Several liberal readers complained that they were not arguing in bad faith. What distinguishes the Liberals Under My Bed book is that it is overtly partisan, they explain, while indoctrinating liberal and lefty books don’t speak to partisanship so much as their ideals for a better world.

I think this is a thin reed since the issue raised by Andrew is ideological indoctrination itself. The contents of that indoctrination is secondary. (Indeed, this sounds a bit like the folks at NARAL or the NAACP when they insist they’re “non partisan.”) If a book says that people who disagree with environmental radicals are evil, does it really matter that much when if they don’t say “Republicans” are evil? You may think that It’s Just a Plant: A Children’s Story of Marijuana is leaps and bounds more enlightened than Liberals Under My Bed, but I don’t see it.

It’s also factually untrue. I remember when I was a TV producer we got a kids’ book in the mail which explained how mean and nasty Republicans are. I can’t remember the name, but it had something to do with elephants. I remember it because I would torture my colleagues by reading from it. But someone did send me this which seems to illustrate the point well enough.

Now, for the record, I’m not an enormous fan of this sort of thing on the right or the left. What bothered me was Andrew’s selective gaze.