Now, don't get me wrong. Glenn Beck couldn't intentionally kill the Democratic Party if we gave him a map and some nukes. But he's still doing a great job. Let me explain: Beck himself has said he's a rodeo clown. Now, what is a rodeo clown? An idiot that distracts the angry and powerful bull while an injured rider gets away. Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Hannity- they don't admit to it, but they fall in the same boat. They draw the ire of Daily Kos and the rest of the liberal blogosphere, while the moderate Republicans that have a shot at taking control of D.C. get to regroup. Intentional? Hell no. Still, we could target, reasonably discourse with, and crush the moderate conservatives ten times over with the amount of coverage we give these morons.
And that leads us our next, paradoxical problem: We endanger the Democratic party by ignoring its flaws and the screw-ups of those we've elected. So far, in about four months, Obama has failed to institute a transparency policy he promised, decided against releasing torture pictures, decided against prosecuting officials that approved torture, and so on. In comparision, in his first four months, Bush banned stem cell funding. Yes, Obama's issues are mostly concerns for us in the left, and the right's singing his praises about the latter two. But it raises the possibility that a reasonably smart opposition could play up these issues, and maybe go so far as to suggest that Obama was indifferent to or for torture.
In conclusion, I would like to say this: Blindly supporting your House representative, your senator, or the president is not patriotism. Neither is bashing the wack-jobs that are so far right they're shaking hands with Hitler*. Also, that's what Bush did, and what let to the downfall of conservatives. Careful examination of those in power? That is patriotism.
*Yes, I know, Godwin's Law. But in defense, insanely progressive liberals resemble Stalin a bit. I'm an equal opportunity insulter.
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