Of Patriots

There has been a hit piece of an AP article making the rounds of CNN.com, Foxnews.com, etc., claiming that Obama somehow is not very patriotic because he does such terrible things as not wearing a flag lapel pin. This follows the whispering campaigns that he is a Muslim (and hence unfit for any public office.... at least according to that beacon of patriotism, Mitt Romney).

Obama himself has done an expert job of responding to those people who question his patriotism and I am not going to repeat the reasons why anybody should question his patriotism here. But this attack is merely a sign of things to come by the Republican Party and their allies (the infamous Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are going to make a comeback this year). This is especially true since the "war hero" McCain will be the Republican nominee. And everybody knows war heroes are always patriotic... just look at Nixon. Almost as patriotic as those armchair generals rooting for wars against every other Muslim country in the world, claiming they cannot fight in those wars for even more patriotic reasons (Romney's fighting-age sons had the patriotic duty to help their dad get elected president, for example... I wonder if they've joined the Army since he's dropped out of the race)... but I digress...

Here are a few questions that should be asked of all patriots:

1. Do patriots send their young men and women to fight and die in a war where the only goal is "victory," without adequately defining that victory, bleeding the nation's treasury dry to fight said war, while allowing the vast majority of the country to only feel the slight effects of the war (as W once said, it is pretty hard to watch images of violence on the TV)?

2. Do patriots allow anybody to torture in their country's name? McCain had a chance to stand on principle recently by voting to outlaw waterboarding once and for all but instead chose to pander to the right wing he so desperately wants.

3. Do patriots abandon their veterans to poverty, drug abuse, and homelessness? I live in San Diego; I see what our patriotic wars have done to countless people every time I walk the streets and what our chest-thumping, flag lapel wearing, wearing their patriotism on their sleeve patriots think of them (O'Reilly: homeless veterans don't exist and, if they do, hell, it's their own damned fault!)

4. Do patriots use FEAR to justify what they want? Fear of an attack, fear of darkies, fear of inexperience, fear of people with funny names, fear of the unknown.