The author seems to be suggesting that we should view the Times' editorial board as composed of a bunch of adolescent Commie queers.
Not a bad way of looking at it. Not bad, at all...
Actually, this guy has the same insight that a conservative editorial board editor I exchange emails with shares.
He said liberals try to shoehorn the square pegs of all modern events into one of four round holes. The civil rights movement, Vietnam, Watergate, and much later, Florida in 2000.
And his assessment of the situation was blunt. In his opinion, the only cure for the Vietnam-era liberal who had not grown up was death. They will carry these views to the grave and we cannot do anything to change them.
And quite frankly, I have tried on liberal boards to talk sense to them, and I have to agree. The younger liberals are actually open to reason. But the older ones, furgeddaboutit. Their views are impervious to facts and common sense. They will keep pounding on those square pegs to make them fit - and when the pounding fails, instead of learning from such, they will just go to the next square peg and pound on it.
This is my own thinking. I think we have a lot of people who have either never reformed or have not made amends in denial. They cannot admit that they goofed up their own lives and seek absolution on the false basis that "everybody does it." They have been divorced, passed over for promotions in affirmative action enviornments and otherwise deprived of their due. Like Hilary they feel entitled to wealth and power because they got high SAT scores. I know someone like that, my ex.
I find some of the preceding statement to be rather harsh.
May I suggest that you use "cadre" in place of "bunch"? ;)