A recent back-and-forth between Senator John McCain and the Tea Party reminds us all about the fun metaphors that can be used to understand Conservatism’s Manichean worldview of good v. evil. From CNN:

In a Senate floor speech laced with sarcasm and stings, the Arizona Republican aimed especially harsh fire at the tea party Wednesday.

McCain said the movement is “foolish” to think a balanced budget amendment could pass before the August 2 deadline. At one point, McCain read from an op-ed in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal. That article referred to activists as “tea party hobbits” – the little people who inhabit Middle-earth in the Lord of the Rings series.

[...]

The nation’s largest tea party group is responding to McCain.

Mark Meckler is co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots. He told CNN that many Americans support a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution – and “What Republicans should be doing is pushing all the way to the line.”

As for McCain’s quoting the Wall Street Journal’s line about “tea party hobbits,” Meckler used his own Lord of the Rings metaphor to strike back at the senator.

“Clearly he’s been corrupted by the ring of power,” Meckler said.