The Blame America First Crowd
For all the pretentious acrimony that liberals are the first to blame America for all the ills that befall her, the right seems to hold a monopoly on those pointing the finger inwards.
Take for example Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell who soon after 9/11 agreed that it was the result of America's tolerance of homosexuals and abortion. Dinesh D'Souza, in a similar vein, suggested that Al-Qaeda may have been right in their critique of America as being far too liberal in its societal norms. These comments come not from fringe participants but mainstream figures of the right. Yet kooks like Ward Churchill are held aloft as evidence that all liberals suffer from this "Blame America First" mindset.
There are also those who say that liberals invite future attacks because they oppose such petty little things as the trampling of civil liberties and the instigation of wars based on false pretenses. But again, finding those on the right whose advocacy goes much further, to the point of calling for another attack, does not entail a vast data mining effort on par with the NSA spying program.
Writing in the Philadelphia Daily News this week, Stu Bykofsky, by simply appending his name to the byline of this op-ed, seemed to answer the question he lays out in the lede.
Bykofsky has been roundly criticized by those on the left for his remarks, a not unsurprising development given the odiousness of his position. And while the right wing blogs have mostly remained silent, perhaps knowing that the Churchill affair would be tossed in their faces should they agree with Bykofsky's take, the mainstream media seemed to eat it up.
I don't really have much in the way of an ending to this post except to wonder should the next attack occur, if Bykofsky will be among those casting about for someone to blame.
(Filed at State of the Day)
Take for example Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell who soon after 9/11 agreed that it was the result of America's tolerance of homosexuals and abortion. Dinesh D'Souza, in a similar vein, suggested that Al-Qaeda may have been right in their critique of America as being far too liberal in its societal norms. These comments come not from fringe participants but mainstream figures of the right. Yet kooks like Ward Churchill are held aloft as evidence that all liberals suffer from this "Blame America First" mindset.
There are also those who say that liberals invite future attacks because they oppose such petty little things as the trampling of civil liberties and the instigation of wars based on false pretenses. But again, finding those on the right whose advocacy goes much further, to the point of calling for another attack, does not entail a vast data mining effort on par with the NSA spying program.
Writing in the Philadelphia Daily News this week, Stu Bykofsky, by simply appending his name to the byline of this op-ed, seemed to answer the question he lays out in the lede.
ONE MONTH from The Anniversary, I'm thinking another 9/11 would help America.
What kind of a sick bastard would write such a thing?
Bykofsky has been roundly criticized by those on the left for his remarks, a not unsurprising development given the odiousness of his position. And while the right wing blogs have mostly remained silent, perhaps knowing that the Churchill affair would be tossed in their faces should they agree with Bykofsky's take, the mainstream media seemed to eat it up.
I don't really have much in the way of an ending to this post except to wonder should the next attack occur, if Bykofsky will be among those casting about for someone to blame.
(Filed at State of the Day)
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