The latest example of why I love Jon Carroll

I wish I knew what a "typical liberal" is - the word has meant so many different things in its lifetime, and even now means something else in the United States than it does in England, Australia or Canada.

But it doesn't really matter what it means, because Fox News has taught its followers that "liberal" is an all-purpose ad hominem epithet. A liberal is a person who believes things other than what you believe, and as such is very close to committing treason with his mouth. It's like "bastard," a word that used to have a very specific meaning (and still does, in legal contexts) but now just means "a bad person." This is a slander on bastards everywhere, but no one has yet thought to fight that fight.

"Bitch" is another one. Used to be a female dog, now it means "a woman who dishonors her sex by being intolerant of sundry amusing games and remarks." Or so it seems to me. There are also, of course, really rotten women in the world, and I choose to call them "really rotten women."