I may not agree with Charles P. Pierce of TAPPED about St. Paul, but I sure do agree with his assessment of a peculiar op-ed by Michael Barone posted at RealClearPolitics. It’s sort of a Cliff Notes version of the ancient conservative argument that Moral Relativism is Destroying America, linked to a vague neo-McCarthyite suggestion that the shadowy academic missionaries of said Relativism are The Enemy Within in the war against jihadism.After rightly praising Barone’s enduring contributions as co-founder and editor of The Almanac of American Politics, Pierce ends his post by saying:

Sorry, Michael, but I’m going to be subjecting the next Almanac to what you would call “fine-tooth-comb” analysis, just to make sure you haven’t slipped any unicorns in there.

Well, I had the same thought last year, and took a close look at the 2006 Almanac in Blueprint magazine, concluding that Barone the conservative pundit was beginning to seriously undermine Barone the brilliant political analyst. It’s a sad devolution; here’s hoping Barone somehow snaps out of it and regains his grip.