Stabbing myself in the face with a soldering iron / reading liberal websites -- is there a difference?

I was reading a lefty-leaning article from the Daily Beast discussing Michelle Bachmann. I read one sentence that sums up the liberal mindset as clearly as any I have ever read:

Her ideological radicalism should not be mistaken for stupidity

.I have seen a similar approach from various progressiv/liberal bloggers. Sadly such a view is not liberal in the classical sense at all. I have stated often, and firmly believe, education is a life-long process. Every day I increasingly understand how little I know. There are a lot of people smarter than I. By the same token I would place my intellect, education, historical and economic undertanding against your average liberal.

I am truly amazed that for most liberals a belief in God automatically makes one ignorant. A significant amount of scholarly research over the ages was done under the auspices of religion. Sure religion has done many things wrong.  It has also made the lives of many better. Has religion over time harmed true scientific discovery -- yes.  Has it also aided in the progress of science -- yes. Are Georgetown, Boston College and Notre Dame not respected and noted institutions of higher learning? Is it not true that the religious private schools often turn out some of our best and brightest?

I often find liberals come to a discussion with intellectual dishonesty. When they are unable to argue the point they resort to pseudo-intellectual superiority. Their only salient argument is I must be too stupid to understand. Sometimes liberals are so sure of not only their superior worldview and my supposed ignorance they will discount my position, even when I agree with them! I found just such an example a few weeks ago when I left a comment on a liberal blog.

I find it laughable that according to the liberal position, the Bachmanns, the Limbaughs, the Hannitys, the Palins, the Reagans of this world are all ignorant buffoons, too stupid to tie their own shoes. The Obama's, the Clinton's are the smart ones.  GW had better grades than John Kerry and somehow managed to get through Yale, but was just an ignorant "shrub". Palin is ignorant because she mistakenly said Revere warned the British, but Obama made a mere slip of the tongue when he visited 57 states or needed to bone up on his "Austrian". One again liberals are good and smart while Conservatives are liars and ignorant.

Only in the liberal mind are belief in God, family, and a strong America extreme. Only to a liberal are holding conservative values  -- a trait shared by a majority of us-- extreme. Only to a true believer in liberalism are these beliefs equated with stupidity.

The comments to the linked article above are scary. They demonstrate a closed mindset as intense and hate-filled as the one they the ysuppose lurks in the heart of Bachman and conservatives.

This I know, no nation has found long-term success taking the wealth from one citizen and giving it to another. We all prosper under equal opportunity. We all sink to the lowest denominator when we strive for equal results. If believing that makes me ignorant, I guess I can take comfort that history is on my side.