It's always going to be dangerous to point out the hypocrisy of a powerful ideology, but doing so puts you in the position of the underdog, the spunky inquisitor who puts himself in harm's way by displeasing the powerful force.

If you point out the warts of less-powerful ideologies, you not only risk displeasing them but make yourself vulnerable to being viewed as bigoted or a bully. Unless the group is one which greater society has labeled as "Leper! Outcast! Unclean!", that will also tend to draw the disapproval of others, and without the benefits of underdogging.

The safest route, for your reputation though not your honor, is to attack a group that society wishes you to attack for conformity's sake. No one wishes to speak well of such a group, no matter how limitedly, for fear of being associated with them, and everyone wishes to demonstrate to the rest that they loathe the despised ones.

That means, of course, that when you die you'll go to the special Hell. The one reserved for rhetoricians, and people who didn't like Firefly.

I'm also getting a little sick of always using groups disliked by the entire Less Wrong community as examples (eg Christians)

So am I, but I'm not sure choosing Republicans is a better alternative - to me it feels a bit too much like taking a dig at the Hated Enemy, like flagging Less Wrong as belonging on a particular place on the political spectrum.

(Not that I have any better examples to propose)

I did think about Marxism, but why would it be less likely to explode in my face? It's also a modern political position.

The probability of a staunch Marxist commenting on this blog seems to be vastly less than the probability of a staunch (non-religious) Republican doing so. We don't want to drive away many potential readers on account of their surface positions before they have a chance to reconsider things. Also, we really don't want an accidental political flamewar to start in a comment thread, so political examples should be chosen to tread on fewer current toes if at all possible.

Would you prefer that next time I include two examples, one attacking either "side" of the political "spectrum" next time?

No! This would make it even more likely to cause one of the bad outcomes above! This isn't about "fairness", it's about prudence.

Or can you think of some historical example that would be as immediately recognizable to everyone here as the Republican one?

Again, I think people here generally have the basic political literacy to recognize the Marxist example.