11 Comments Add your own

• 1. Orlando Clay  |  July 1st, 2008 at 1:29 pm

  The RWPGS (Right-Wing Punditry Goon Squad) is in full panic mode at the moment, desperately trying to find something, anything that they can use to sabotage the Obama candidacy. So far, they’re shooting nothing but blanks. Have you noticed how exasperated Sean Hannity looks lately? He can’t believe that his incessant attacks on Obama’s past association with Reverend Jeremiah Wright haven’t caught fire! Even Bill O’Reilly has turned most of his attention away from Obama-bashing and has focused his attacks on NBC and MSNBC instead. Watching these guys scramble like cockroaches is first-class entertainment!

• 2. Pat Cunningham  |  July 1st, 2008 at 1:57 pm

  O.C.: I hereby designate you our official Applesauce monitor of Fox News. I can’t take too much of that stuff.

• 3. Dan Breed  |  July 1st, 2008 at 3:51 pm

  Can’t take too much of that stuff? I don’t always like or agree with what is said by most ‘news outlets’or pundits but I will listen to what they have to say before I start bashing them. Just because some person, news organization, pundit, etc. does not seem to share my opinions, does not mean I should ignore them. On the contrary, listening to those that do not share my views is an absolute must if one wishes to try to see a clearer big picture.

• 4. Right Of The Star Blog  |  July 1st, 2008 at 6:38 pm

  Pat, first Goldberg never declared that Obama is somehow unpatriotic. He says Obama has a problem with the publics perception of his patriotism.

  Haven’t you railed against comenters for putting words in your mouth?

  Even the link you provided didn’t go so far as to accuse Goldberg of calling Obama unpatriotic!

  From Goldberg:
  

  The notion that what America needs is a redeemer figure to “remake” America from scratch isn’t necessarily unpatriotic. But for lots of Americans who like America the way it is, it’s sometimes hard to tell when it isn’t.

  His point is in the key word that Reagan included but Obama did not — “Again.”

  Often times, as Goldberg points out, Obama and some progressives seem as though they believe America has the potential for greatness but just hasn’t gotten there yet, most likely because too many bitter people cling to their guns and religion.

  If only we would enact the right policies we could live up to the promise of our founders!

  But alas, some are only now beginning to feel proud, “because people are hungry for change,” as Michelle Obama has said. Finally some hope that we can change!

  Reagan believed in the fundamental greatness of the nation and its people and said so often. As a matter of fact the very speech you referenced made no doubt of that. To share some of those lines (check out the text/video at the link you provided):
  

  They tell us they have done the most that humanly could be done. They say that the United States has had its day in the sun; that our nation has passed its zenith. They expect you to tell your children that the American people no longer have the will to cope with their problems; that the future will be one of sacrifice and few opportunities.

  My fellow citizens, I utterly reject that view. The American people, the most generous on earth, who created the highest standard of living, are not going to accept the notion that we can only make a better world for others by moving backwards ourselves. Those who believe we can have no business leading the nation.
  …
  The trust is where it belongs–in the people.
  …
  Let us pledge to restore, in our time, the American spirit of voluntary service, of cooperation, of private and community initiative; a spirit that flows like a deep and mighty river through the history of our nation.
  …
  It is impossible to capture in words the splendor of this vast continent which God has granted as our portion of this creation. There are no words to express the extraordinary strength and character of this breed of people we call Americans.

  Everywhere we have met thousands of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans from all economic conditions and walks of life bound together in that community of shared values of family, work, neighborhood, peace and freedom. They are concerned, yes, but they are not frightened. They are disturbed, but not dismayed. They are the kind of men and women Tom Paine had in mind when he wrote–during the darkest days of the American Revolution–”We have it in our power to begin the world over again.”
  …Tonight, let us dedicate ourselves to renewing the American compact. I ask you not simply to “Trust me,” but to trust your values–our values–and to hold me responsible for living up to them. I ask you to trust that American spirit which knows no ethnic, religious, social, political, regional, or economic boundaries; the spirit that burned with zeal in the hearts of millions of immigrants from every corner of the Earth who came here in search of freedom.

  Some say that spirit no longer exists. But I have seen it — I have felt it — all across the land; in the big cities, the small towns and in rural America. The American spirit is still there, ready to blaze into life
  …
  Can we doubt that only a Divine Providence placed this land, this island of freedom, here as a refuge for all those people in the world who yearn to breathe freely: Jews and Christians enduring persecution behind the Iron Curtain, the boat people of Southeast Asia, of Cuba and Haiti, the victims of drought and famine in Africa, the freedom fighters of Afghanistan and our own countrymen held in savage captivity.

  Now, some would damn America longing for change and some would praise and bless her.

  An interesting aside — From Reagan’s speech, “Large amounts of oil and natural gas lay beneath our land and off our shores, untouched because the present administration seems to believe the American people would rather see more regulation, taxes and controls than more energy.”

