Crossposted at hikava.
There comes a time in every Democratic candidate's life where he or she must make verbal mincemeat of our so-called citizens across the aisle, affirming to the public what the rest of us know already - that the GOP, for all it's claims of patriotism and AmericaLoveTM, is just a mind-numbingly hypocritical, transcatological* collection of poopheaded pricks.
Barack Obama whoops the GOP.
About not wearing an American flag lapel pin, Obama said Republicans have no lock on patriotism.
"A party that presided over a war in which our troops did not get the body armor they needed, or were sending troops over who were untrained because of poor planning, or are not fulfilling the veterans' benefits that these troops need when they come home, or are undermining our Constitution with warrantless wiretaps that are unnecessary?
"That is a debate I am very happy to have. We'll see what the American people think is the true definition of patriotism."
Of all the Greatest Hits of Republican Faux Outrage, their opinions on patriotism piss me off the most. I don't give a crap about who is willing to defy the flag code and wear an American flag on their lapel. It shows nothing about your patriotism. Patriotism is about duty. The idea that you wake up every day with the intent of making your country better, that you work hard towards that goal, faithfully, with the intent of living up to the legacy of our forebearers, continuing their dream of a great country to fruition.
Republicans have no right to determine what is sufficiently patriotic.
Remember: This is the party -
whose followers believe that patriotism is something that can be bought in magnet form and displayed on the bumper of a car or in the form of redwhiteandblue jewelry instead of something that must be proven every day through a commitment to the nation's innovation, production and prosperity, whose followers' idea of safety is the demonizing of all who have brown skin, that preaches that the only pillar of economics that matters is the numbers posted on the boards of Wall Street, not the heroism of ordinary fathers and mothers working hard every day to provide for their children on Main Street.
::
Obama grills the GOP on their bullshit, and rightfully so:
"There's always some nonsense going on in general elections. Right? If it wasn't this, it would be something else. If you recall, first it was my name. Right? That was a problem. And then there was the Muslim e-mail thing and that hasn't worked out so well, and now it's the patriotism thing.
"The way I will respond to it is with the truth: that I owe everything I am to this country," he said.
Damn right he does, and so do I. I, and my parents, and generations of immigrants and their offspring owe who we are to this country. And because of that, we honor our country's values, and we will defend the founders' dreams of a free nation.
Screw the GOP. They don't know the first thing about patriotism.
* (from introduction) - origin of transcatalogical found
here, credit to The Termite.