there is always that moment where they hedge their bets and have to toss in some mealy mouthed genuflecting towards the very thing they're ostensibly making an argument against.

This dissembling happens in most cases and it undermines arguments against leftism. Even the most rabid anti-leftists are guilty of this, as though they're still scared to be called names and their little disclaimer will protect them when the opposite is true. Those concession statements give authority and superiority to leftist positions that haven't earned them and that empowers the cunts you're arguing with. They won't make the same concessions for you or your positions, so don't choose to start an argument from a position of disadvantage.

I think what bugs me the most is that the kind of people we're talking about know this but they do it anyway. I think it's a form of cowardice and deference.