Any room left for vitriol?
By Tom Toles
The American political discussion has finally crowded out all the bandwidth for ranting, so there is no space left for any here. Honest to goodness, the right’s hatred of Obama, judging by the swath of them that have rallied to defend Romney’s ill-advised attempt to jujitsu a foreign tragedy into an inaccurate, partisan attack on the president, has left me gasping for sufficient oxygen to reply. Let alone reply with anything other than dispirited dismay.
These people self-define as the “patriotic” Americans. Americans who one might expect would present a dignified face to the world in the time of clear tragedy. And maybe A DAY of non-partisan support of the actual sitting president, and if not support, at least SHUT-THE- -UP for two minutes about it. But no, and here’s why. They really DON’T consider him qualified to be president, and if it’s not a made-up story about his birth-certificate, or a made up story about his religion, a made-up story about him “apologizing for American values” will do. Anything will do, because the conclusion comes first, then the mis-reasoning.
This is nearly terrifying. This is a rip in the fabric of who we are as a society. Because here’s why. If they hate Obama that much, and don’t respect the minimum standards of recognizing his legitimacy, then what about the half (or more) of the country who will vote for Obama in November? They hate you too, and they don’t respect your legitimacy either. Take a look down THAT road and see what you see. A tip: stay off their lawn.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/tom-toles/post/friday-rant-any-room-left-for-vitriol-edition/2012/09/13/fd22d1a6-fdc2-11e1-a31e-804fccb658f9_blog.html
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