American Taliban?

Last night in an interview via satellite on Real Time with Bill Maher, Michael Moore called for all Americans to refer to the likes of Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin as the US equivalent of the Taliban. Now, while Gingrich is a jackass who has been irresponsibly spreading misinformation about Muslims, and Palin is an ignorant, fame-hungry megalomaniac, they are nowhere near as backwards and destructive as the actual Taliban. I direct your attention to an article in today's New York Times:

Those who did vote in Kandahar were nervous. “I am so scared to come to the polling station,” said Shafiqa, 49. “My family insisted I not come, but I have to because this is my country and I want to use my vote for someone I like.”
The Taliban used every conceivable tactic to dissuade people from voting, firing rockets at polling places, kidnapping campaign workers, planting a bomb in the toilet of a mosque that was to be used as a polling place, and threatening to amputate not only fingers with voting ink on them, but noses and ears of those who dared to vote.

In the US, when we have elections, people yell lies and insults at each other. When they have elections in Afghanistan, the Taliban terrifies the people so much that barely any of them vote, and those who do are under constant, real threat of being maimed or killed.
Palin and Gingrich are negative and hateful, but to compare them to a violent army of terrorists is simply disingenuous. Moore is, however, not completely filled with pithy, divisive sound bits; he called our attention to a non-profit organization to help finance the Park 51 Islamic Community Center, which Donald Trump has threatened to buy. You can donate here, and do the American thing by supporting religious freedom and tolerance, moving us one step closer to a more peaceful planet.