Posted on 05/26/2008 5:54:37 PM PDT by The_Republican
If the 2008 election is to be a debate about the true meaning of patriotism, then bring it on.
Ever since Barack Obama took off his flag pin, Democrats and liberals have had a queasy feeling that talk of patriotism would be a covert way to raise the matter of Obama's race; to cast him as some sort of alien figure ("You know what his middle name is?"); and to paint him as an effete intellectual out of touch with true American values.
I have no doubt that all these things will happen. Moreover, John McCain's sacrifice for his country will be a central theme of the Republican campaign. And why not? Yes, many Republicans refused to honor John Kerry's service during the campaign four years ago. But McCain wasn't part of that, and his service deserves the praise it gets.
Yet Obama simply cannot cede the terrain of patriotism to McCain, and progressives should not assume that patriotism is somehow a bad thing, akin to jingoism or nationalism.
The reaction of too many progressives to patriotism is "automatic, allergic recoil," say two young Seattle writers, Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer, in their important book "The True Patriot."
Instead of recoil, they offer rigorous standards for what patriotism should be. "True patriots," they write, "believe that freedom from responsibility is selfishness, freedom from sacrifice is cowardice, freedom from tolerance is prejudice, freedom from stewardship is exploitation, and freedom from compassion is cruelty."
Their new progressive patriotism bears some resemblance to the old progressive patriotism of Theodore Roosevelt. "We cannot meet the future," Roosevelt said in a 1916 Memorial Day speech, "either by mere gross materialism or by mere silly sentimentalism; above all, we cannot meet it if we attempt to balance gross materialism in action by silly sentimentalism in words."
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
I would have thought pure evil would have turned Dionne into a puddle of foul smelling sludge by now.
Democrats pervert everything patriotic:
-Flying the flag is corny;burning the flag is patriotic.
-Supporting the mission is “wrong”; bringing the troops home is patriotic.
Now we get this crap.
What a bunch of crap.
Personally, I think that talk of patriotism would be an open way to raise the matter of Obama's patriotism. I believe he and his wife harbor a deep-seated resentment of this country and disagree with the foundational beliefs which make our country unique.
“This is Obama’s opportunity: to pledge to be the president who asks us to serve”
Dionne thinks the Obambi as JFK meme is going to win. I think he’s dreaming.
Keep trying, pinko scum.
How can Dionne conclude that people who won’t fight when their own country and their fellow Americans are attacked could even remotely be considered patriotic? Or even interested in something beyond themselves?
I’ve got bad news for Dionne: he and his leftist buddies don’t stand a chance in this election.
Roosevelt gave the perfect description of the liberals of today. They couldn’t even stand people being patriotic immediately after the attacks on 9-11. Berry can’t be patriotic when he supports communists like Che or attends a service given by the filthy, racist, America hating reverend Wright. I don’t think there’s a patriotic bone in Berry’s spineless, jellyfish like body.
That could be because Kerry spent much more time lying about the war and protesting against what our country was doing, then fighting for it.
Pandemonium Is Patriotic!
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