I think they were making a more nuanced point that American liberals tend to (incorrectly) romanticize Europeans for supposedly being less conservative (in a purely bourgeois political spectrum). I know you're just rightly calling out American chauvinism, but I don't think the person you're talking to is trying to defend that. American chauvinism takes on many different forms, some of which involve romanticizing European libs.
I think they were making a more nuanced point that American liberals tend to (incorrectly) romanticize Europeans for supposedly being less conservative (in a purely bourgeois political spectrum). I know you're just rightly calling out American chauvinism, but I don't think the person you're talking to is trying to defend that. American chauvinism takes on many different forms, some of which involve romanticizing European libs.