Shoe Bomber vs. Underwear Bomber - A Study in Republican Effectiveness

Republican scoundrels are spinning the thwarted terrorist attempt on Christmas Day into a reason to attack President Obama, and the media are repeating the frothing opportunism as if it is legitimate discussion. It's an all-too-familiar pattern of attack and repeat, at a level that leaves thoughtful persons shaking their heads at the breathtaking hypocrisy of it all.

Honestly, it never ever occurred to me to accuse Bush of weakness or failure when the shoe-bomber attempt presented almost exactly the same opportunity to those of us on the left. Foolishly, I viewed the attempted terrorist attack as an attempted terrorist attack, instead of as a welcome cudgel with which to bash our nation's President.

Commenting on a post by Politico noting the wildly different Republican reaction to the two wildly similar situations, John Aravosis of AMERICAblog does a great job of explaining the difference:

I suspect a few things are going on here. First, the shoe bomber incident was three months after September 11. We were all still shell-shocked. Rather than being afraid to criticize the president, I think we were all so scared, the thought didn't even cross our minds (and the same thing applied to the media, which was also tempered following 9/11). Second, Democrats aren't as good at political PR as Republicans are. Republicans are always looking for an opportunity to take advantage of a situation, a crisis. Democrats tend to be more principled. And finally, Republicans are better at shutting down criticism. If Democrats had tried to speak out, the GOP would have accused us of being un-American, and the Democrats would freak.

Stop Talking About Republican Flag-Desecration Scandal

Some of my fellow liberal bloggers have seized upon the documented fact that a huge American flag was dragged across the ground by the McCain campaign. They have even provided this video of the atrocity, which ought to make "real" Americans angry, especially here in Missouri, because Missouri is where they chose to demonstrate their disregard and disdain for America.
It bothers me to even post the video.

Despite my strong patriotism, I am calling on my fellow liberal bloggers to cease discussion of the Republican flag-desecration scandal. While it provides a vivid example of how the Republicans have a penchant for false patriotism, and how little respect they really have for patriotism after it has served their self-interest, I think that we should be better than that.

We should remember that not all Republicans are flag-tramplers. In fact, even in this case, we have no evidence that John McCain personally approved of the flag-dragging. I doubt that he personally approved or ordered the flag-desecration, because he has been terribly busy planning attacks on Obama's patriotism, and on the patriotism of those who support him. When Governor Palin claimed that "real Americans" are supporting her ticket, and "anti-Americans" are supporting Obama, I'm willing to bet that she was not even thinking about her next opportunity to drag the American flag across the ground.

Some might point out that the McCain campaign deserves to be criticized for this Republican Flag-Desecration Scandal, because they attempted to create and exploit a false flag desecration scandal earlier in the campaign in an attempt to damage Obama. To that I say, let bygones be bygones, and let's just ignore the Republican Flag-Desecration Scandal That Happened Right Here In Missouri!!

Why do I think we should ignore the Republican Flag-Desecration Scandal That Happened Right Here In Missouri? Because this campaign ought to be about the issues, not about the Republican Flag-Desecration Scandal That Happened Right Here In Missouri. Personally, I would rather talk about Health Care Policy and Foreign Policy and the Economy than the Republican Flag-Desecration Scandal That Happened Right Here In Missouri.

We also must remember that after November 4, we will need to work with the Republicans across the aisle, whether they were part of the Republican Flag-Desecration Scandal That Happened Right Here In Missouri, or not. So, please, fellow liberal bloggers, let's stop talking about the Republican Flag-Desecration Scandal That Happened Right Here In Missouri.

Okay? I don't want to see this video ever again.