cognitive dissident

In case you haven't heard, Right Wing News surveyed a bunch of conservative bloggers for their input on The 25 Worst Figures in American History. Here are the results:

23) Saul Alinsky
23) Bill Clinton
23) Hillary Clinton
19) Michael Moore
19) George Soros
19) Alger Hiss
19) Al Sharpton
13) Al Gore
13) Noam Chomsky
13) Richard Nixon
13) Jane Fonda
13) Harry Reid
13) Nancy Pelosi
11) John Wilkes Booth
11) Margaret Sanger
9) Aldrich Ames
9) Timothy McVeigh
7) Ted Kennedy
7) Lyndon Johnson
5) Benedict Arnold
5) Woodrow Wilson
4) The Rosenbergs
3) Franklin Delano Roosevelt
2) Barack Obama
1) Jimmy Carter

The idea of listing a traitor, an assassin, and a few mid-century [alleged] spies on a list largely populated by liberal politicians is ludicrous. That they included Tim McVeigh [but not other right-wing domestic terrorists such as Ted Kaczynski and Eric Rudolph] and Richard Nixon as token conservatives is another (very slight) nod toward reality. David Weigel at Slate writes that "if this small list and small sample size reveal anything, it's...that these bloggers have a sort of cartoonish view of history." Jonathan Bernstein notes the Southern bias:

What strikes me as odd isn't the elected officials; it's the traitors: Benedict Arnold, the Rosenbergs, Aldrich Ames, and Alger Hiss all show up on the list, although not Jefferson Davis.

Professor Bainbridge writes that the list is "pretty much of a joke. It reflects the partisan passions of the moment, not anything resembling a serious verdict of history." Bainbridge recognizes the Civil War as "the worst act of collective treason in our history," and "gave it high priority" in his own far more sensible--although still biased--list (which even includes Confederate traitors Jefferson Davis and Bedford Forrest). There was also a partial rebuttal (or should that be a "refudiation"?) from National Review, where Jim Geraghty notes that "most of the modern political figures look ridiculous when we compare their actions to some of America's most really notorious figures:"

No Al Capone? No Machine Gun Kelly or the Lindbergh baby kidnappers?

No Jefferson Davis or anyone else associated with the Confederacy beyond John Wilkes Booth? Speaking of presidential assassins, no Lee Harvey Oswald? (Oh, I know, I know, he was the fall guy for the big conspiracy.) Aaron Burr gets a pass for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel?

Isn't Johnny Walker Lindh or Robert Hanssen a more clear-cut case than Jane Fonda or either of the Clintons?

No Charles Manson? Come on. You're really telling me Al Sharpton and Michael Moore outrank somebody like Jeffrey Dahmer, who ate people? Race-baiting and rabble-rousing outrank cannibalism?

No Jim Jones (cult leader, not national security adviser) or David Koresh?

Not one villain from America's business world? No ruthless layoff king like "Chainsaw Al" Dunlap? No Ken Lay? Bernie Madoff couldn't reach the top 20?

Ed Brayton points out that the list "reveals much about the hyper-partisanship of those bloggers. While there are a few obvious bad guys on the list, much of it is made up of Democratic politicians and liberal thinkers with whom they disagree." Brayton goes on to decry the absence of "a single vote for those who ordered the Ludlow massacre or any of the other shocking examples of union-busting violence by corporations and the government," but that sounds like the raving of some pinko who has read too much Howard Zinn. (Speaking of Zinn, why isn't he on the list? He even has the taint of Hollywood liberalism due to that mention in Good Will Hunting. Wouldn't an academic with a celebrity affiliation be like a two-bagger for the Teabaggers?)

I'm not inclined to try putting together a more realistic list, but that doesn't mean I haven't thought about it. Benedict Arnold is a good choice, but he should be joined by Civil War traitors (Jefferson Davis and Robert E. Lee), mass murderer Henry Kissinger, media titans Rupert (Faux) Murdoch, Rev Sun Myung (Washington Times) Moon, along with some hyper-paranoid Cold-War-era anti-Communists (Robert Welch, Joe McCarthy, and J Edgar Hoover), and failed presidents (James Buchanan, Herbert Hoover, W).

Thoughts?