Conventional Conservative Wisdom 1, Reality 0

Andrew Sullivan brought my attention to a post by Mark Oppenheimer. In that post, Oppenheimer writes:

[W]hy is there anti-Muslim rage in places with very few Muslims and no history of Muslim terrorism whatsoever? There are good answers to this question, I am sure, but it is late, and for now I will just marvel at how odd it is that somebody thinks it is easy to be a Muslim sympathizer in New York, but out in the rest of the country [it is not]. 

I have an hypothesis. One of the targets on 9/11 was New York City, which many conservatives believe to be a bastion of liberalism. And, as many conservatives believe, liberals support that Muslim socialist President Obama and insist on tolerance for all religions except for the one practiced by conservatives. So, they believe, it is easy for New Yorkers to enthusiastically support Muslims even though they were attacked nine years ago by terrorists who many conservatives also (incorrectly) believe to have been very good Muslims.

In other words: this is a case in which conventional conservative wisdom conflicts with reality. And in battles between conventional conservative wisdom and reality, reality often loses. This how yokels like Sarah Palin can appear to be more invested in American ideals than your average New Yorker, i.e., someone who has actually been on the front line in the so-called War on Terror and sacrificed more for those ideals than most.

By the way, while you're visiting Sullivan's blog, check out "Yglesias Award Nominee II."