You're not comprehending Ake's definition, TIA, because you fail to notice that he puts quotes around it.

What he clearly means is people who posture as liberals, and even imagine themselves to BE liberals, but who are unaware of their own hypocrisy and knee jerk approach to things. They consistently judge the book by the cover, rather than taking the trouble to actually read the book. They are filled with the zeal of the righteous who react to outer appearances, but who do not think.

As such, they are a betrayal of the actual historical liberal tradition, a tradition which some of us still remember fondly and still try to uphold. Akenaton is mourning the death of genuine liberalism as it once was, and its replacement by the present very common shallow "liberal" posturing and unthinking reaction which mouths empty cliches, erects straw men to demonize, and enshrines new forms of prejudice which are taken for granted and even seen as "good" by the so-called "liberals" who embrace them.