  Not much has changed, today we have vast amounts untouched because of regulations and taxes that are the current solution provided by this congress.
  David

• 5. Pat Cunningham  |  July 1st, 2008 at 8:02 pm

  Wait a minute, ROTS. You say “Goldberg never declared that Obama is somehow unpatriotic” and you imply that I was putting words in his mouth. Well, let me put his own words in his mouth.

  Under the headline, “Obama’s real patriotism problem,” Goldberg writes that “Obama has a patriotism problem that even Monday’s flag-waving trip to Independence, Mo., can’t squelch. And it doesn’t have anything to do with his lapel pin.”

  Goldberg then immediately jumps on the quote about Obama’s plan to “make America great,” which is not unlike what Reagan said 28 years ago, no matter Reagan’s inclusion of the word “again.”

  Then Goldberg adds this: “Not to sound too much like a Jewish mother, but some might respond, ‘What? It’s not great now?’”

  Don’t be obtuse, ROTS. The man is questioning Obama’s patriotism. It’s all in keeping with the now-familiar refrain from the political right that Obama is insufficiently patriotic. If you haven’t seen or heard that refrain, you haven’t been paying attention.

  Goldberg writes: “This sense that America is in need of fixing in order to be a great country points to Obama’s real patriotism problem.” But Reagan, too, said America needed fixing to make it great. Nobody questioned his patriotism.

  Goldberg, to add insult to injury, offers this snarky little observation: “Marxists and other revolutionaries obviously don’t believe entrepreneurial and religious America is good as it is.” Get it? Obama is in agreement with Marxists and other revolutionaries. Perhaps he’s one of them himself.

  Then Goldberg gives us some stuff about smug liberals invading the South to civilize the backward folks down there in days of yore — a little red meat for the die-hard segregationists, perhaps.

  And then he quotes Joe Klein about how Democrats “tend to talk more about what’s wrong with America than what’s right.” Goldberg also goes on to tell us that “Obamania can seem not only vaguely anti-American but also downright otherworldly.”

  It’s all there in one ugly package, ROTS, the whole pseudo-patriotic, right-wing kit-and-kaboodle: Obama has a patriotism problem. Obama doesn’t think America is great the way it is. Obama talks like a Marxist revolutionary. Obama is just like the Northern liberals who went South to push leftist social reforms on innocent folks just trying to preserve their traditions. Obama is part and parcel of the tendency among Democrats to talk about what’s wrong with America.

  And you’re trying to tell me that “Goldberg never declared that Obama is somehow unpatriotic”???

  As the old saying goes, ROTS, I was born at night, but it wasn’t LAST night. And Mrs. Cunningham didn’t raise any of her five kids to be the kind of fool you must think I am.

• 6. Craig Knauss  |  July 1st, 2008 at 11:05 pm

  Goldberg has no room to question anyone’s patriotism. Like many of the other far-right heros, Goldberg has not spent one minute in the military. He’s just another Limbaugh-Buchanen-Keyes-Rove-etc. type; rattle the sabre then run like hell. Go Chickenhawks!

• 7. Menlp Bob  |  July 2nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm

  Careful about equating patriotism and military service. It could end ugly.

• 8. Craig Knauss  |  July 3rd, 2008 at 6:41 pm

  Bob,

  It’s not the Chickenhawk’s lack of military service that makes them unpatriotic. It’s their hypocrisy. I know lots of people who served in Viet Nam. Friends, neighbors, relatives, classmates, schoolmates, co-workers, etc. I also know lots of people who did not. I don’t judge either side differently. What I DO have a problem with is people like the Chickenhawks, who made damn sure they never served, and then rattle their sabres, beat their drums, etc. every chance they get. People like Rush Limbaugh, who dodged the draft, (4-F because he was overweight) and then chant for war so someone else can put his life in danger. Goldberg has never done anything more patriotic than anyone else. He is in no position to criticize anyone else’s patriotism. So please don’t equate hypocrisy with patriotism.

• 9. Kaus  |  July 4th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

  And then there is Obama….who never served…wanted to send the troops home immediately…but NOW has no time table departing Iraq….playing both sides for votes. Obama is just a politician scamming for votes, not even worthy of being called a chickenhawk. . Craig won’t bring McCain into the argument…for good reason…he served, and hasn’t pandered for votes.

• 10. Pat Cunningham  |  July 4th, 2008 at 7:45 pm

  Kaus: McCain doesn’t pander for votes? He’s been on both sides of dozens of issues in recent weeks, months and years, and he doesn’t pander for votes? Kaus, you belong in the Witless Protection Program.

• 11. Henry  |  July 4th, 2008 at 8:00 pm

  Kaus -

  I guess you can comment on chickenhawks, being one yourself.

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