Moore's piece can be seen at his site by clicking here. It's amazing that he has to constantly defend his love of the troops and of America, but the wingnut paintbrush keeps splatting on coat after coat of "Michael Moore hates America." He has no choice. Predictably (and that's not a bad thing), many of our readers will read this and nod their heads in unanimous approval.
But it's imperative to read Goldberg's part of this duel. Just last week, he wrote an article slugged:
Moore PoliticsFunny he should make that remark. This week, he perpetuates the GOP meme, which is that if our side does something wrong, we should blame the Democrats for doing the same thing tenfold...even if it's unfounded. Case in point:
Michael Moore does what the Left accuses the Right of.
For a significant chunk of the 20th century, the left reviled patriotism and liberals took it for granted. From the 1930s to the 1960s, leftists bought into a hodgepodge of Marxist, radical and just plain anti-American doctrines, which held that patriotism was no different than nationalism, racism, jingoism, know-nothingism and other distractions from international class consciousness. And liberals seemed to think of patriotism the way Episcopalians think about religion - it's a good thing, but don't talk about it much because it's also slightly embarrassing. After all, if one is truly cosmopolitan, and therefore a citizen of the world, loyalty to any one place seems inappropriate.Excuse me, Mr. Goldberg...but liberal ideals brought about some of the most constructive change in the later part of the century. Civil rights. Voting rights. Housing rights. Helping the least fortunate of Americans. Voicing dissent on wars which were unjust. These are the things that make us proud to wear the "L" label. He continues...
The high-water mark of this polarization was probably the 1988 presidential election, in which the senior George Bush wrapped himself in the flag, while Michael Dukakis seemed to consider patriotism a lower priority than agricultural subsidies. In the 1990s, Bill Clinton recognized that patriotic people take voting a bit more seriously than unpatriotic people and focused his campaign accordingly. Today's candidates assert their patriotism daily, with John F. Kerry insisting that if you question his votes, his past positions or perhaps even his haircut you are questioning his patriotism.WHOA. Are your feelers getting a little bent out of shape, Jonah? Are you hurt by this misguided emotion about Kerry? Because since around September 12, 2001, America has been living under abject fear that if we - God forbid - criticize anyone in the Bush White House, we were un-American. Unpatriotic. Aiding the terrorists. Friends of bin Laden. If you don't believe me, go have a little chat with Max Cleland. Sit down with the voters of Spain who Bush blasted. For that matter, call Spain's Prime Minister who got the same treatment from Bush after his country's own terrorist horror.
If you're going to write about how the left turns criticism into challenging our patriotism, you better make sure your side is sparkling clean first. And in this case, there's mud and blood all over the hands of your White House heroes.
