The Washington Post devotes its big “Style” section front-page hole today to John Danforth’s um, crusade against the Christian right today, headlined “’St. Jack’ and the Bullies in the Pulpit.” (And who said liberals couldn’t be judgmental?) The most prominent reverend in the piece is Rev. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, presented as setting up “the twist of the knife” that Danforth’s upset he lost an argument with the majority of the American people.

Reporter Peter Slevin tries to declare Danforth is no “man of the left,” and even drags out Danforth demeaning his own self-confessed nasty role in the Clarence Thomas hearings to prove it. But he also shows that Danforth is pushing for “therapeutic cloning” and can’t imagine why anyone would try to legislate a ban on so-called gay marriage. Slevin at least allows conservatives to leave the impression (if you read long enough) that Danforth has nostalgia for the time when the GOP was gentler, and decidedly in the minority.

Slevin writes Danforth “commands no political army and rules no territory beyond his writing desk and the occasional pulpit.” But he certainly commands the attention of the Washington Post (and earlier, the New York Times) as long as he’s willing to stir up trouble and sow division in the Republican Party. He commands a version of McCain’s Army: he’s the media’s wish of what the Republican Party should be: more liberal, and in the minority.