YOUR OH-SO-PERCEPTIVE PUNDIT CLASS

Here's the beginning of the last paragraph of Nicholas Kristof's newest New York Times column (available free here):

Now that the Christian Right has largely retreated from the culture wars....

What? Excuse me?

Is he living in the same country I am?

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(Cf. David Brooks's assertion in 2003 that "we've moved from the age of the culture wars" and that "the furious arguments we used to have about cultural and social issues ... have died down." Arguing that we can all stop worrying about right-wing culture warriors allowed Brooks to say in that column that the people we should really be afraid of are nasty, unhinged lefty Bush haters. Kristof is worried about "evangelical atheists" who might bring us "irreligious intolerance." Yeah, we're the gathering threat; pay no attention to all those people who think using a Koran in a swearing-in ceremony ought to be illegal and that saying "Happy Holidays" at the checkout counter is grounds for a boycott.)