Fun at others expense

Mario Loyola has become the object of much fun among the left leaning bloggers. Since he is given to making assinine statements, this isn't surprising. Belle Waring at Crooked Timber notes one of his recent gems, where in puzzling over the popularity of Hezbollah, he claims that faced with invasion, Americans would not muster their rifles if Washington said not to do it.

I wonder if anyone has tracked the rise and fall and rise of strength of the outlaw in popular culture in the United States. It takes a number of guises, Johnny Cash's heroes, gansgter rappers, Dirty Harry, everyone in every noir novel, you get the picture. Then we have Dragnet and the forces of order. Both have their adherents in the United States, a point Loyola misses.