Anybody else hear Camille Paglia this week on NPR's OnPoint show? The self-proclaimed "feminist icon" gave her stamp of approval for the entire tea-bag "movement". In her view, the baggers represent grass-root expression of "liberty", while Democrats are simply too elitist to see the truth.
Worse, Professor Paglia revealed that she is a true Birther.
Towards the end of the show, a caller who witnessed the Tea Bag protest in Washington DC first-hand and talked about the numerous racist posters he saw. That's when Camille Paglia flies off the handle:
First of all, I reject the idea that the "birther" campaign is motivated by racism. There may be racism among it, but there are legitimate questions about the documentation of Obama’s birth certificate. I’m sorry, I’ve been following this closely from the start. To assume that all those signs about the birth controversy were motivated by racism, that is simply wrong.
What makes Paglia's comments so damaging is that she constantly talks about being an "Obama supporter" and a "Democrat" as well as a true feminist and lesbian. But on this show and in her Salon columnsshe viciously attacks the president and Democrats while voicing support for the right-wing forces of hate that we saw at the town hall meetings and last week in Washington.
How has "liberty" become the inspirational code word of conservatives rather than liberals? (A prominent example is radio host Mark Levin's book "Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto," which was No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list for nearly three months without receiving major reviews, including in the Times.) I always thought that the Democratic Party is the freedom party -- but I must be living in the nostalgic past. Remember Bob Dylan's 1964 song "Chimes of Freedom," made famous by the Byrds? And here's Richie Havens electrifying the audience at Woodstock with "Freedom! Freedom!" Even Linda Ronstadt, in the 1967 song "A Different Drum," with the Stone Ponys, provided a soaring motto for that decade: "All I'm saying is I'm not ready/ For any person, place or thing/ To try and pull the reins in on me."
But affluent middle-class Democrats now seem to be complacently servile toward authority and automatically believe everything party leaders tell them.
The sad thing is, shows like OnPoint will continue to invite Professor Paglia on to represent the "progressive" point of view when she obviously is in bed with the most reactionary elements of Glen Beck's Tea Party movement.
What the hell is she teaching her students?