Fact: The Stalin Apologists at The New York Times Smear the Unambiguously Libertarian Cato Institute as "Ultraconservative"

Over
at Mediaite, Andrew Kirell tears into The New York Times’ Tamar
Lewin for calling the Cato Institute “ultraconservative.”

Here’s what Lewin wrote at the Cato Institute’s hiring of
Chinese dissident Xia Yeliang:

The political labels of Professor Xia and the Cato Institute, in
Washington, are strikingly different. Professor Xia got into
trouble in China for being too liberal, while the institute is
known as libertarian or — less to its liking — ultraconservative.
But the professor and Cato officials say they have the same
focus.

As Kirell notes,

No one in their right mind would consider Cato
“ultraconservative,” especially when a cursory glance at their
policy recommendations shows support for same-sex marriage,
legalized marijuana, reduced military spending, non-interventionist
foreign policy, and relaxed immigration restrictions….

Kirell writes that Lewin is either confused or being
underhanded. Either way, it’s shoddy stuff that should be turned
against the Times itself for fun:

Some say the New York Times is
run by a pack of space aliens; some say Fox News
is firmly in President Obama’s camp; some
say the Boston Marathon bombing was a false flag planted
by the Illuminati. See how fun it can be?

Take it from this libertarian who’s been called everything from
a “fascist with a bong” to a “pinko commie Obama shill,”
libertarians can be touchy about ideological labeling and
misrepresentation of their views. But that really doesn’t excuse
such hilarious confusion from a newspaper that dedicates itself to
living in the nuance.

Read the whole thing.

Exit question: Who do you think the Adolf Hitler of illegitimate
comparisons in today’s mediascape?