The far Right despises moderate liberals almost as much as it loathes moderate conservatives. Ideology demands purity, and it fears its own partisans even more than its opponents, because they cannot be dismissed off-hand as the devil. Have you noticed what it's like arguing with them? They won't take no for an answer, they never meet you half way, if you agree with them on something it is never enough, they want more, more, more. They demand total submission and complete acceptance of their program without question or compromise, and they never leave you alone. They always want the last word, the parting shot, the final put-down.

I've been intimately exposed to political ideologues twice in my life, with doctrinaire Marxists when I was in college, and with Neocons right here on this board. Their programs differ, but their psychology and methods are identical. I felt I was closer politically to the former, but they were just as annoying and potentially dangerous as the latter.

And what's really sad is if they only realized how strident and unyielding they came across, and if they argued their points with some humor and moderation and courtesy, they might be able to persuade more to accept at least some of their views. After all, not everything an ideologue says is necessarily hateful, and there is always some value to the balance of an alternate point of view.