As political name-calling and partisan rhetoric overtakes the media, Jonah Goldberg casts a skeptical eye on the arguments used by today’s journalists, academics and “moderate” politicians. In his newest book, “The Tyranny of Clichés,” Goldberg scrutinizes the oft-repeated claim that liberals are non-ideologues by dismantling the myriad nonintellectual talking points the Left employs in debates.

Liberals often speak in seemingly harmless cliches that they hope will penetrate our mental defenses. Here are some of the most egregious examples.

To be “close-minded” is, according to the dictionary, to be “intolerant of the beliefs and opinions of others; stubbornly unreceptive to new ideas.” To be conservative and close-minded, according to popular portrayal, is a redundancy—a package deal that liberals can and do take for granted.But University of Virginia...

Liberals typically erupt in outrage if you suggest they don’t respect or understand the Constitution, let alone defend it.  But then they let slip that in fact they really don’t respect or understand the Constitution.

It's comfortable living in a cocoon -- associating only with those who share your views, reading journalism and watching news that only reinforce them, avoiding those on the other side of the cultural divide.

Liberals have been doing this for a long time. In 1972 the movie critic Pauline Kael said...

"They do that because they were born that way."

If you say that about homosexuals, you are tolerant and realistic. If you say it about blacks, you are racist (unless you're black yourself). If you say it about women, you may or may not be sexist, depending on who is manning...

Jonah Goldberg's new book explores and dismantles a number of cliches used in the war of ideas.