re: You do know what an insult is, don't you?
I can dig up a fairly benign definition of just about anything. If Kristoff meant outmoded or reactionary, without intending a slur, he would have said so. I know what is intended when someone calls someone else a "troglodyte."
After all, the new Rules say that the speaker's intentions are irrelevant compared to how the insult is perceived. Right?
And when Norquist and Robertson have a column in the New York Times every four days, get back to me.