Seeing red

townhall.com ^ | 11/15/04 | Diana West

[kattracks]

"Better fled than red" is how one wag put it, explaining the blue-state of mind that now weighs expatriate-ism as a coping strategy against "Bush II: Red-state Nation." And who could argue? Why, the first lady only re-opened Pennsylvania Avenue this week so that tumbrels teeming with atheists could roll past the White House, horse hooves clopping, Bibles thumping, and on to the National Mall. I can see it now: John Ashcroft, in his final Patriot Act, torching a DVD-bonfire of "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "La Cage Aux Folles" while, defiantly, La Streisand speaks nearby. "We shall see the reign (glug) of witches pass, their (glug-glug) spells dissolve," she intones, quoting Thomas Jefferson from the watery middle of the former Reflecting Pool, recently gerrymandered into a witch-dunking pond by Tom DeLay.

OK, so only in their dreams -- or maybe a Michael Moore "documentary." The bottom line is that Bush-voters terrify Bush-haters. After all, they go to church. Or, worse, they don't go to church and are untroubled by co-conservatives who do. According to blue-state logic (hysteria), this means religious fanaticism is ascendant, theocracy is inevitable and Manhattan is expendable. Really. "Maybe the guys in power want us to be attacked," writes James Atlas in New York magazine -- in italics, which I guess is supposed to add whimsy to his grotesque observations. "What better way to get rid of all those noisome New Yorkers than to have an Al Qaeda dirty bomb explode in Grand Central at rush hour?"

A death worse than fate, maybe. But not for Bush-haters, some considerable number of whom regard Mr. Bush's re-election as being a calamity greater than the attacks of Sept. 11. To which I say, go. Leave. Be expatriates. But not just in somewhat "progressive" New Zealand, recently downgraded from American "ally" to American "friend." And not in more "progressive" Canada, where some provinces already sanction same-sex marriage and marijuana use. Only the best for our blue-state losers, only the most progressive haven in the world. I want to see all Americans who feel compelled to up and leave these United States because George W. Bush won the 2004 election emigrate to Holland.

Nothing against dear Holland, mind you, home to professor-politician Pim Fortuyn and moviemaker-provocateur Theo van Gogh, two heroic martyrs in the war on Islamic terrorism (which is, by the way, real religious fanaticism). I can think of no better remedy for our frivolously, childishly disaffected fellow citizens than to experience the progressive's dream -- the permissive welfare state where traditional vice has become a civic virtue in same-sex marriage, euthanasia and legalized drugs -- as it turns into the democrat's nightmare. Due to massive Islamic immigration over the past several decades -- immigration that has brought the repressive teachings of sharia into soon-to-be Muslim majority Dutch cities -- it is Holland, not America, where religious fanaticism is ascendant, theocratic dictatorship is really a possibility and Manhattan is definitely expendable. Amid the tulips, windmills and jihadist mosques, Holland now contends with the same murderous forces of reaction that American and Iraqi troops face in Fallujah.

That is the reality behind the vicious assassination last week of Theo van Gogh. An outspoken, even profane, critic of Islamic practices and teachings (and a great-great-grandson of Vincent van Gogh's brother), Mr. van Gogh, 47, was shot to death in broad daylight and very nearly beheaded where he fell in an act of ritual murder previously unimaginable on an Amsterdam street. His Dutch-Moroccan Muslim assassin's "reason"? Van Gogh had recently directed "Submission," a 10-minute film written by ex-Muslim and Dutch parliamentarian Hirsi Ali that is harshly critical -- as all of us should be -- of the abuse and subjugation of women under Islamic law. A five-page letter in Dutch, stabbed into the slain man's chest with a knife, was addressed to Ms. Ali, stating, "This letter is -- insha Allah (Allah willing) -- an attempt to impose silence on your evil once and for all." Ms. Ali, 34, a duly elected representative of a Western democracy, now lives amid a phalanx of bodyguards, as do several other Dutch leaders threatened in the letter.

