[mek1959]

Wow, I'm a bit stunned by Hanson's take on this book. Maybe he just read it a little different than I did. My take on what D'Souza is saying is that there are more similarities between the "traditional" cultures than there are between Conservatives and the left in the country - staring with the belief in transcendent truth/values. It seems to me that it's impossible to argue that the left has any similarity with conservative values (abortion, homosexual marriages, divorce rates, taxation, etc). The left's effort to completely jettison God from the public square, in my view is the salient point of D'Souza's book. I've been taken aback by some of the criticism I've read about this book. To be sure, D'Souza perhaps draws too close a relationship between conservatives and "traditional" Muslims than I'm comforatble with. But to suggest the An Alabama hunter and a Harvard professor, for all their likely political disagreements, share a commitment to the Constitution, freedom of the individual, the equality of women and tolerance of different religions. Head-to-toe burqas and honor killings for most of us are more offensive than rap music or "Brokeback Mountain." as a way to denuder D'Souza's argument is over the top for me. I'm quite sure D'Souza would not endorse "honor killings" as a defining charastic of conservatism. Perhaps there's a greater fissure in conservative thought than I was aware of. Just my thought's.

[steve-b]

My take on what D'Souza is saying is that there are more similarities between the "traditional" cultures than there are between Conservatives and the left in the country

It is precisely the recommendation to take common cause with foreigners against fellow Americans that makes D'Sousa so odious.

I'm quite sure D'Souza would not endorse "honor killings" as a defining charastic of conservatism.

Why not, given his call to appease Islamist cultures so they won't be mad at us any more?