The affinity between radical Islamists and the progressive left derives from a shared belief that America is the Great Satan and must be destroyed.

The esteemed writer and lecturer David Horowitz has crafted a book entitled Unholy Alliance: Radical Islam and the American Left, in which he reveals that common cause.  The progressive left -- which also embraces socialism/communism as a means to destroy America -- has now allied ideologically with the Islamists, who despise modernity itself and especially detest the sexual agenda of the left.

This alliance is growing and extends deep into the Obama administration, the mainstream media, and academia.  The Democratic Party and the mainstream media have been protecting and supporting radical Islamists for decades.  And where you once saw fashionably leftist young college students wearing Che Guevara t-shirts, it is now common to see them wearing Palestinian colors and sporting radical anti-Zionist themes.

The leader of the progressive left, President Barack Hussein Obama, proclaimed recently at the United Nations (emphasis added):

The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. Yet to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied. Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims, and Shiite pilgrims. It is time to heed the words of Gandhi: "Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit."

Like most Obama oratory, this is filled with deception and hidden meanings.  In this statement, Obama delivers a virulent attack against those who "slander the prophet of Islam."  This is followed by a backhanded token ("to be credible") to the effect that Christianity, Judaism, and minority sects of Islam should also receive a modicum of respect.  The implication is that the rights of other faiths are secondary to those of Islam.

Then, in typical Obamaic oratory fashion, he turns Gandhi's famous quote about tolerance on its head, delivering a meaning that is the opposite of what its author intended.  Only the worst kind of propagandist or hypocrite can use the term "tolerance" in the context of a nonexistent Islamic pretense to a "true democratic spirit."   There is no such spirit anywhere in Islam.  Islam abjures democracy.  In this reprehensively deceptive and devious statement, Obama masks the offensive depredations of Islamic intolerance and terrorism with the noble veneer of religious tolerance.

Obama went on to specifically denounce the Nakoula YouTube video and continue his cover for the latest Islamic terrorist attacks in Egypt and Libya and the murders of the American ambassadorial staff.  Yet he curiously failed to specifically mention the return engagement of the Piss Christ "artwork" on display less than two miles away at the Edward Tyler Nahem Gallery on 57^th Street.

The progressive left -- the liberals in our society -- almost always side with Muslims against American ideas and laws and, in particular, against Christian beliefs and practices.  It is a curiosity, to say the least.  You would think that Islam and liberalism had nothing in common and were diametrically opposed to one another.  But the two belief systems actually have much in common.  Liberals and Muslims despise most of what patriotic, religious Americans cherish and revere.  This makes them common enemies of the American enterprise: comrades de guerre, so to speak.

Where there is conflict between the Islamic and leftist ideologies, the Muslims always prevail.  Progressives will never confront the Islamists, in the fear that to do so would weaken their ally, or that it could produce a backlash so violent and devastating that the beneficial alliance would be destroyed forever.

Still, it is amazing to watch progressives continue to defend and support their Muslim allies in light of the latter's historical and continuing offenses against the most hallowed tenets of liberalism: hanging homosexuals; stoning adulterers; maiming criminals; abusing and raping women and children; beheading and crucifying non-believers; killing, dismembering, and having sex with the corpses of women; invading embassies and torturing and killing Americans and raping the body of the ambassador.  Instead of getting tough with the Islamists for their horrors, the president and his leftist followers cover for them.

The horrific crimes and depredations committed by Islamists are endless, yet liberals manage to "tolerate" them.  You would think that people with any kind of claim to a moral mantle would not be able to tolerate so much evil.  Such is liberalism.

Liberals cope with these contradictions by denying that they exist or by convincing themselves that Islamic practices are justified and the result of cultural differences, poverty, Zionism, or something George Bush did.

The more you compare the beliefs of Islamists and liberals, the more similarities you find.  David Horowitz was right: it is an unholy alliance.  Below is a series of statements.  Can you distinguish which of them more closely describes Islamism or liberalism?  Muslim or liberal?  You decide:

• You have many ideas and beliefs, and you insist that other people conform to them.
• You believe that lying to obtain your objectives is completely acceptable.
• You enjoy mass demonstrations, chanting, and rioting.
• You get a particular kick out of burning the American flag.
• You have a belief system filled with contradictions, and you regard that as normal.
• You hate Ronald Reagan.
• You discriminate against everyone who does not believe as you do.
• You think it is obligatory to be offensive toward those who disagree with you.
• You believe that you have the right to take from others.
• You enjoy destroying the religious symbols of others.
• Your meeting places are actually enemy outposts from which you plan the overthrow of the free world.
• You believe you should be able to have sex with anyone you can physically subdue.
• You absolutely do not believe in freedom of speech.
• You believe that violence is integral to the pursuit of your worthy goals.
• You view freedom as an unacceptable proposition.
• Your prophets have long been shown to be false.
• You believe in using government police or military force to impose your beliefs on others.
• You hate all religions except your own.
• You believe that pedophilia is proper and moral.
• You believe that morality is defined by the rules of the cult you follow.
• You often engage in mob violence.
• You think that books and publications you don't approve of should not be available to others. You believe that freedom of the press is a terrible idea.
• You hate Christianity and Judaism.
• You engage in blasphemy on a daily basis.
• Your ultimate goal is that everyone else in the world submit to what you believe.
• You believe that bullying is an acceptable tactic.
• You do not believe in religious freedom.
• You are a racist.
• You believe that women are sex objects.
• You believe that men are sex objects.
• You believe that incest is relative.
• You abuse Western ideals of religious freedom and tolerance and use them as wedge opportunities to overthrow the society you live in.
• You have your own set of laws.
• You believe that the enemy of your enemy is your friend.
• You believe that Christianity must be destroyed at all costs.
• You believe that America is the Great Satan.
• You believe that people who don't believe as you do should be killed or subjugated.
• You believe that the USA has too much power and must be brought down.
• You do not recognize the divinity of Jesus Christ.
• You do not believe in the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, freedom and liberty, or anything American.
• You believe that the ends justifies the means.
• You believe that you must win at any cost.

Islamist or Progressive?  In the end, is there any real difference in what these totalitarian ideologies espouse and want to achieve?  Don't both of them pose a clear and present danger to us?

Why do progressives think they are any better than Islamists?  Whatever they believe, it is up to those of us who love freedom and liberty to deal with them.

JT Hatter is the author of Lost in Zombieland: The Rise of President Zero, a political satire on the Obama administration.  JT can be reached at jt@jthatter.com.