Inaugural Fantasy World Award

PN is proud to announce its first Fantasy World Award! Let me tell you, there were some tough choices. There was Jenn at Screwliberals.com with her Spitzer coverage stating that when Republicans get caught they step down. Of course that's not the case at all. Republican Senator Vitter who got caught in a prostitution ring last Fall is still shaking hands and kissing babies never once hinting at resigning. Imprisoned Congressmen and fellow Republican Bob Ney stayed on for months after being indicted and so did Tom DeLay. Democrats aren't any better, and I've never claimed them to be, but suggesting Republicans always do the right thing and step aside is completely untrue.

There were others that also came close, but once I read Jonah Goldberg's "The Left's Patriotism Gap" op-ed in the LA Times the other day I knew right then that we had a winner. And it is with great pride I announce Jonah Goldberg as the winner of the first ever Fantasy World Award!

What color is it in Jonah's world you might ask. Well it's always sunny where Jonah is and where he fights head-on everyday the enemy insurgent liberals taking over our country.

Quoting some select Barack and Michelle Obama speeches super patriot Jonah Goldberg suggests that all Democrats have a patriotism gap:

What is fascinating here is not the sentiment, but what's missing from it. The P-word. To invoke patriotism seriously is to brand yourself either an old fogy or a right-wing bully. If Obama spoke about patriotism with the sort of passion he expends on unity, many would take him for some sort of demagogue.

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And it's a crying shame, despite the fact that the Democrats' rhetorical disadvantage is a huge boon for the Republicans. One cannot credibly talk of love of country while simultaneously dodging the word and concept of patriotism. And, I would argue, one cannot sufficiently love one's country if you are afraid to say so out loud. Better that our politics be an argument about why and how we should love our country, not about whether some do and some don't.

In their world-- the GOP Fantasy World-- being a patriot simply means speaking the P-word. That's it! That's all you have to do to be considered a great American patriot. Have a keyboard, the monitor doesn't even have to be turned on, and write how great George Bush is; how he's led by God; how Iraq is going great; how Republicans always do the right thing when caught with prostitutes and write how Democrats have such an utter disregard for America that they never speak of patriotism for fear of offending someone. In Jonah's fantasy world, gone are the days when patriots actually did any real fighting or demonstrated any sort of service to the country they believe to be the Land of Milk and Honey. In their fantasy world where George Bush is a popular president and Iraq had WMD, a real patriot is someone who's 50lbs. overweight and couldn't pass a military physical to save his life. In their fantasy world where Rush Limbaugh is the lone general fighting on in this global conflict against liberalism, a real patriot is someone who doesn't dodge the word patriot! Never mind dodging bullets, it's not dodging words that are the true test of patriotism.

Who in their right mind would consider anything Jonah Goldberg says to be anything close to patriotism? Three years ago Jonah tried to wager his patriotism, because placing bets on our soldiers' lives is what real patriots do, that "Iraq won't have a civil war, that it will have a viable constitution and that a majority of Iraqis and Americans will, in two years time, agree that the war was worth it." In his fantasy world other people fight the wars, it's all a game, a wager of some pocket change. Not only was he dead wrong three years ago, he's still wrong. There is no patriotism gap. Reducing patriotism or ones worth as an American to how many times a person uses the word is a psychological fantasy in it's own right. But it's also a great disservice to our troops doing the actual fighting, to our veterans who have kept us proud and free, to our country as a whole and to a political discourse that must be nearing its end of such rhetoric.

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