It’s clear enough that when leftists attack the Right (“bigoted,” “narrow,” “self-righteous,” “irrational,” “divisive,” etc.), they’re talking about themselves. Here’s an example to add to the hatemongering and calls for secession we’ve seen, even from respected Democrats and writers, as a result of W’s election. The president is supposedly a theocrat whose support is based on homophobia and bigotry, although in fact he has rather vague religious views, doesn’t attend church regularly, appoints blacks and Hispanics to as many things as possible, and favors legal recognition of homosexual unions and essentially open borders. That’s not nearly good enough, though, so if he won it must mean the election was stolen. The world would be intolerable otherwise. I don’t think any prominent Democrats have signed on to the “we wuz robbed” theory, even Donna “dogs and guns” Brazile says Bush got more votes, but educated and intelligent people do believe it. The theory has become a feature of my college class listserv, for example.
Over-the-top pessimism
Sloppy post Jim, totally lacking in citation to back it up. The fringe of either the Left or the Right finds comfort in conspiracy theory, many of your own commentators are proof enough of that. The Left is just going through a period of adjustment to the new reality. I think you will find many more groups on the Right (survivalists, neo-Confederates, white supremacists, etc.) who are much more serious about secession than your typical middle-of-the-road Dem. I was not aware any mainstream left-of-center pundit had called Bush a racist or a homophobe. Can you provide a quote?
MM
I added a couple links and ti
I added a couple links and tightened up some of the language. It’s true that secession has been more a cause of the rightwing fringe than the mainstream left. The point, though, is that it’s surprising to find it in the latter place at all.
I’d add that the rightwing fringe talks about secession because that seems the only way to bring about the kind of social structure they want. The goal of the post-9/2 left seems more a desire to avoid association with people (the majority of their fellow countrymen) whom they find repellant for ideological reasons.
I agree that people say odd things when they’re surprised and upset. Still, it does seem to me that as they say the country is divided so the things being said go farther than usual. Since the standard line one hears is that the country is divided because the right is “divisive” it seems worthwhile pointing out other considerations.
Rem tene, verba sequentur.
Close election? Nothing unusual
For over a week now, we’ve been treated to endless liberal Democrats screeds on the closeness of this election and how divided America is.
So what sort of majorities have Democrats enjoyed when their presidential candidate won?
Well…Cleveland (1892), Wilson (1912, 1916), Truman (1948), JFK (1960) and Clinton (1992, 1996) never received a majority of the vote.
Carter (1976) squeaked into a majority with 50.1% of the vote.
Only two Democratic presidents in over 110 years have recieved more of a majori ty of the popular vote than Bush did last week:
FDR and LBJ.
The vast majority of Americans alive today were not alive or were not of voting age the last time a Democratic President recieved a higher percentage of the popular vote than Bush this year.
¯¯
Gays taking Kerry’s defeat hard
A few articles from “The Advocate” (largest gay publication in the country, I believe):
I’m revolting, and I’m sorry
“. . . .Apparently, I love America more than America loves me. Last week millions of my fellow citizens, motivated by their revulsion at my sexuality, voted to reelect their antigay cheerleader, George Bush . . .heterosexuals walked into the voting booth with me in mind. They carried in the pit of their stomachs the disgust they feel at the thought of two men in intimate embrace; this deep, reptilian aversion drove them off of their couches and into their polling stations . . .
full text
Gay? No prob. Welcome to Canada!
. . .The day of the U.S. presidential election, I received a distressed call here in Canada. “My partner and I want to get out of here.†When that conversation ended, my phone rang again. “I cannot stand living in a country where Bush and the Republicans will make our lives miserable for the next four years,†the next caller said.
There were more calls. Some expressed their feelings by dropping the f-bomb before the words Bush and Republicans . . .If you are in a binational relationship or are a true-blue Democrat who cannot stand another four year s of Bush, immigrating to Canada is an option. There are several ways to immigrate to Canada: full text
Living the American Dream…in Canada
. . .It’s easy for gay and lesbian Americ ans to relocate to the north. All you have to do is fall in love with a Canadian. And guess what? The government will actually wish you well . . . Like many gay Americans, I’m still shocked to have discovered this week that my fellow citizens are so uncom passionately conservative . . .full text
2
Ick, they better not come up here…
… we already had to deal with a huge number of Vietnam draft-dodgers who stayed, and warped Canadian politics further left-ward (many of them became prominent in business, journalism, and politics); I sure as heck don’t want more Yank leftists coming up here and dragging Canada further left-ward still… Of course, our Liberal government will be glad to welcome them with open arms, same as last time…