Republicans love America -- they just seem to hate about 50 percent of the people who live in itThe truth is that he's absolutely right. Let's leave aside the question of what they actually are. Stewart said 'seem to hate' so let's talk about how they come across.
I have personally been accused of hating, not loving, and/or trying to destroy America by five different Republicans this month. I'm not making this number up: five people have told me to my face or on facebook that I don't love america, or that I hate it, or that I (or a group I belong to) is trying to destroy it. This does not predispose me to disagreeing with Stewart. In fact, as a member of that fifty percent, I very much agree.
But just so we're not judging by my experience alone, let's look at the broader picture.
First, you've got a bunch of white people who came out of the woodwork the second a black president was elected screaming 'Take OUR country back!" and adding things like support for states' rights (a two-century-old dog-whistle for racism) and attacking the fourteenth amendment. There's only so many places you can go with that, and none of them are pretty.
They also make comments like this and this, the latter of which is representative of a cultural meme reinforced through repetition for as long as I can remember.
Furthermore we have the incessant meme from the entire right about 'real' america and how they constitute it and the Other does not, Sharron Angle's latest anti-hispanic attack ad or her hoping that she wins so that it won't be necessary to assassinate her opponent, the manufactured 'ground zero mosque' controversy and general Muslim xenophobia, Palin's defense of Dr. Laura post her n*gger rant, their virulent opposition to gay rights, the decades-old 'southern strategy', and Carl Paladino.
Finally, insofar as the vast majority of the Tea party are going to vote republican, we have this.
Soooo ... do Republicans ACTUALLY hate 50% of America? I can't say with absolute certainty, but
do they SEEM TO? Well, what am I supposed to think?
See also the two recent incidents where men physically assaulted women (in one case sending the woman to the hospital) for daring to exercise their right to protest. Let me know if you haven't seen these and I'll dig you up some links.
ReplyDeleteThey love the America that agrees with them. The rest of us are The Enemy.