About this our blue-state fantasists say nothing. Obsessed with the majorities by which American voters freely and peacefully declared not only that George W. Bush should remain president and finish Fallujah, but also that marriage should be restricted to a man and a woman, they rant about W's "jihad in America" (Maureen Dowd), and rave about philosophical overlap between American conservatives and Islamic terrorists (Garry Wills). This is not only intellectually vacuous, it is morally depraved. Jihad in the heart of Europe, free speech under murderous attack, an attempted beheading on the streets of Amsterdam, and America's proud liberals say nothing. All they do is see red.

[GeronL]

bump

[flashbunny]

I've long thought the ultimate punishment for liberals would be to force them to live in a society where there ideals are law.

Looks like they're getting that in Holland.

[Just Lori]

They'll be seeing more and more red with every election, because what they DON'T get.... is that the American voters DO get it!

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

while, defiantly, La Streisand speaks nearby. "We shall see the reign (glug) of witches pass, their (glug-glug) spells dissolve," she intones, quoting Thomas Jefferson from the watery middle of the former Reflecting Pool, recently gerrymandered into a witch-dunking pond by Tom DeLay.

BEDEVERE: Quiet! Quiet! Quiet! Quiet! There are ways of telling whether she is a witch.

VILLAGER #1: Are there?

VILLAGER #2: Ah?

VILLAGER #1: What are they?

CROWD: Tell us! Tell us!...

BEDEVERE: Tell me. What do you do with witches?

VILLAGER #2: Burn!

VILLAGER #1: Burn!

CROWD: Burn! Burn them up! Burn!...

BEDEVERE: And what do you burn apart from witches?

VILLAGER #1: More witches!

VILLAGER #3: Shh!

VILLAGER #2: Wood!

BEDEVERE: So, why do witches burn?

[pause]

VILLAGER #3: B--... 'cause they're made of... wood?

BEDEVERE: Good!

CROWD: Oh, yeah. Oh.

BEDEVERE: So, how do we tell whether she is made of wood?

VILLAGER #1: Build a bridge out of her.

BEDEVERE: Ah, but can you not also make bridges out of stone?

VILLAGER #1: Oh, yeah.

RANDOM: Oh, yeah. True. Uhh...

BEDEVERE: Does wood sink in water?

VILLAGER #1: No. No.

VILLAGER #2: No, it floats! It floats!

VILLAGER #1: Throw her into the pond!

CROWD: The pond! Throw her into the pond!

BEDEVERE: What also floats in water?

VILLAGER #1: Bread!

VILLAGER #2: Apples!

VILLAGER #3: Uh, very small rocks!

VILLAGER #1: Cider!

VILLAGER #2: Uh, gra-- gravy!

VILLAGER #1: Cherries!

VILLAGER #2: Mud!

VILLAGER #3: Uh, churches! Churches!

VILLAGER #2: Lead! Lead!

ARTHUR: A duck!

CROWD: Oooh.

BEDEVERE: Exactly. So, logically...

VILLAGER #1: If... she... weighs... the same as a duck,... she's made of wood.

BEDEVERE: And therefore?

VILLAGER #2: A witch!

VILLAGER #1: A witch!

CROWD: A witch! A witch!...

[datura]

I'd still like to export them all to North Korea and/or China. All those lawyers........The damage they would cause, the fortunes they could ruin, or simply the number of entrees they could become in North Korea.

[ladyinred]

"Maybe the guys in power want us to be attacked," writes James Atlas in New York magazine -- in italics, which I guess is supposed to add whimsy to his grotesque observations. "What better way to get rid of all those noisome New Yorkers than to have an Al Qaeda dirty bomb explode in Grand Central at rush hour?"

That is just despicable. We are the ones who ARE concerned about this. They would prefer that terrorists return to the Nuisance category.

[uncbob]

Let them all go to Canada

I am sure there are all kinds of jobs waiting for them there

Just don't get sick

[BIGZ]

Bush won 2500+ counties, Kerry won 500. I call that a mandate. Even the Blue states, except for the cities, are Red.