Village Voice: Oh No, Not the L-Word: Reclaiming the Terms of Debate

Oh No, Not the L-Word: Reclaiming the Terms of Debate

by Danial Adkison
March 14th, 2006 6:08 PM

Trading groupthink for group therapy, adherents of the embattled minority currently known by the L-word (no, not lesbians—liberals) gather in a downtown book bunker to strategize, prophesize, and commiserate. And there's a lot of fortune reversal to consider during this panel discussion. In 1964, Barry Goldwater was called "too conservative," and avowed liberal Lyndon Johnson trounced him in the presidential election. Exactly 40 years later, also-ran John Kerry fled the label as if it were a curse, even though, as JFK pointed out in 1960, liberal means "someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people."

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http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0611,adkison,72534,15.html

As in George W. Bush.