A long history of revisionism

A good article at the American Prospect takes the right to task for its opportunistic use of both history and current events, from discussion of Deep Throat by the criminals involved to ongoing attacks against Hillary Clinton.

But there is another reason these anti-Clinton tomes still appear with regularity, and liberals who criticize the Clintons from the left need to recognize it: The right knows that if its historical interpretation of Clintonism can prevail, liberalism as a project can be killed for decades. That is, if they can convince America over the next few crucial years (crucial because historical interpretations of Clintonism are just really beginning) that the Clinton era was not one of prosperity, peace, and a demonstration that government can deliver common goods but was, instead, one of corruption, turpitude, and a fat and happy people discarding moral values for the sake of higher mutual-fund values, they will have won an extremely important argument with serious long-term ramifications

(A little side-trip into Vietnam-era Cambodia reminds us of how much we can fuel terrorists by bombing their countries, too. Hmmm.) Are we going to relearn the Soviet lesson about power through control of the past by, um, testing their methods?

(via Atrios)