I'M CONFUSED AGAIN

Richard Cohen of the WaPo writes the obvious: the concept of American Exceptionalism is pretty much another rightwing bit of nonsense.  Cohen mentions that the concept has been polluted with a emphasis on God but Ed Morrissey of Hot Air denies that religion has anything to do with AE:

Cohen starts off with a false premise that mainstream views of American exceptionalism involves religion in any significant sense at all, or that it involves a self-image of perfection.

Morrissey is clearly wrong and that's a bit surprising because he is aware of the conservative view of AE.