You're Either With Us...
Joe McCarthy stumbled upon it. Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew repackaged it. Ronald Reagan and Rush Limbaugh perfected it. And now, finally, George Bush and John McCain are destroying it.
The last eight years have been the stake in the heart of the politics of division and the politics of hate. These politics have spawned the likes of Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann — shallow fanatics with a childlike view of a world populated by good guys and bad guys, real Americans and everyone else.
Bachmann and Palin both had to back off of recent comments about anti-American members of Congress and pro-America areas of this great nation. Maybe I'm grasping at straws of hope here, but I find the backlash against these simplistic, pandering comments extremely encouraging.
For decades, divisive comments like these were given a pass, because to contradict them was to guarantee your patriotism would be called into question. No more.
On the other hand, what if I'm flat wrong? What if we're witnessing not the maturing of America, but its deepening debasement? Can you say Palin and Bachmann in 2012?
Comments
As a former member of the "nattering nabogs of negatism" fan club, so called by a man who resigned as VP because of criminal charges,I've had my fill with these Faux American Patriots. McCain still thinks we should have continued on with the "conflict" in Vietnam despite losing 55,000 Americans and 1 million Vietnamese. This to save the world from Communism. Last I checked neither Thailand or Cambodia were communistic. McCain will keep Americans in Iraq for a very long time. For what? Spare me these jacked up warmongers and fear merchants.
Posted by: Lev | October 26, 2008 03:13 PM
Well said, Lev. Those dominoes never fell, did they.
I heard McCain speaking today, promising not to bring the troops home unless they return in victory, "with honor."
Remember Nixon promising "peace with honor"? How many of those 55,000 died for those words, I wonder.
Posted by: abi | October 26, 2008 09:07 PM