Is There Anyone Left for Pundits to Compare to the Republican Party?

Michael Schaffer, writing at The New Republic, has come up with a list of “novel comparisons for the GOP ultras” who he believes started the whole government standoff. Here is the list:

Colonel Walter E. Kurtz from Apocalypse Now (Ross Douthat, New York Times)

V.I. Lenin (Jonathan Chait, New York)

Leon Trotsky (Richard McGregor, Financial Times)

The Weather Underground (David Horsey, Los Angeles Times)

Maoists (Michael Hirsh, National Journal)

The Know-Nothing Party (Paul Rosenberg, Salon)

Sonny Corleone from The Godfather (Kathleen Parker, The Washington Post)

Osama Bin Laden (Kathleen Parker, The Washington Post).

The Jacobins (David Corn, Mother Jones)

The John Birch Society (Christopher Parker, The Monkey Cage)

Joe McCarthy (Carl Bernstein, Morning Joe)

Occupy Wall Street (Michael Gerson, The Washington Post)

Poujadists (John Cassidy, The New Yorkers)

Conservative American Republicans (Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker)

Major T.J. “King” Kong from Dr. Strangelove (Jason Cherkis, Huffington Post)

Wow! I think there is a lesson in here somewhere about the dangers of pursuing a “useable past.”

Reader Interactions