not engaging honestly. …
It’s just a game to these monsters. Chait cares about trans kids as much as he cared about Iraqis, which is, at best, not at all. “At best” is a generous interpretation given the number of deaths he encouraged.