For several decades, many on the left have tried to dodge the designation "liberal." They've called themselves "progressives" (sometimes "pragmatic progressives") or claimed to be non-ideological rather than accept the L-word, especially if they were running for office.
This past Wednesday, however, the Daily Kos blogger who calls himself "Crashing Vor" argued that the terminological tide is turning, and that it's "conservative" that's becoming not merely disreputable but, just maybe, synonymous with lunacy:
It was not that long ago that...[p]ollsters and PR mavens in the Republican Party set out to vilify the word "liberal" and, with the help of old standby shibboleths like "card-carrying," succeeded beyond their dreams...
As Americans were led to shun the "liberal" label, its counterpart, "conservative," became an unquestioned badge of virtue...
...[R]ight now, we may be witnessing a similar, though much more rapid, shift in political linguistics...
With the ascendancy of an extreme faction of the GOP, pundits, pols and pollsters have struggled to find an acceptable adjective for the new, not-so-improved right wing. Since the perfectly accurate "crazy" has fallen into disfavor...the media and political yapigentsia have settled on "conservative" to describe the GOP splinter better tagged "radical" or "reactionary"...
...Yapping heads refer to the "conservative" wing of the GOP while listeners understand they mean "freaking nuts"...
"Crashing Vor" added this encouraging (for liberals) note: "Even voters are coming to see 'conservative' as something negative, perhaps associated with dangerous mental impairment."
