Thursday, May 27, 2004

Our New National Pastime!

What a grabber of a headline! It grabbed me when I saw Larry Elder use a variation on it for his article this week. But it wasn't as good as mine, because he revealed the new national pastime right in the title. See I made you read a few lines before revealing, but his title gives it right away; "Bashing President Bush takes over as our No. 1 national pastime."

He then quotes a number of harsh words spoken by members of the press, but then presents anecdotal evidence that many don't like Bush. The examples are
- A friend's doctor, who compared Bush to a "little monkey."
- A guest at a small house party who said, "That clown, Bush, has to go."
- A house painter, working for Elder, who asked what he thought of our "idiot president."
- A person who refused to talk to a Bush supporter.
- A waiter who was berated as being a Bush Supporter because he was screwing up an order.

These are all pretty regrettable incidents, and I have to say that the people in these stories, particularly the last two, aren't all that great. But, and this is a big but, I disagree with Elder when he places the blame entirely on the Democratic side of the fence. I myself have received mild abuse (along these lines) for my support of the Democratic Party, and there are others who have received much worse.

I have to say that the conservative movement to a much greater extent than the liberal movement has created the intellectual framework that supports such actions. Perhaps Mr. Elder should spend some time reading the works of Ann Coulter, or listening to Michael Savage.

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